Chapter Text
SIXTY-THREE
Neck hunters, spirals, and giant caterpillars swarmed around us as we drove them back into the jungle. The ironclad's fall had taken most of the fight out of them, but they were still very dangerous even as they fell back. As for the Sephiroth clones, they seemed to have lost interest in the battle and shifted their attention to the shallow crater where the temple of the Ancients had been before it disappeared.
As I fought, I suddenly felt a strange jolt, something almost like an earthquake except the ground never moved. It was more internal, as if the whole planet had shifted somehow, and I wondered what it meant. It seemed to have come from down in the crater. The others noticed as well, but we were all caught up in the battle and couldn't break away to look into it. The monsters also seemed to feel it, slowing down enough for us to drive them back further from the clearing.
Suddenly I spotted a flash of pink slipping through the trees on the far side of the crater, a quick glimpse of a familiar dress I recognized at once with a thick brown braid trailing right behind it. I slammed a fist into a leaping neck hunter with a backhand punch and wondered what she was doing. Where was she going? And why? I looked back toward the crater, worried about Cloud and Jessie as well, and started heading that way with Barret, but I couldn't forget about Aerith.
Yuffie and Red must've seen her, too, because they both ran around the clearing and into the northern part of the jungle after her. I wanted to follow them, but a pair of spirals and a hippogriff got in my way, and I had to fight. I let loose with a flurry of fists and feet along with magic from my Enemy Skill materia, but more replaced them.
"Tifa! Go!" Barret cleared me a path with his Vulcan cannon. "We got this! I saw her, too. Find her an' keep her safe!"
"On it!" I nodded.
Then I rushed off in the direction I'd seen Aerith. As I raced north into the jungle, I pushed branches out of my way and wove through the undergrowth as quickly as I could. A minute or two later, the trees gave way to another clearing, this one smaller and with half-buried ruins in it. I found her there, resting by a stone table covered with engravings. I went to her, relieved and worried at the same time.
"Aerith?" I asked. "What's going on?
She sighed. "Sephiroth's taken over Cloud's mind."
I shivered and stepped toward her. "Then where are you going?"
"Away," she murmured. "It's not safe for me to be close to him right now, Tifa. I have go. I can feel the planet calling me…"
"Why?" I wondered.
Aerith stood up. "I can stop Sephiroth, but not from here."
I could tell she'd made up her mind. "I'd have gladly gone with you to the end, even into the lifestream itself."
"I know," she smiled sadly. "Look after everyone for me, alright? It's not gonna be easy. Cloud won't understand once he's himself again. He was always very protective of me. The best bodyguard a girl could ever have. Thank him for me and tell him that, would you?"
I nodded. "What about Jessie?"
"She's the one who told me to leave," Aerith replied, her green eyes sad. "To protect me. Jessie fought Cloud to break Sephiroth's hold over him and give me a chance to escape before it was too late. Go find him. He'll be needing you. Don't worry about me."
"Good luck, Aerith," I wrapped my arms around her.
She held me tight. "And you, Tifa. Take care."
Almost as soon as I let go of her, I heard dozens of heavy footsteps crashing out of the trees and whirled around to see nearly thirty Shinra shock troopers surging toward us. Rufus' reinforcements, no doubt. I'd almost forgotten that the Turks were still technically our enemies since we'd fought side by side against the ironclad and its horde earlier, but I didn't think they were responsible for this, not after how readily Tseng had helped us. Rufus still wanted us dead or captured.
"Run!" I told Aerith.
As she sped north into the trees on that side of the clearing, I stood firm with my fists raised and my eyes on the advancing grunts. As soon as they were close enough, they rushed me in a drug-fueled rage, and I launched myself into their midst, smashing them one after another as I ducked and wove to avoid their claws and energy blasts. I kept fighting, focusing their attention on me so Aerith could get away.
None of them touched her.
I sped through the trees looking for Aerith and wondered what the hell was going on. Red ran alongside me as we headed northwest, and I could hear Barret and Cid yelling in the distance somewhere behind us as they fought the rest of those monsters with Vincent and the Turks as the sounds of fighting filled the air. Gunfire, spells exploding, monsters screeching and chittering, blades stabbing, and more. It was crazy. Just like Aerith running off on her own to who knew where.
"Her scent's this way, Yuffie," Red said.
"What's gotten into her?" I wondered as I gripped my shuriken.
He sighed. "I don't know. Something must be wrong."
