Ash just stared at the materia in front of him. It was unlike anything he had seen before. It appeared to be larger than other materia, and swirls or red covered it. It looked almost like a summon materia, but the swirls or red were actually swirling, and in constant motion.

Rathena lifted the case, exposing the materia and held it up for the group to see. The motion of the swirls increased as Rathena held the materia.

Ash gazed at it. He knew that if his mother was here, she would want to get her hands on it. But at the moment, Ash wanted to get his hands on it.

He reached up and took it from Rathena's grasp. She allowed him to take it.

At first, Ash almost dropped it. He was startled to feel that it was warm to the touch. It wasn't hot to the touch even. It was almost as if it had the temperature of a living thing. If Ash had his eyes closed, he could have sworn that it wasn't a materia in his hands, but some form of small animal.

"It's magnificant," he said.

Rathena nodded. "It's mine," she said taking it back from Ash.

"Yours?" Ash asked. "I didn't see your name on it anywhere."

Rathena said nothing. But she did calmly point to the case that had held the materia. Ash looked closer than he did at first glance. And read the plaque that was under it. It read 'Chaos Materia'.

"I guess it is her materia," Aeris said.

Rathena nodded. "So what do you want with my materia?"

"We want to bring an Ancient back. Hopefully she will be able to help us with finding and saving our parents."

"Ah. I understand that you have loyalties to these people, but if you use the materia, there is a large chance that it will become unstable. Then I would no longer have anything to call my own."

There was silence in the small room. "Please help these people," Victor said. "They need your help, and I'm sure that they will help you in return."

Rathena gazed into Victor's eyes with a scrutinising look. It was almost as if she was looking for the truth behind his eyes and words.

Ash thought Rathena wouldn't help them, and received quite a shock when she nodded. "You're gonna help us?"

"Yes. I will help you. But I ask just one thing in return," Rathena said.

"What would you like?" Nanaki asked.

"Let me go with you. I have nothing here, and would love to see the outside."

Ash thought that this was a strange request. But Nanaki agreed with little reluctance. And the group allowed Ash to carry the materia as they headed for the surface. And for Rathena, they headed for freedom.

The trip to the surface was uneventful. The followed the twisting path that had led them to the lab. When they finally reached the surface, it was evening, and the stars were beginning to emerge. Rathena was silent and it almost looked as if she was crying.

Being the caring person she was, Aeris went up to Rathena and asked if she was alright. Rathena had remained silent, as if not hearing her. Aeris placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked, repeating her question.

Rathena looked down at Aeris, as if startled awake by the gentle touch. "I'm fine," she simply said. "It's just the first time that I've seen the sky. I never imagined it to be so beautiful. It's indescribable."

Aeris could think of nothing to say to this. It had never occurred to her that Rathena had never seen the sky. Sure she knew that the woman walking next to her lived in that awful lab for her whole life, but a little thing like not being able to see the sky, the thought had never clicked.

Waves of sympathy coursed over Aeris for Rathena. Here was a woman with incredible power and strength. It was almost unimaginable.

But she knew that her sympathy was probably misplaced. Rathena's expression hardened, and she turned to Aeris. "But that is of little use. There are other things to do, and my problems are inconsequential."

Rathena appeared to be a person who didn't want to burden people with problems, and could handle the problems herself.

Shrugging off a sense that Rathena had more secrets than she was letting on, Aeris resumes her position in the line and finished the walk back to the camp.

Back at the camp, everybody went to their tents. Rathena chose to sleep outside. Nobody wished to confront her about this decision, so they all went to sleep in preparation for their task the next day; to resurrect Aeris.

Alan woke up with a start. Sun was already poring through the tent's doors. Realising that he had probably slept in, he quickly rose and dressed.

Exiting the tent, he noticed that the others were almost finished packing the chocobo's up. Everyone seemed busy, but to find out what was going on, he decided to ask Aeris.

He tapped her on the shoulder. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Aeris said smiling. "We thought that you were comatose for a while."

Alan smiled. "Well, I was never really a morning person."

"I guess so," Aeris said as she ruffled Alan's already deadly bed head. "Anyway, while you were still sleeping Rathena told us that to ensure a better resurrection, it should be done at the spot the person was killed. So were heading to the Ancient City."

Alan nodded. "I guess that I better start packing my gear back up."

"I guess so. I'm done with mine so I'll help you. Alright?"

"Sure," Alan said smiling.

With Aeris helping, they packed up his gear in record time. So they were ready to go not long after Alan woke up.

As Alan mounted his gold chocobo, he looked around. "Where did Rathena go?" he asked.

"She should be around somewhere," she said, as if just realising the woman's absence, herself.

Alan glanced around one more time before shrugging off the woman's absence. She would appear when she wanted. But for Alan, that wouldn't be too soon. She freaked him out.

There was just something about her. He couldn't place it, but decided that he would try and identify it later.

Until that time, he would be content with leaving this ghost city. "Come on!" he called to the group as he spurred his mount to the north.

"Shouldn't we wait for Rathena to get back?" Aeris asked.

Alan shrugged, and was about to say something, but suddenly words failed him, and his eyes were glued to the sky.

Aeris followed his gaze, and was also shocked to silence. As were the other's. What was flying towers them was quite a breathtaking site.

It was Rathena. Or rather, it was Rathena in Chaos form. She was soaring towards them on Chaos's monstrous wings. It was a breathtaking site.

Rathena appeared to be about to soar above them, but she suddenly dropped straight down. Diving at an incredible speed, she landed amazingly lightly on the ground. Changing back into human form, she just stared at the people who stared back.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Aeris shook her head. "No. Nothing's wrong. It's just that you startled us." There was a pause before she continued. "Why did you do that anyway?"

"I just wanted to see some of the land, and test out my wings. There's no room to fly under that city."

"Ah," Alan said. "I'm sure that you found it most enjoying. But I think that we should get going."

"Of course. I didn't mean to keep you waiting." Alan nodded and was about to leave, when a thought struck him. "Wait a minute. We don't have enough chocobo's for you to have one."

Rathena shrugged. "That's not a problem."

"It isn't?" Alan was confused. If she didn't have a chocobo to ride, then how was she going to get to the Temple of the Ancients?

"That is correct. I can always fly."

"Oh. Right." And he turned back to his chocobo, and started off with the other's following. It was going to long trip.

Taking one last look over his shoulder, he saw Rathena transform and catch up with their group easily on her large wings.

Chapter 14