Time and Tides Archives

Steiner had been in Alexandria Castle before he found himself at the entrance to a derelict-looking church. He was not as surprised as he might have been, given that something like this had happened before. Last time he had ended up in Mysidia with Terra. This time...

"Miss Aerith?" he said, recognising the girl in pink as he came forward. "Don't panic! We seem to have been displaced... Did you say Midgar? Then at least we are still within the realm of Alexandria. I shall escort you back to the castle myself."

He beckoned her to join him, unaware of how she must really be feeling.

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Letting out a little sigh once the knightly fellow began to speak, Aerith could only chuckle at her luck so far. She has only been in Gaia for a few weeks now and she already met one emperor and two knights. While it perplexed her as to how this knight knew her name, Aerith could tell that he was a friendly person despite all his bravado.

"Relax!" She giggled out with a smile. "We aren't in any danger, at least not here." The church may have looked like nothing more than a ramshackle mess to someone used to the finer decor of Alexandria's beautiful castle but to Aerith, this was her little paradise.

Reaching down to pluck one of the flowers off the grassy ground, a frown settled upon her lips once it began to vanish. "Huh?" Letting out a sound of disbelief, the flower faded away within her fingertips as if it never existed at all.

"That was odd." Aerith muttered to herself before glancing over at the knight again. "Escort me back to the castle? Oh, well...sure!" Oh, what luck! It seems she has another castle to visit; Gaia's natives sure are friendly and are extremely hospitable.

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"Then let us go."

Steiner led the way back out of the entrance, then blinked as bright sunlight hurt his eyes. It was certainly sunny out there. But two steps later, he frowned as he realised that he hadn't left the church at all. He'd ended up in the back of the same room, the bed of flowers opposite him.

"...Huh?"

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From behind one of the pillars, out of sight from where Aerith and Steiner had been conversing, Loz came to for the first time within Gaia. He grimaced briefly, trying to figure out how he'd managed to end up back at the church, before pushing off of the ground and standing.

The heavy thud of his footsteps would alert the others to his presence, just as their voices had done to betray them to the remnant. He was still checking to see if the Dual Hound gauntlet attached to his arm was still in working order when he came into view, though his attention shifted to regard the unlikely duo before him soon enough.

"Where's mother?"

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Watching the knight vanish for a brief second only to reappear opening the door of the back room, Aerith's eyes became as wide as saucers. "W-what?" Blinking at him a tad owlishly, the girl was about to rush towards the main entrance until another man appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh? Who are you?" Aerith asked with a somewhat frightful gleam within her deep green eyes. Studying the tall man's features, Aerith noticed something oddly familiar and foreboding about his appearance and demeanor. Like the man she spoke to a few days ago, this one possessed the same cat-like green eyes and bright silver hair similar to Sephiroth himself. The Cetra knew that Sephiroth was here because Cloud told her this but Aerith couldn't understand as to why there were two people mirroring the former villain's appearance.

“Mother?” She questioned aloud before casting a slightly worried gaze over towards Steiner.

“Your mother isn’t here…I don’t think so.”

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"Blast this place!" Steiner muttered once he had got his bearings again. Clearly there was some magic around the church to confound visitors. Steiner had encountered this before trying to find the Black Mage Village.

But now there was someone new, a young man with silver hair rather like General Sephiroth. Steiner strode forward to greet him.

"I fear not," he replied. "Were you with your mother before you appeared here? Don't worry, we shall take you back to her! Where are you from?"

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Aerith's answer didn't sit well with the remnant, but before he could respond to her, the other one was approaching him. What's more, this guy seemed willing to take him to mother. It was probably the first time anyone he'd asked had expressed any sort of willingness to help, which meant that Steiner wouldn't be getting punched through a wall ... yet.

"We were looking for her. Me, Kadaj and Yazoo..." Trailing off, glowing feline eyes shifted back toward Aerith. Disregarding Steiner altogether, Loz began moving closer to the flower girl, brows knit together as if he were confused by her presence here. He stopped in front of her, still regarding her with a sort of confusion.

"Who are you?"

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Letting a little smile grace her face once Steiner volunteered to help the silver-haired man, Aerith's thoughts strayed a little to a previous conversation regarding the same topic. "Three brothers in search of their mother..." The girl thought aloud before glancing back towards the big brute before her. Her eyes were tense and filled with worry as she gazed up at Loz. Unsure what to say at first to him, Aerith decided that perhaps giving her name wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Aerith." She answered him plainly with a small smile. "My name is Aerith."