I had to agree. We hurried on, making our way downhill and to the north through the jungle. The foliage was much thicker the further we went, forcing us to turn aside and go around it in places in order to try and catch up to Aerith. As we rushed through the trees, we heard more fighting coming from off to our right but went past it, intent on finding our friend and helping her however we could.
We heard the Shinra soldiers before we saw them. New ones, from the looks of them. No injuries, no wear and tear from battle. There was also another emblem on their shoulder guards besides the Shinra logo. The insignia for Peace Preservation, General Heidegger's division. That meant they were here for Jessie. The rest of us would be a bonus if they caught us. But I didn't plan on letting that happen.
Although Heidegger ran all of Shinra's military, the troops with his division's logo on their uniforms were part of his personal detachment and answered only to him. Jessie had explained it during our journey. I understood her struggles with him because of my experiences with my own old man, so I'd listened closely whenever she'd spoken about him. Which hadn't been often since she didn't like doing it.
The commander motioned to his troops. "Find the Cetra! And the general's daughter! Bring them both in alive!"
When the Shinra soldiers started to turn in our direction, Red and I ducked into the underbrush before they could see us. Then they split up, some hurrying right past us while others went in another direction. We stayed hidden there for a few minutes to catch our breath and wait until they were gone. But they'd barely left when I saw Aerith speeding through the trees in the same direction we'd been going. She froze and slipped behind a tree across from us when the troops returned seconds later. Fortunately, they didn't see or hear her at all.
"Aerith! Over here! Quick!" I beckoned to her as soon as they were out of earshot. "Before they come back! Hurry!"
But she just shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry."
I frowned. "What's the matter?"
"She's leaving…" Red realized as he met her determined gaze.
"No!" I couldn't believe it.
Not thinking about what I was doing, I rushed out into the open to try and talk her out of it. Red hurried after me, but we froze halfway to where Aerith was hiding when shouts filled the air and the soldiers saw us at last. Knowing we were out of time and determined not to let them find her, we both motioned desperately for her to leave.
"Go, Aerith!" Red urged her. "Run!"
I pointed at the approaching Shinra soldiers and waved to them as Aerith nodded and left. "Hey, you! Over here!"
Then I darted away in the direction opposite the one she'd gone in, leading them away from her as Red ran alongside me. The troops took the bait and swallowed it whole, totally oblivious as Aerith escaped and ran off to wherever it was she had to go. Didn't matter to me as long as she was safe. She'd been there for me, a friend when I'd needed to know I wasn't alone. Now it was my turn to be there for her.
"It's working!" I said.
"I know it's working!" Red growled. "Run faster!"
I did, my lungs burning as I sped through the trees, Red at my side. Before long, we'd left the soldiers behind—no way they could compete with Wutai's best ninja—and headed roughly west. Hopefully we'd find the others and get back to the plane before Shinra closed the net on us. I did wonder how Aerith planned to get off the island, but there had to be a way. Maybe some Cetra secret no one else knew about. She'd been going north, so something had to be up there.
A few minutes later, we skidded to a halt as a large patrol of Shinra shock troopers burst through the trees only forty feet in front of us. We froze, caught totally by surprise. Red growled and bared his teeth, but I didn't know whether it was more at our enemies as they rushed toward us or at himself for not hearing them sooner.
We braced ourselves to fight, but just as one of the grunts got close enough to take a swing at me with its claws, its arm was hacked off by a huge and very familiar sword. Cloud looked like shit with how bruised and battered he was, but he fought as hard as ever, hurling himself into the fray with a loud yell and standing between us and our attackers as Buster sliced them apart two and three at a time.
"Cloud!" I gasped.
He glanced over his shoulder at me and Red. "Go! Now! Get to the Tiny Bronco! I won't lose anyone else! Run!"
I shook my head. "The hell with that! We're with you!"
"Agreed!" Red snarled.
Then we launched ourselves at the grunts with a yell. There was no way we were gonna let him fight alone. While I cut them down left and right with quick swipes of my shuriken and blasts of ninja magic, Red's claws and spells took down the ones me and Cloud didn't get. But there were a ton of them, and soon we had to backpedal down the hill as the mass of drug-crazy psychos swarmed right at us like a flood of insects. As they drove us back, Cloud clove through them with broad sweeps of his huge sword and kept on urging us to run.
We had just taken down the last of them when the light streaming down under the treetops seemed to fade and go out as something dark swept out from the shadows of the undergrowth. It struck Cloud in an instant, once, twice, three times back and forth across the clearing, and whoever or whatever it was, it moved so fast I could barely see it other than an occasional flash of steel and a half-second glimpse of someone, maybe a woman, hooded and cloaked in black.
