Aeris watched the light. It was so briliant but it didn't hurt her eyes. Because it didn't hurt, she could look 'within' it, and she wouldn't get a headach. The light was so absorbing, it captured all of hre attention.

That was when she saw it. A shadow was energing from the light. No. Shadow was not the right word. It was as bright, if not brighter, than the light surrounding it. Almost undetectable, yet calling out to be seen.

Then as suddenly as it had grown, the light faded, and disappeared. As Rathena heald the materia, it disapeared from site. Apparently that was how materia 'died'. They just vanished.

Focusing back on the spot she had last seen the shape, she looked for the Cetra that they had brought back to life. But nobody stood there.

Aeris looked at the other's faces. They all looked confused. Except Victor. He looked astonished. That was when he spoke. "It worked," he said.

This confused Aeris because the boy thought he was seeing something, when everyone else couldn't.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean that it worked. We brought her back."

"I knew it. The kid's crazy. He's halucenating," Ash said

"What do you mean?" Victor asked.

Aeris was about to explain that they couldn't see anyone, but something seemed to attract his attention. He looked back, over his shoulder, and looked as if he was listening to something. Aeris could almost hear something, but it was too faint to really hear.

Victor turned back to the group. "You can't see her. But she is here."

"If she's here, why can't we see her?" Alan asked. His voice heald disbelief.

"Well, she's still dead, and is only here in spirit. Apparently, as a side effect to using the Chaos materia, only people with Chaos can see and hear her."

"Fine," Alan stated. "But if she is here, is she willing to help us?"

Victor paused a moment more, listening. "Yes. She will help us as much as she can. But being detached from the lifestream at the moment, she wont be able to tell us much."

"What can she tell us? Does she know what's happening?"

Pause. "She knows where Marlene is. But not where your parents are."

"Where is she?"

"She's is being heald captive by a group called the Black Cloke. At the moment, they are in the Nibelhiem mountians."

A large smile erupted on Aeris's face, and what was possibly a smile grew on Nanaki's. "So, all we have to do is go to Nibelhiem, and we can rescue Marlene!"

Victor frowned. She didn't understand. Rescuing this Marlene would prove to be quite dificult. If they had managed to kill his father as a warning, then capture the rest of the adult group; chances were that they probably wouldn't succeed.

The spirit Aeris knew this as well. She glanced down at Victor. "Please tell your friends that it won't be that simple. These people are dangerous, and won't think twice about killing them. They must be cautious."

"No. You can't rescue Marlene yet. It's too dangerour, and these people will probably just kill you. We must not react too quickly. We must plan how to rescue your friend."

"Victor is right," Rathena said. "It doesn't really matter to me what you decide to do, but the Anccient seems quite worried about you all. And making a Cetra upset is something you shouldn't want to do."

"Ok," Ash said, crossing his arms. "Say that we stayed put for a moment, and made a plan. Say we came up with a plan, but it took so long that when we finally got around to rescuing Marlene, that she had been moved. Then what?"

Aeris' spirit sighed. "They won't move her."

"They won't move her," Rathena repeated.

"At the last moment I could sense them, I knew that they were more concerned with the parents."

"When the Cetra last felt these men, she knew they were more concerned about the parents."

"So they may not move Marlene. They may have been bringing the parents to where Marlene was, even."

"They won't move Marlene, and are probably bringing the parents to where Marlene is."

The group murmered among themselves for a moment. Finally Aeris spoke. "Alright. Well make a plan. I just hope that we won't be too late to save Marlene or our parents."

The Cetra smiled gently. "I'm sure . . ." she began, then her face went completely white and looked lifeless and sad.

Victor looked at her with deep concern on his face. He poened his mouth to say something when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He looked and saw that it was Aeris. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

Victor shrugged and looked back at the spirit. As he did, he saw that she was almost crying and looking sympathetically at Aeris, who looked confuled and concerned at the same time. "Has something happened?" Victor asked.

The spirit nodded. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She looked sympathetically at Aeris and spoke. "I may be temporarilly detached from the lifestreme, but I can still speek with the planet, a bit. And it told me that one of it's hero's has died. Has been killed."

Victor didn't understand, but deep down he knew. "What is it?"

"Cloud Strife has been killed."

"Killed?!" He exclamed. "How? My father told me that he was one of the best fighters on this planet."

"The Black Cloke killed him."

"No . . ."

Aeris looked at Victor. "What's happened? Who was killed?"

He looked at the spirit who nodded, as if giving permision for the news. "Cloud Strife had died."

And with that said, he saw Aeris' face go white, and tears begin to birm in her eyes. "No." Was all she could say.

Alan placed his hand on her shoulder. "We'll find who killed him, and make them pay."

Aeris lifted her head. "Thanks," she said smiling. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get them."

Chapter 16