A quiet gasp escaped her lips once her eyes began to gloss over with the vision of another. Her body nearly went limp once the memory that played out within her mind came crashing through her reality. From the roof of the church fell a young-black haired man donning an all too familiar SOLIDER uniform. Tearing her gaze away from Loz, Aerith’s eyes settled upon the face of this man with a look of pure shock.

“Z-Zack!?” She rushed towards the middle of the little flower garden to help him, an act that must have seemed peculiar to the two others there since they could see nothing but the blurriness of this foggy memory.

“Zack, are you alright?” Aerith asked in panic as she knelt down beside him. No longer wearing her signature bright pink dress, Aerith now wore a white gown that had had blue stripes traveling horizontally across her skirt.

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Steiner frowned as Aerith started talking to thin air. He waved his arm in front of her.

"Miss Aerith? Miss Aerith! There's nobody there!" He even jumped up and down to try and attract her attention, but to no avail.

It took another good few seconds of frowning and shooting a suspicious look at Loz before Steiner realised. "No... Could it be...?"

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Loz wasn't exactly the sharpest crayon in the box, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Aerith was acting strangely. He watched her for a few more moments, before looking to the armored man who'd resorted to jumping around (which earned a slight smirk from the remnant as he watched--it looked kind of fun).

"Could it be what?"

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Completely oblivious of the two others who watched her, Aerith's smile grew bigger once Zack opened his eyes. He called her an 'Angel', just like the first time they met claiming he must have died and went to heaven. The little joke made her laugh so happily despite it being the corniest pick up line she ever heard. Letting out a soft sigh as she tried to help him up from the flowerbed, her eyes began to blink owlishly once she heard the hum of someone whispering in her ear.

"Who's there?" She asked as she gazed towards the entrance of the church. Her gaze was blank at first, completely devoid of any emotion before a look of mild recognition began to filter through.

"T-this is Midgar, right?" Aerith asked Zack with a wan little smile.

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Steiner retreated, watching Aerith. "I think," he mused, "I think that she is seeing something that we aren't. I've seen this before. This church must be a place from Miss Aerith's past. She is reliving an event from long ago."

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Loz looked confused as he turned back to face Steiner. "I was just here the other day," he revealed. "This is the place where big brother was staying."

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Gazing into Zack's bright eyes for the umpteenth time, Aerith noticed something slightly different about the glimmer of mako that glowed within those blue pools. He was certainly the Zack she remembers and loves but there was something off about those beautiful eyes, something strong enough to pry the girl from her pleasant memory. As the white of her dress became tainted with the hue of coral once more, the flower girl rose slowly.

"...A dream?" She asked as she glanced up towards the sky again. "That was a dream." With that look of recognition returning to her gentle eyes, Aerith glanced over towards the two others nearby.

"What happened? What happened just now?"

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Steiner frowned at Loz. "Then are you two from the same world?"

He turned as Aerith spoke to them and cleared his throat. "I'm not certain, Miss Aerith, but I believe - if this place is indeed from your memories - that you may have relived an experience from your past. Is that so?"

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Loz wasn't sure what the guy in the tin can was talking about. Out of the three of them, though, he seemed to have the most clue about what was going on. The girl, Aerith, looked just as confused as he felt.

"I already said this place isn't her memory. Didn't you listen? I was just here the other day looking for big brother."

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Glancing over at Loz for a moment, a look of realization dawned within her gaze. "You and I are from the same world, aren't we?" A little smile settled upon her lips since as she silently drew her own conclusions. She may have to have a talk with 'Cloud' about this matter but at least now, she understands somewhat of who this silver-haired man could be.

"Yes, this place is from my memory." She answered Steiner before gazing over at Loz again. "This place is from his memory as well." Her smile grew.

"The church isn't real. It's a fake and the memory I relived was just that, a memory." Aerith was starting to understand what was going on even if her understanding of this was a tad fuzzy.

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Steiner nodded. "Then my suspicions were correct! This church is merely an illusion. Illusions can be tricky things, but we must not be fooled by them! This way!"

Determined not to be defeated by the tricks of the church again, Steiner strode out of the church entrance, only to find himself in a very familiar setting. Alexandria. The crowds lined up to see the queen newly reunited with Zidane. The perfect moment of celebration, made even more perfect by Beatrix at his side. She and Steiner raised his sword in celebration-

Steiner shook his head as the vision faded. "I had forgotten just how convincing these were."

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