A third sequel to Final Fantasy VII, I own no part of it. A Door,

"When another door closes, one door opens." Zack had said, he stood before an open door, staring into Clouds deep sapphire eyes. "Aeris looked up, met Cloud's gaze as well, and wished him a goodbye. The rain continued to fall that day, releasing all the population of Midgar's upper sector from the terror of the Geostigma, and the wake Kadaj left before his soul was released into the life stream, where he met Aeris and his mother, the calamity, Jenova." Tifa closed her journal, binding it together with a small thread, wrapping it around to buttons attached to the worn cover of Tifa's diary, a treasure she would take with her, wherever she happened to go. The upper corner's leather cover had torn from usage and the rest of the notebook was simply tattered remains.

The tear uncovered the ebony notebook, the upper corner which you were not supposed to see, her notebook loosely resembled her heart, slightly torn up, yet still a chance for her to emotionally better herself, and possibly make a stand to Cloud, helping him forget Aeris, if that was possible. But anyway, Tifa clicked her pen and rested it on her side table, gracefully enclosing her journal into the drawer beneath the mahogany nightstand. Tifa recollected the events that had just occurred inside of her conscious, some of which would stay with her, always at her side as long as she would be near her consciousness, and possibly even after, when her soul is resting peacefully with her other friends, and enemies in the life stream. Tifa rested her head down on her pillow, worried, Cloud had not yet returned from the battle that weakened him dearly, he most likely had been resting at the place where he first met his true love, Aeris.

Tifa closed her eyes, slowly she drifted into slumber, warm in her blankets, actually she didn't sleep at all, how could she? There is nothing that could possibly allow her to sleep, many questions remained ingrained in her mind, will they be answered? Her questionable memories include, what is happening to Cloud? Kadaj? Yazoo and Loz? Where could they possibly have gone? Is the life stream…actually a true substance that takes souls and converts them into energy? Tifa already knows what happened to her friends…Cid put highwind into high gear, the rocket thrusters ignited and the vessel stormed off, away from the explosion, a tear formed under Tifa's eyes, slowly, drop by drop, the tears ran down her face, as if in a rush to reach the floor, one by one her tears dropped off her face and her skin became rosy. Why was she crying? Something told her she might not see Cloud again, that would crush her. Tifa's heart could not possibly handle the death of someone so dear to her, her beloved Cloud. Tifa could not reveal her emotions to the emotionless entity by the name of Cloud. Is he just simply a remnant…left by Jenova's wake? Would he too, soon drift off into the life stream to be with the others? Only time would tell, Tifa finally drifted off into a deep sleep with tears drying on her face…she dreamed of a different life, a life of which Sephiroth was revived and Kadaj as well. Something evil seems to stir in the midst of Midgar…something…Wicked.

その夢だけ、悲しげに。

Cloud didn't get much sleep either, his arm free of a deadly disease that would eventually lead to his cryptic death, much to Tifa's surprise, something she wasn't sure of was the status of Cloud, he was surely alive alright, here he is, a living, breathing, human, or was he? Cloud's slow and steady heartbeat, ba-bum, ba-bum, a sluggish repetition of blood, flowing away and returning, as if he was somehow connected to the blood of the universe, beating as if it too had a pulse. Each beat of his heart, a new thought. He couldn't imagine having to decide between the two only women in his life, Tifa and Aeris, he never would have to choose, after all, Aeris is…dead…isn't she? She was slaughtered innocently before Cloud's eyes, locked in prayer, hoping deeply that the world would change, just for her and her friends to be happy, happiness, when compared to curiosity, ultimately killed the cat. That caliginous entity, hovering above Aeris' head, what crime could she possibly had committed to deserve fatality? Sluggishly, as the curtains of her liveliness drew to a close, a blade, thrust through her chest, piercing her heart, leading to her inevitable death. A white materia fell from her hands, recoiling repeatedly as it descended a staircase, disrupting incredibly undisturbed water, where the materia sunk rapidly towards the bottom of the body of rain, ripple-less, peacefully nonetheless, Aeris died painlessly and her body titled over the sword that pieced her body, Sephiroth used his foot, applied pressure to her back and tugged unmercifully on her body, the sword came out and he smirked at her corpse. Cloud then crept over to her dead body, he almost killed her after being overtaken by Sephiroth, however, he resisted and Sepiroth grew angry and killed her himself. Cloud lifted her body off of the marble platform she prayed upon and lowered her body into the pool, allowing her to peacefully sink into the body of water below. Before she sunk, her eyes opened and she gave Cloudy an enormous embrace. Cloud woke up immediately, yelling, sobbing, he whispered to himself, "It was only a dream…sadly"

