Puck was already snoring inside the metal toolbox on the bench.
That night was a moment of long reflection for Johnny. Looking back, this single week had been a relentless barrage of the most significant events he had ever faced.
Earlier that afternoon, after the "Family Trial", Johnny had driven Aerith and Mother Elmyra back to Sector 5. The farewell near Elmyra's house was... colorful. As she got out of the car, Aerith boldly seized her chance. She leaned in and planted a swift kiss on Johnny's cheek, leaving him flush-faced and frozen behind the steering wheel.
The romantic tension, however, did not last long.
Thwack!
With terrifyingly fast hands, Elmyra flicked Aerith's forehead before reaching through the open car window to do the same to Johnny.
"Keep your manners in public!" Elmyra scolded, though the corners of her mouth twitched with a hidden smile. Johnny could only wince and rub his forehead while Aerith giggled, darting toward the safety of the house.
When Johnny finally returned home that night, the surprises weren't over. His parents, Garrick and Marilla, were waiting to "scold" him again—but the tone was different this time.
"Tomorrow, it's our turn to go to Sector 5," Marilla said firmly, folding her apron. "We won't be outdone in politeness, Johnny. They came to our home today. Tomorrow, we make a formal visit to theirs."
Garrick nodded in agreement. "Your mother is baking her signature sponge cake. I'll wear my best shirt. We're going to show them that this family knows how to show respect."
Johnny stood frozen in the doorway of his room. His chest felt tight—not from fear, but from a strange, foreign warmth spreading through his heart. His parents were truly standing up for him. They weren't judging him; instead, they were working to cover his flaws with the grace of family etiquette.
Is this what it means to have parents? Johnny wondered, his eyes stinging. Is this what they call unconditional love? Is this what every 'normal' person with a father and mother feels?
In his past life as Guts, he had no parents. He had been born from a hanging corpse. He had been raised by rough, violent mercenaries, betrayed, and lived a life fueled by pure rage. He didn't know what it meant to be "scolded out of love." He only knew being "scrolled for failing to kill."
"Crazy..." Johnny muttered to himself. He lay back and draped an arm over his forehead.
"I trembled facing Mother Elmyra. My heart raced for fear of my parents' scolding. And yet, I once stared into the eyes of the God Hand without so much as a blink."
He found himself smiling in the darkness—a genuine, quiet smile.
"So this is a normal family? Rules, nagging, embarrassment... but it's warm. I'm not alone."
A new fear of loss began to take root. Once, he only feared losing Casca. Now, the list was growing: Aerith, Elmyra, Garrick, Marilla. The burden on his shoulders was getting heavier, but that weight made him feel truly alive.
Johnny lay on his bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Suddenly, a stray thought crossed his mind. He remembered Elmyra's threats with the kitchen knife and her anger from that morning.
Wait a minute... Johnny swallowed hard. Aerith and I have the 'Lifestream Bond'.
Cold sweat broke out on his temples. If Mother Elmyra had actually stabbed him or slapped him with all her might earlier that morning, Aerith would have screamed in pain right along with him. The bond shared the physical sensation.
Johnny rubbed his face roughly. Stupid. Thank God Mom and Dad managed to soften Mother Elmyra's heart. Otherwise, I could have ended up hurting Aerith without even touching her.
As the silence of the night deepened, Johnny's mind drifted toward darker waters.
The images of the battle against the G-Copies, Angeal, and Genesis replayed in his mind. Monsters with identical faces. Genesis's features copied over and over into a soulless army.
Can every First Class SOLDIER be duplicated like that? he wondered. What about Zack? And what about... Sephiroth? Could they be copied too?
The name alone made the hair on Johnny's neck stand up.
Sephiroth.
The image of the silver-haired man triggered the deepest traumas in Johnny's soul—the soul of Guts. Sephiroth and Griffith... why did they have to be so similar? The long silver or white hair, the beautiful yet frigid face, the aura that transcended humanity. Why did his greatest enemy in this world have to share a face with the demon who had destroyed his previous life?
Are they the same entity?
His head began to throb. Nausea hit him. What if this world had Materia that functioned like a Behelit? Would Sephiroth sacrifice those around him for power? Would he become a God Hand? Would an Eclipse—a slaughter under a blood-red sun—happen all over again in Midgar?
Johnny's breathing grew ragged. The fear was visceral. The fear of helplessness.
Slowly, however, the warmth of the day began to push back the shadows. Aerith's smile. The ring on her finger. And... the memories of that night.
Johnny rolled onto his side, hugging a pillow. He had to be honest with himself. That night at the hotel, sharing a bed... he hadn't been entirely "pure." when Aerith falling asleep, her face looking so peaceful. Driven by an overwhelming lust of emotion, he took a chance. He had kissed her sleeping lips, again and again. He had kissed her neck. His hands had trembled, nearly reaching for her bosom.
His blood had been boiling. The desire to claim her, to have her completely, had been almost all-consuming.
Thank God... Johnny thought, feeling a mix of guilt and relief. Thank God she moved in her sleep and stopped me without knowing. If she hadn't... everything would be different today. I wouldn't be able to look Mother Elmyra in the eye.
And then there was Zack. Aerith's words haunted him: "He is my first love in the future."
It was a bizarre sentence. A first love... in the future?
Was there something Johnny didn't understand? Aerith was a Cetra. Could she see fragments of what was to come? Did she see a terrifying future? Johnny stared into the void of the ceiling. Did she know the path toward the Planet's destruction?