He tried to deflect the attacks, but whoever was attacking him was just too fast, too different from anything we'd ever faced before, and he fell to his knees. If he'd been in top shape, he would've done better, but I could tell he was already hurt and worn out from whatever battle he'd fought down in the crater where the temple had been. Buster fell from Cloud's hands after the last hit as he collapsed.
Just as Red and I were about to rush in and help him, the shadowy woman darted back into the trees without a sound, the daylight around us grew brighter again, and triggers suddenly clicked loudly behind us. Those Shinra soldiers we'd evaded had caught up to us, and we couldn't fight them. There were just too many. If we tried to escape, they'd shoot us dead in seconds. So we didn't have any choice but to let ourselves be captured and disarmed as Cloud watched helplessly, too hurt to save us even though I knew he wanted to. The last I saw, the unit's commander was standing over him, rifle pointed at his head.
Then we were taken away.
I was still fighting a crowd of grunts and elite grunts in the clearing where I'd found Aerith when suddenly I realized I wasn't alone. A blast of gunfire from Cerberus, bullets pouring steadily from Barret's Vulcan cannon, and a familiar drawl from Cid as he spun and thrust his spear told me that my friends had finally joined me. Together, we fought our way through Shinra's drug-crazed shock troopers.
"Guys!" I called, smashing a grunt with my fist. "You made it! Have you seen Yuffie and Red anywhere?"
Cid blasted a group of them with a powerful gust of wind from his materia. "They ran off not long after everythin' went to hell. Thought I heard 'em sayin' somethin' about Aerith."
Vincent calmly shot two more grunts. "They must be trying to find her. Have you seen her, Tifa? Wasn't she in the crater?
"Yes, I'll explain later," I nodded.
"The Turks took Tseng an' left before we did," Barret added. "Went east, I think. Toward the other side of the island."
I hit one grunt with a diving kick, then grabbed another and threw it hard into the ground. "That must be where Shinra landed when they first got here. Rufus must've sent these guys to take us out, or at least to delay us long enough for them to get away."
"As if!" Barret blasted an elite grunt. "Where's Jessie?"
I sighed at the memory of what Aerith had told me. "I haven't seen her. But she couldn't have gone far. I—"
Before I could finish, the yelling of a familiar voice and the sounds of battle coming from further in the jungle abruptly cut me off. When I heard his voice, my eyes widened and spun toward it at once, my heart pounding with worry at how hurt it sounded.
"Cloud!" I yelled.
Without waiting for the others, I rushed off, hurrying through the trees to look for him. I found him injured and alone in the middle of a wooded clearing with dead grunts all around him and helmeted Shinra commander looming over him, rifle in hand. Not slowing down at all, I jumped and slammed into him with a roar, knocking him down just as he fired. The shot went wide, and he never had a chance to try another. I sprang instantly to my feet and hurled him into the trees with a flurry of chi-powered punches and a high somersault kick.
When I rushed over to Cloud, he grabbed my shoulder. "They took Yuffie and Red. Shinra soldiers. Heidegger's men."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I saw the insignia on their gear. They just took them and left before I could stop them."
I helped him to his feet. "We'll save them, Cloud."
"Where's Aerith?" he wondered as he looked worriedly at me. "She ran away and left when Jessie told her to leave."
"I let her go," I admitted.
Cloud sighed. "Then you did what I couldn't. I wasn't myself, Tifa. Sephiroth took me over, and… made me attack her. Jessie stopped me. She took the black materia before I could, and I tried to get it from her. By force. So we… we fought. And I… I…"
I gently took his hand in mind. "What happened?"
A tear slid from his eye. "Jessie's… dead. I tried to stop myself, but I wasn't strong enough. I… I killed her."
I felt as if a dagger had been thrust into my heart, but as much as it hurt, I didn't blame Cloud. I'd seen the hold Sephiroth had on him and how strong it was. The anger I felt flaming inside me was directed only at Sephiroth, both for hurting Cloud so horribly and taking my friend's life through him. A thought occurred to me then, and while it might've just been wishful thinking, I couldn't dismiss it.
"Did you see her fall?" I wondered.
"Yeah," he leaned against me. "Right in front of me. But I didn't get a chance to check on her. Sephiroth knocked me out."
A sudden hope flared within me. "Then maybe she's alive."
Cloud paused. "She was so still, Tifa. And when I woke up, she was gone. Sometimes when a person dies… if it happened fast… they fade back into the lifestream right away. Nothing's left behind. That could've been what happened to her. Sephiroth must've taken the black materia from… from her… from her body… before he left."