Only Time Will Tell,

A darkening cloud formed in the sky, a whirling dusk emmited an eminent glow, radiating towards the planet, a green glow just before the atmosphere, the life stream, however, where the following events occur not in the emerald flow of tides, but above them. An eerie mist shrouded an ominous place; a formation of clouds shrouded in mystery floated high above the atmosphere, only visible to the dead, a place similar to the hell humans know. A hell, in the celestial sphere above all life on the planet. This mysterious place is now home to ominous faces, so familiar yet so strange; they are as if you could just place your finger on them, not remembering who they are, or how they have affected you positively or negatively. These beings engaged in a conversation that included dialogue similar to this, "So, you found em' ya know, more of, it right?" The strange emphasis on the word it was quite memorable, making this conversation that much more interesting, what a familiar dialect! "Yes, yes brother, I have obtained more of the substance…Damn, being dead is SUCH a bitch!" Said the face, shielded by a veil of lavender, "No matter, once we are returned to the planet we belong to, once we own it, death will not be a factor!" Said another face, covered by a hood, a dark silhouette cascaded over the face, allowing nothing to see in, revealing the identity of the entity behind it. "You really are certain that your plan will not fail. Correct? How can you be so sure that everything will fall into place? It didn't seem to work out for you last time you tried it!" Said the same face, another figure protruded into the picture, also adding some zest into the conversation, "Oh and how exactly do you plan to return to the universe? In case you didn't notice you kicked the bucket a few days ago, you have only been" he was interrupted by the face covered by a hood, finishing his sentence it said "deceased for short period of time! Shouldn't we plot this slightly better before we go barging back to earth?" The face covered by a veil replied with "Ok, how long do you want us to wait, huh? If we wait too long, you know who could be plotting against us right now! Besides, I hate being dead, too much waiting around for a certain occasion or perfect time for revival." The Veiled face concluded, allowing the hooded figure to comment, "Well I guess it is settled, we begin to plot," He looks towards the veiled figure, "When the moment feels right, we will deliver the blow, I presume timing is the key?" The third invisible figure whom commented with zest added, "yes, I think timing would make everything fall into place, and maybe…just maybe we can… ya' no…Oh you guys get the picture!" The three figures continued to plot there proposition of domination, when finally the veiled figure concluded with, "As with most things…only time will tell."

A Happier Approach

The recent events that followed Sephiroth's legacy have not been of a happy nature, instead, they told tales or sadness, weary days, and that of a dark storm brewing in the midst of things. Luckily, these storms seem to be far off and in the mean time, the rest of Cloud's happier companions seem to be having a better time, without all the empty promises and an untold prophecy foretelling mass destruction if things play out correctly for the dank abysmal beings in the hell above us. Yuffie and Barret decided to help out the people left poverty-stricken and penniless. Yuffie waltzed happily down the nasty looking street filled with strange people of all types. Now that the disease had been lifted off the planet, everything had a more cheerful feeling to it, it just seemed brighter. Barret was assisting a group of people with a part of there house that had collapsed while Yuffie was collecting fruit and other free goods given by the more fortunate people of town. Tifa had even cheered up, she began to write in her journal all of the preceding events that occur, all of which were happy and grand in the exterior.

Meanwhile—

Cloud had tidied up the church and took strolls around Midgar, Tifa still wasn't sure if Cloud was even still alive, he hadn't written to her or spoken to her but it seems like today, all that is going to change.

Cloud inserted his key into the engine of him motorbike which had been through a lot in the past few months, however, he fixed its severed structure. Cloud excitedly parted his blonde hair and covered his deep blue eyes with a pair of his trademark sunglasses, he strattled the bike, revved the engine, and off he went, nervously. Cloud showed a different side of himself, a more emotional side, he was actually anxious, though it was not really noticeable to someone if they were to see him. Cloud sped street after street, leaning into the curves and finally, he arrived at his destination, he looked up at the rickety sign that read, "Strife Delivery Service," He opened the door hesitantly, a bell rang over head. Cloud peeked in, he didn't see Tifa anywhere, he didn't dare call her name. Cloud quietly walked up the stairs when a rumbling noise was heard. Tifa was seen walking down the hallway, she began to say, "Welcome to Stri-," she stopped in absolute surprise, she didn't know whether to hug or yell at Cloud. Tifa ran and gave Cloud a warm embrace, she whispered something into his ear what was undistinguishable. They stood there, hugging each other for a few minutes when Marlene walked out into the main room and yell, "Cloud! Your back! Denzel said you'd come back!" Marlene hugged Cloud as well. Tifa sat Cloud down and they engaged in conversation. Tifa began with the obvious, "Why didn't you call me?" Cloud tried to tell her that his phone fell into that deep pool filled with water but it was no use, she was to busy bombarding him with questions just like a woman would. This continued and finally, after a few weeks, everyone else showed up, Red, Reno, Barret, Yuffie, Vincent especially, and even Rude came over. Finally, after weeks of help around town, rekindling relationships, Cloud getting a new phone, things can't possibly be this joyful for long. Even with a Happier Approach…