There was one more thing that gnawed at him. The greatest fear of all, rising from within. Whenever he entered that Berserk State... was that the Beast of Darkness from his past? It wasn't just adrenaline. It felt familiar. Too familiar.
Cold sweat ran down his spine. Is it the Beast of Darkness—the Black Hound of my past life?
Back then, that internal monster was born from Guts's hatred and trauma. It was a manifestation of darkness that wanted to devour everything—even the woman he loved.
Did that monster reincarnate with me? Is it inside Johnny's body?
Can Aerith feel it through our bond?
The questions spun in his mind without answers. But one thing was certain: tomorrow morning, he had to wake up and put on his best clothes again.
Drowsiness finally dragged Johnny into a dream. But his peaceful sleep would not last.
===============================================================
The ceiling of Johnny's room suddenly cracked and gave way, but what lay behind it wasn't the darkness of the night. It was a sky consumed by a violent, burning fire.
Johnny stood upon a scorched, fractured earth. In the blood-red sky above, a massive Meteor hung in static suspension, radiating a suffocating purple-red aura. In the distance stood a man with long, silver hair that shimmered with a cold brilliance, his back turned to Johnny. His black coat billowed wildly in a wind that smelled of death.
Sephiroth.
The figure turned slowly. His features shifted and blurred yet remained hauntingly the same—at times Sephiroth, at others Griffith. But his gaze never changed: it was cold, absolute, and brimming with contempt.
"All of this... for the sake of a grand rebirth," a voice echoed, vibrating inside Johnny's skull.
Suddenly, geysers of emerald fire—the Lifestream—erupted from the fissures in the ground, carrying the screams of a thousand agonized souls. In the center of the surging energy, Johnny saw Aerith. She was kneeling, weaving a silent prayer, before she was finally swallowed by the green light and the encroaching shadow.
"AERITH!"
At that same moment, in her own bedroom, Aerith was trapped in the same vision. She heard the Screams of the Planet. She saw a Promised Land that was barren and dead. She felt the chill of a long blade piercing the water and an eternal loneliness creeping in from the depths of space.
"Mother..." Aerith moaned in her sleep. "It hurts... the Planet is in pain..."
WAKE UP!
Johnny jolted. He sat bolt upright in bed, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his shirt soaked through with cold sweat. His heart hammered against his ribs like a war drum. Thump... thump... thump...
In Sector 5, Aerith also sat up, gasping for air. She clutched her blanket tight, tears streaming down her cheeks before she even realized she was crying.
Despite the distance between sectors, they both stared out their windows at the same time. They looked toward the same night sky—the sky obscured by the oppressive steel plate of Midgar. The family peace Johnny had just begun to feel was now shadowed by something far larger and more terrifying.
"I have to get stronger," Johnny muttered into the dark.
===============================================================
The Morning Visit
The courtyard, filled with lilies in full bloom, greeted the Garrick family as they arrived. Elmyra opened the door with a smile far more sincere than the one she had worn the day before. She wore a neat, elegant house dress. Behind her, Aerith peeked out with a joyful spark in her eyes, wearing her best light-blue dress.
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Garrick," Elmyra greeted them warmly.
"Good morning, Mrs. Elmyra," Garrick replied with a polite bow, then nudged Johnny, who had frozen in place.
"G-good morning, Mom!" Johnny snapped out of it and quickly held out a box. "This... this is banana sponge cake! My mother made it! I mean, it's for you, Mom!"
The atmosphere inside the living room was remarkably fluid. Marilla and Elmyra hit it off almost instantly, bonding over everything from cake recipes to the difficulty of getting oil stains out of clothes. Meanwhile, Garrick busied himself admiring the sturdy construction of Elmyra's wooden house.
Taking advantage of the parents' preoccupation, Johnny and Aerith slipped out toward the back garden. They sat by the edge of the pond. Johnny loosened his shirt collar, which felt like it was choking him.
"You look very sharp, Johnny," Aerith teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"I feel ridiculous in these clothes," Johnny countered stiffly, though his heart was light.
A brief silence settled over them. A gentle breeze blew past, carrying the scent of lilies.
"Johnny," Aerith began, her voice turning serious. "Did you... sleep well last night?"
Johnny turned and noticed the faint dark circles under Aerith's green eyes. He knew then that she hadn't rested well either.
"No," Johnny answered honestly. "I had a nightmare. A bad one."
Aerith looked at him intently. "Your Cetra powers seem to be waking up and connecting with mine. I saw it too. The red sky? The Meteor?"
Johnny nodded grimly. "And Sephiroth. He was there."
Aerith hugged her knees, shivering slightly despite the warmth of the morning sun. "The Lifestream is terrified, Johnny. The Planet is screaming that something truly evil is waiting for us in the future. Something that wants to swallow all life."
Johnny clenched his fists in his lap. The dream hadn't been a mere fantasy. He shifted closer, letting his shoulder rest against hers to offer what strength he could.
"Let him wait," Johnny said, his eyes fixed on the reflection of the sky in the pond. "As long as I'm still breathing, I'll keep training. I'll be a wall that the silver-haired man cannot breach. You, my parents, Mother Elmyra... no one else is going to get hurt."
Aerith turned to look at Johnny's face, which was set in hard, determined lines. A sense of security washed over her, steadying her heart.
"Then I'll help you," Aerith said, touching the ruby ring on her finger. "We won't face it alone. We'll face it together."