Something felt off to Arthur, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
'I felt like someone was watching us, but the gaze quickly disappeared,'
He said to Great Red and Ophis telepathically.
[We don't know anything,]
Great Red stated.
[Right, we don't know... anything at all,]
Ophis added with a yawn.
Great Red and Ophis knew it was Sephira who was watching him and Aerith making out, but they remained silent.
They believed this was an important part of Arthur's training.
He rarely encountered such a powerful opponent, and they knew if they intervened and carried him through every challenge, he would never grow into the strong partner they hoped he would become.
"Alright, I know you know but whatever. You two must have a reason for not telling me."
Arthur didn't linger. He had a lot of things to do.
Dealing with Shinra and helping Avalanche succeed in destroying all of the Mako reactors.
Also the mission given to him by the Tower Dungeon System was still incomplete.
He had to protect Aerith.
He was completely sure that Sephira might appear soon to do what she was supposed to do.
"This time. She might appear not just as a memory fragment."
She was insanely powerful. Even with his current power was not enough to face her head on.
Tifa and Yuffie approached Arthur, their expressions a mix of concern and curiosity.
They had something they wanted to ask him.
"Arthur, what happened to Aerith?"
Aerith showed an unusual sign.
Tifa began, her voice low and serious.
"She won't stop smiling. It's... unsettling."
Her tone suggested she half-expected some sinister explanation, as if Aerith's newfound joy were a symptom of a strange ailment.
Maybe because of drugs or something.
Yuffie, ever the pragmatist with a mischievous glint in her eye, chimed in.
"Yeah, what did you do to our flower girl? I bet it's because of you!"
Her grin widened as she bounced on the balls of her feet, clearly convinced that Arthur had given Aerith some kind of fabulous treasure.
"You must have some good stuff if you can make her that happy. Spill it!"
She wiggled her fingers in a "give it here" motion, her focus quickly shifting from concern for her friend to the potential for personal gain.
Arthur, for his part, could only smile.
The truth was far simpler, and far sweeter, than either of them imagined.
He had simply accepted Aerith's affections, and her boundless happiness was the result of their newfound connection.
"Well,"
Arthur began.
"You two will find out eventually, but I can tell you right now. Actually, Aerith and I are officially a couple now."
Tifa and Yuffie went completely silent.
It was the last thing they had expected to hear, yet as they thought back on how inseparable the two had always been, it all made perfect sense.
A soft smile graced Tifa's lips.
"Congratulations to both of you."
Despite her genuine happiness for them, a pang of jealousy hit her.
She wished she could find a boyfriend as kind and thoughtful as Arthur.
Yuffie, on the other hand, just pouted.
"To think she got a huge treasure like you,"
She grumbled under her breath, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Humph. Whatever, I'll just steal him from her then."
Her words were punctuated by a playfully mischievous smirk, a sign she was only half-joking.
Arthur shook his head. He really didn't know how to deal with her.
Barret walked over, fresh from a discussion with Godo.
"We're in a holding pattern for now,"
He announced a sense of relief in his voice.
"Wutai's sent in some more heavy hitters, so we just sit tight and wait."
He stretched, savoring the rare moment of downtime.
"I'm gonna go play with Marlene. It's been too long."
With that, he ambled away, already looking forward to the break.
Cloudia, who had been watching the whole exchange, turned her gaze to Arthur, Tifa, and Yuffie.
A faint, almost mischievous, smirk touched her lips.
"I'm heading out to the training grounds,"
She said, her voice unusually light.
"The room's all yours, though. Feel free to go wild."
Tifa's jaw dropped.
She stared at Cloudia's retreating back, then turned to Arthur and Yuffie, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Did she just...?"
"She did!"
Yuffie exclaimed, her voice a mix of shock and amusement.
"Cloudia Strife, just told us to 'go wild'! What is happening?"
Tifa couldn't help but smile.
"She's... different. I don't think I've ever heard her make a joke like that before."
A sense of warmth spread through her. Cloudia had always been so guarded, so burdened by her past.
Now, for the first time, Tifa felt like she was seeing the real Cloudia—happier, freer, and finally starting to let go.
Aerith walked over to them after finishing her smile, but a radiant smile was still on her face.
She wrapped her arms around Arthur's arm, holding on tighter than usual.
"It has something to do with my… boyfriend!"
She said, a playful lilt in her voice.
Tifa leaned in, her curiosity piqued.
"What do you mean?"
She asked.
Aerith touched her chin, deep in thought.
"I don't know how to explain it well, but her past is now his,"
She said, her expression becoming more serious.
"I can feel the shift in the Lifestream. Everything that happened to Cloudia... it's all part of Arthur's story now, too."
"She's being weird again..."
Tifa felt a headache coming on and decided to retreat, but Aerith wouldn't let her.
She charged at her and hugged her like a koala.
The two of them seemed like they'd been friends for years.
Yuffie, ever the conspirator, came up with many crazy theories that were surprisingly close to the truth.
One of them involved Arthur, an alien from a distant planet.
She was almost right. He didn't come from another planet; he came from another world—a world where they were all just a bunch of video game characters.
…
Sephira watched them enjoying themselves and felt an emotion she had discarded long ago: the feeling of companionship.
"What a useless thought and futility,"
She muttered, narrowing her eyes.
The Time Whisperer spoke to her, its voice a soft murmur of "timeline correction" and similar commands.
She ignored it. Just because she accepted its help didn't mean she had to obey its every whim.
"I will fight him when I want to! Stop trying to control me!"
Sephira unfolded a single, dark wing and expelled the whisperer from her mind.
It did not like being dismissed.
"You will also experience the inevitable. You are nothing but a fragment of his memory,"
The whisperer hissed, its words a direct jab at her connection to the true Sephiroth.
Sephira hated being compared to her counterpart.
However, unlike Arthur, she was not an outsider and couldn't truly defeat the whisperer.
'Just you wait,'
She thought, her resolve hardened.
'I will take power from him. I will eliminate you all once and for all. I will not just be a fragment of his memories.'
Sephira began her planning. To overcome her set destiny.
…
Rufus began his careful takeover of Shinra, deciding to stop sending soldiers to deal with Arthur.
"It's useless,"
He declared.
"Their primary targets are the Mako reactors. We will focus on defense, not offense."
He looked at Hojo.
"How is the experiment progressing?"
Hojo's crazy smile widened.
"We have successfully infused Mako with the summon. We are ready to unleash it anytime we want."
Rufus nodded.
The Whisperers had given them this countermeasure as a way to handle anomalies when Shinra's own forces proved insufficient.
Rufus knew what they were trying to do, and to be honest, he hated being controlled again.
"I will not be controlled again in this life,"
He vowed to himself,
"Not even by such beings. I will find a way to kill it just like I killed my father."
Whisperer might be the timeline guardian but it was not omnipotent.
They could not even understand how the human mind works.