I didn't believe that, though. "Maybe, but don't give up yet."
"Even if she's alive… I still hurt her," he looked away. "I didn't hold back. He wouldn't let me. I love her and I made her bleed, Tifa. Even as she called to me, tried to reach me… I hurt her. I was too weak to stop him. She'll hate me now… if she's even alive."
"No, she'd never do that," I assured him. "She loves you."
Cloud looked away. "I've failed you all."
I shook my head. "No, you didn't. You got us here and fought hard to protect Jessie. I think you did hold back, even if you didn't realize it. And even after all that, you still tried to save Yuffie and Red. You're just as good and decent a man as you've ever been."
"Are you sure?" he breathed. "I just don't know. Everything's falling apart, and the planet's gonna die because of me."
I focused on my Restore materia's magic and stared firmly at Cloud as I treated his injuries. "Not if we can stop it. On your feet, SOLDIER! We're not even close to done yet, and we need you. Whether she's alive or dead, Jessie wouldn't want you to give up."
He smiled then. "Right… she wouldn't. I can't do that to her."
"Then don't," I reached down, picked up Buster for him, and put its hilt firmly in his gloved hand. "Let's go, Cloud."
Cloud looked at it for a moment, then at me, and nodded. Though he was still a bit battered, the healing magic had taken care of the worst of it, and he moved more surely than he had earlier. Just then, we heard a rustling behind us, but it was only Cid, Barret, and Vincent hurrying out of the trees to join us. They slowed when they saw us and the dead shock troopers lying scattered all over the clearing.
"Guess we missed the party," Cid quipped.
"More or less," I agreed. "Seems like things have quieted down. Did you take care of all our guests up there?"
Vincent holstered his gun. "Rufus' forces have moved out."
"What's left of 'em," Barret quipped.
"Heidegger's troops have Yuffie and Red," I told them. "But I'm not sure if those were Rufus' orders. He could still be doing this on his own to try and make up for all his previous failures."
Cid sighed. "Either way, we've gotta get 'em back. But I also need to check on Tiny Bronco an' make sure them Shinra rubes haven't touched her. Otherwise we won't be able to get off this island."
Cloud nodded, more himself now than he'd been earlier. "Then let's head over there first and make sure it's secured."
We moved out, hurrying west and south through the jungle toward where we'd left the plane. We didn't encounter any other resistance, and I suspected that with the black materia gone, Rufus had decided he was finished here. And the monsters had withdrawn as well, probably since Sephiroth had left. I hoped against hope that Jessie was alive somehow and worried about her and the rest of my missing friends. Someday, we would be together again, I knew it. Someday.
"Aerith!" I shouted, but no one answered.
I knew I was heading in the right direction, though. I'd spotted her in the distance earlier after leaving Cloud and the crater far behind, but she'd been too fast and too far ahead of me. She was definitely heading toward the northern shore of the island, but I wasn't sure what she had in mind once she got there. No one had lived in this place for hundreds of years, and it was almost entirely overgrown jungle now. As I moved, my body ached from the injuries I'd gotten in my fight with Cloud, but I didn't slow down, determined to find Aerith.
I hurried on, using my flame aura to give me some extra speed as I went. It didn't burn anything, though, as I discovered that I could let it pass harmlessly through the environment when I wanted it to. Magical fire has its perks, you know. I kept the aura's strength low but steady to avoid attracting any attention, so it stayed close to me and didn't go far. I was pushing my way through the trees when I felt a familiar presence in my mind and froze for a moment. While I knew I couldn't let Aerith get too far ahead, my daughter needed me.
Her energy was near empty, and I had the impression she was in a dark place of some kind, a terrible battle somewhere in her own reality with something that looked and sounded like me but wasn't. A rush of images swept through my mind, a jumble I couldn't fully understand. I could tell Claudia was breaking, though. All the things my double was saying to her were tearing her apart inside.
Giving up already? I sent the thought out at once.
— Huh? Mom? Is that you? How? —
The earrings, remember? It goes both ways. And I'm using my flame aura right now, Claudia. You can sense it, I'm sure. So if that's true, then who do you think you're fighting over there?
— It's not you! —
Never was. You think I'd tear you down like that? I love you way too much and would never hurt you. It's a trick! You can do this. Now get up and show 'em what you've got! You need to fight!
