Inheritance (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth)

꧁ III ꧂

A/N: I will include some side quests/world intel in this story. They may also be altered for fun and convenience, but they do not affect the canon outcome. I'm hoping that somewhat makes sense. Hope you all enjoy chapter 3! Love you all!!!
~✨Celestial✨~
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After realizing they had no money, the party began doing a few odd jobs around the grasslands to fill their pockets with gil before crossing the swamplands. Among the people they helped were Chloe and Broden. They even had a brief encounter with Kyrie, the girl from the Sector 5 slums.

Amidst venturing across the grasslands, their attention was grabbed by an owl. It was swiftly flying in circles above them and hooting.

"Oh, what a pretty owl!" Aerith gasped.

"It looks like it wants something," Tifa said.

"We should follow it," Red stated.

"Well, I can't see any harm in it," Lailah chimed in.

The group followed the owl across the grasslands. They wondered where it was leading them until they arrived at the breathtaking sight of a lifespring. The crystallized mako was gleaming as the ground around it was decorated with various flowers of different colors.

Lailah held out her hand as small particles of mako floated upward. When they made contact with her hand, she absorbed them into her body. Retracting her hand, she turned to Cloud. "Why don't you try scanning it with that device Chadley gave you?"

"Guess it couldn't hurt." Cloud pulled out the device and scanned the lifespring.

Once he was done, the crystallized mako reacted. What little mako remained in the lifespring spread outward. Lailah could feel her body absorbing some of the mako, which didn't go unnoticed by the others. All of them turned to her.

"Did you just...absorb some of the mako?" Aerith asked.

Lailah held out her hands as she felt more rejuvenated than ever. "I did. It seems what little mako the lifesprings possess can be absorbed into my body."

Red gazed at the shapeshifter. "Mako courses through your veins. For you, it is not a poison and is safe to come in direct contact with."

"How you feelin'?" Barret asked.

Lailah flexed her fingers before tightening her hands into fists. "Like I've got a powerful spell just waiting to be cast."

"In that case, point it at the next asshole who crosses us!"

She laughed. "Will do."

Just then, the device's holographic screen activated. Chadley's face appeared on the screen. "Lifesprings such as this can be discovered in every region. Their potential energy output is far too minuscule for Shinra to exploit, but it seems to have had a beneficial result on Lailah. Cloud, could you scan her?"

Cloud met his girlfriend's golden gaze. "You okay with this?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead."

He held up the device and scanned her. It only took a few seconds. The information was quickly retrieved by Chadley. "Hmm... The Vitaea, or more commonly known as the Children of Gaia, truly do have unique biology. They appear human and yet they are vastly different. The amount of pure mako detected in Lailah's body could wipe out all of Midgar, and it seems the lifespring has added to that amount."

"What? Now she can wipe out two Midgars?" Barret asked.

"Not exactly. The mako she absorbed from the lifespring added only a small amount to her body. The current amount of mako contained in her blood could wipe out all of Midgar and possibly a small city such as Kalm."