Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

Not All At Once

Chapter 10

Sherry managed to hold onto her smile until Kaylan closed the door behind her. With another sigh, Sherry turned to face the rest of the occupants of her house. "Okay, let me start by saying, I know the fact that your life stories are available for others to know has to be unsettling, and I don't want to make that worse, but beyond that, it is never a good idea to know the future. Even if we find that the stories I know are not exact, which is likely given that they were probably enhanced for entertainment value, still, we know that a lot of it is true with the things we have already figured out. I cannot agree to just tell you things all willy nilly." She paused and looked to Noel. "You are the resident time traveler. Can you imagine what will happen as everyone starts to learn their probable futures?"

All eyes shifted to the young man, most with frowns. His own brow furrowed at her question, but he seemed to be thinking about it. He suddenly widened his eyes as he spoke. "If they believe what you say, the future will change." His frown was back before he continued. "But that would cause paradoxes."

She gave him a nod. "You're right. I honestly don't know what kind of effects any of this will have, but I am almost certain that the reason you were all sent here was to change your collective futures. I'm sure just you being here will change them some. We can only guess what kind of effect that will have, so my decision was made to try and keep the changes to the pertinent stuff only, although I have no idea how to do that exactly."

Noel sat back with a contemplative look. He didn't look happy when he responded. "If too many changes are made, the paradoxes could cause the timeline to collapse."

Sephiroth didn't give them a chance to continue. "You are expecting us to believe that our foreknowledge could somehow change our world and cause it to be destroyed?"

Sherry's look turned hard as she snapped back. "Is that really so hard to believe? Any harder than the fact that you have found yourself in an obviously alien world? If you can't believe that, why would you believe anything I have to say? If you think this is all some sort of fantastical dream or hallucination, then it won't matter what I tell you."

Sephiroth looked utterly shocked as the tiny woman had moved until she was right in front of him. He could feel her anger practically pouring off her and wasn't sure how to take the scene. He had never had anyone stand up to him in such a fashion since before his first meeting with Genesis, and Genesis had been the first to ever try once he had returned from his first tour in Wutai. Neither had the chance to respond further when the short blonde came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. His voice was quiet when he spoke, a habit that Sephiroth was beginning to notice was the norm for the small man.

"None of this is easy for us to believe, but from what I've seen, it's obvious we were sent here for a reason. If you think that reason is to change the future for the better, then we will try to listen. Don't be surprised that it's hard for us."

None of the men missed the fact that her face fell when she looked back at him. She covered it quickly, but it was long enough for them all to wonder what it was about Cloud that seemed to soften her snappy personality. Her voice was much softer, as well. "I know." She turned back to Sephiroth and took a deep breath before she continued. "I apologize for going off on you. I know this is hard for all of you, but please remember it's hard for me too. Your lives aren't the only ones that have been and will continue to be, changed. At least you will have a bright future if we do this right."

There was silence in the room for several moments before Zack came up beside Cloud and threw his arm over his shoulder. The grin he gave her was strained, but she appreciated that he was trying. She realized he was probably still shaken by the sight of Aerith, more so than Cloud even, as the shorter man had already known about it, even if it hurt him to think about. Zack's voice was as bright as usual when he spoke. "Well, I had a feeling this wouldn't exactly be easy, so why don't we get the hard part out of the way. Once we know our goal, we can figure out how to reach it."