— I will, Mom! Thanks so much! —
Then the connection was gone, but I felt her power rise back up in seconds. Whatever was happening over there, she was doing what she'd sworn to do, and I was sure she was close to saving her birth mom and ending the threat she'd been dealing with in her world. Confident now that she would be alright, I extinguished my flame aura and moved on, continuing my desperate search for Aerith as I sped quickly and quietly after her through the thick, vibrant island jungle.
The ruins grew denser as I followed her north, though. The sounds of fighting erupted behind me in the distance, so I tapped my left glove switch to activate my suit's invisibility and faded from sight. Then I slid soundlessly through the trees, pursuing Aerith through the crumbling remains of what had once been a small town along the coast. And then I finally realized what she was going to do. I didn't have much time, so I quickly slapped the low hanging branches aside and sped through the overgrown ruins toward the shore as fast as I could.
I found her only moments later. She was rowing a small but sturdy old wooden fishing boat out into the channel that separated the island from the mainland to the north. I could just make out another wooded shore far off in the distance, a thin green line across the water along the horizon. Aerith made steadily for it, her eyes determined. And in spite of the dream I'd had, I couldn't let her go off alone.
I deactivated my invisibility and called to her. "Aerith, wait!"
"Jessie!?" she glanced over her shoulder at me. "I should've known you'd find me. But you need to go back. I'm going to the Forgotten City in the mountains of the Northern Continent. Alone."
"Of course you are!" I agreed. "And I'm going with you!"
I didn't know what effect water would have on my battle suit's tech, but I didn't care. Taking a deep breath and remembering the lessons I'd learned from Cloud in Costa del Sol, I rushed into the water and swam toward the boat. Aerith gaped at me at first in shock and disbelief, then quickly turned the boat around to come back for me.
The current was fairly strong here, and I went under for a moment, but then Aerith grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me onto the boat. I was wet and shivering, but that didn't matter as I sat with her and what few supplies she'd brought with her. She looked at me for a moment as I caught my breath and water dripped from my hair.
"Why?" she asked at last.
"You're my friend," I said, my voice breaking a little. "We've known each other a long time. And as much as it scares me, I can't leave you to do this alone. I won't. I'll stick by you no matter what."
Aerith threw her arms around me and cried. "Oh, Jessie…"
I embraced her, too. "Let's go, Aerith."
"Right," she agreed when she let go. "Come on. We'd better be gone before the others find us. Across the channel's a peninsula a ways south of Junon. It shouldn't take long for us to get there if we hurry. Then we can hide the boat and head north from there on foot."
With a nod, I took the oars and started rowing. I was surprised the boat was in such good condition for how old it was, and I couldn't help wondering how Aerith had known it would be here. Probably from the spirits she'd communicated with in the temple, the white eagle, or both. In any case, she'd known where to go and what to do. And so had I. As I paddled us north across the channel, I promised myself I'd find a way to save her, to save us both from the nightmarish fate that lay ahead of us. I wasn't going to let her die, especially by my hand.
Even if I had to give my life to save hers.
The five us made it back to the Tiny Bronco without a problem. Just as Vincent had said earlier, it looked like Rufus had recalled his forces, or what was left of them. The surviving monsters and Sephiroth clones had also withdrawn back into the jungle, scattering now that what had drawn them out was gone. We stood on the western shore of the island, with the plane floating ready in the shallows on its twin pontoons. And after everything that had happened, I had a hard decision to make. Our group had been shattered, and now we stood alone.
"Looks like she's okay," Cid patted the side of his plane. "And we've got enough fuel to make it as far as Gongaga if we have to. Or Junon, if we go that way. Though that'll be trickier with Shinra bein' everywhere in that town. So what's the plan, Spike?"
"Gotta find Aerith! She can't have gone far," Barret insisted.
I gazed quietly at the northern horizon for a moment, knowing she had to be heading off on her own somewhere roughly in that direction. It was really the only way she could go to avoid being seen. She had her own journey to make. I understood that now. And we had friends that had been taken from us, friends we had to save.
Tifa looked knowingly at me. "You're not going to follow her."
"No," I shook my head decisively, my mind made up, and turned to her. "Not yet. Aerith's fate is out of our hands for now."
"Then it's all been for nothin'…" Barret sighed bitterly.
I took his broad shoulder. "Not if we stay true to each other. We're not going to abandon Yuffie and Red to whatever Shinra intends to do to them. Not while we've still got strength left."
"Exactly," Tifa's face was determined.
"I… I don't know what's happened to Jessie, where she is, or even if she's alive or dead," I went on as I remembered the terrible sight of her collapsing lifelessly to the ground in front of me. "I failed her. But if she is alive, I will find her, sooner or later. Until then, though, I'm going to save Yuffie and Red and fight to stop Sephiroth."
On the way here, I'd filled Tifa and the others in on everything that had happened in the crater. I'd seen it all, though I'd been helpless until the end to stop myself. The encounter with Sephiroth, Jessie taking the black materia before I could, fighting her to try and get it back, the rift, that strange woman in the shadows, watching myself kill Jessie and the way she'd laid so still as I'd finally regained control of my mind too late. Tifa's words had given me hope, but I knew that no matter what, Jessie would want me to keep fighting and not give up.
"Cid, Vincent, stay with the Tiny Bronco," I decided. "We can't leave it here by itself. Fly somewhere safe and wait for us. Once we've got our friends back, we'll give you a call and you can pick us up. Then we'll go north from there to find Aerith and help her."
"Alright, then," Cid agreed. "We'll be in Gongaga."
Vincent nodded. "Good luck."
That settled, I turned to Barret and Tifa. "Leave anything we won't need behind. We've got Shinra soldiers to hunt."
"Yes!" Barret pumped his fist.
After quickly getting our things together and saying our goodbyes to Cid and Vincent, we sped back into the jungle again. I led the way at a brisk jog, my heart heavy but resolved now as we went east under the late afternoon sun. Tifa followed right behind me while Barret brought up the rear as we raced onward through the trees.
We had a lot of ground to make up, but I thought we still had time to reach Shinra's large transport ships on the eastern shore before they left with Yuffie and Red. I'd considered driving the Tiny Bronco around the island to get there, but we'd have been seen and heard easily before we wanted to be, and our rescue mission depended on catching Shinra by surprise before they even knew we were there.
My course set, I hurried on, determined not to fail again.
We were getting close to the northern shore when I felt Claudia in my mind again, this time overjoyed. Aerith had taken over rowing the boat for a while to let me have a break once we'd made it about halfway across the channel, so as she sat ahead of me with the paddles, I looked up at the sky and smiled, knowing Claudia had succeeded in her quest. I reached up for a moment, surprised that the tech inside my glove was still intact and hadn't been damaged by the water, and gently released a little of the power she'd given me. I wasn't quite sure why, only that she needed it. It floated up overhead and faded away.
As I slowly lowered my hand and put it back in my lap, I sent her a a few words of encouragement in my thoughts. It wasn't long after that when I felt Claudia's power spike again. It practically sang in my mind, and I knew then that she'd saved her birth mom. I wanted to reach out to her and tell her how happy I was for her, but as Aerith and I reached the mainland, the mental connection faded. It seemed we were too far now from the island for me to contact her that way.
Once we came ashore, we hid the boat and headed into the woods just past the beach we'd landed on. It was a more temperate forest than the jungle we'd left behind several miles to the south across the water. I walked side by side with Aerith through the tall trees as we went north, alone with her now and in the very situation I'd been desperately trying to avoid for months. But there was no helping it.
Soon we found a path that led us to a low ridge that overlooked the rest of the forest and the grassy plains beyond it. And in the distance, a glimpse of another body of water, a small bay of some kind. I'd checked a map of the region on my tablet while on the boat and knew where to go. We'd avoid large towns as much as we could and camp outside most of the time to keep Shinra from finding us. But we'd have to sneak into Junon eventually to cross the ocean somehow.
"Junon…" Aerith murmured, her eyes on a faint, dark speck on the horizon. "And far past that, the mountains of the Northern Continent. I hope the others stay safe, wherever they are."
"Cloud'll look after everyone," I assured her.
She sighed longingly. "I wonder if we'll ever see them again…"
I nodded. "We might, Aerith. We might."
"Jessie," she turned and smiled. "I'm glad you're with me."
With our packs on our shoulders and our spirits resolved, we went on, thinking of our friends as we continued to travel north. Junon was over a week ahead of us on foot, although I hoped we could find a way to improve on that. But in the meantime, as the waning sun descended slowly over the woods, we pressed steadily onward.
Here ends BOOK THREE: PURSUIT
The story continues in BOOK FOUR: NIGHTFALL
After being separated during the tumultuous events at the temple of the Ancients, Cloud and his friends embark on a desperate rescue mission while Aerith ventures far to the north on a dangerous journey of her own. Amidst the chilly mountain winds, loyalties will be tested, sacrifices will be made, an unlikely ally will be found, a dark mystery will deepen, and a fiery terror will be unleashed…