Hello everybody,

This alternate universe story takes place a few weeks after the conclusion of Good Intentions. Not only did Aeris end up alive at the end but Avalanche also defeated Sephiroth at the Northern Crater before he could summon Meteor. However, the effort of saving Aeris drained the life force of her friend John, though their friends in Cosmo Canyon concoct a plan to help him recover.

After Cloud retreats into a funk similar to in-game when he fell into the lifestream, Tifa tries to help him recover, and soon Shinra (through Reeve) sends them both on a mission to chase a mysterious, life draining creature in Costa del Sol.

Meanwhile, Yuffie discovers a traitor inside her father's court and calls Barret out to help her infiltrate a new Shinra base in her homeland - and also to learn the truth about the death of her mother.

Amidst it all, Scarlet's cousin Carmine takes over the post of Shinra's weapon development and reveals a plan to deal with the Avalanche, once and for all.

Originally written (in 2007) before I watched Advent Children, but without Meteor, AC wouldn't happen anyway. Also ignores the "Crisis" spin-off games in the back-story. (I did, in the rewrite, make a couple references to Advent Children.) Certain aspects of the game Planescape Torment show up - not characters or settings, but those who have played that game will recognize quotes and names of spells.

Black Wind

Prologue

The Creature awoke with a jerk, as if from a dream, but with no memory other than a crushing need for air. It lay enclosed in a coffin-like tube with a weak light filtering in from above. It drew a ragged breath; a wave of pain sloshed through its body but receded, draining into the black lake of its mind.

The Creature tried sitting up. Its bonds snapped off as if made of string. Pressing against the top of its tube, it peered through a haze of green, beyond which shapes lurked and colors hissed but little if anything moved. With a deliberate shove, the Creature popped the barrier off, clearing its vision enough to bring the empty room into focus.

Blink. Blink. Metal bands and glass tinkled to the floor. A green bath spilled away with a splash. The Creature pivoted to set both feet on the tiles, now wet, and tried to stand but a pain shot through its body like a lightning strike. It hunched, clutching its middle; to an observer, it might have appeared in the midst of rocking itself to sleep.

The pain pulled back but never vanished. In a jerking dance, it took a step. Another. The world rotated back into focus. Shapes. Lights. Over there, a clear, rounded rectangle, rimmed in gray. Three steps forward and a push. The door opened with a sigh, showing dappled grayness in a corridor beyond. Moving by instinct, gulping breaths of air, it approached another exit on surer legs. Though made of something more solid, two thumps and a shove set the Creature stepped free into the night air outside.

It stood on a gentle rise, taking in partly familiar sights. Specks of light in the sky shone down on hunched lobes of treeless hills. Below, larger points of light formed into a crescent along a smooth expanse of black. "Ocean water," a memory said. Under layers of pain, a living soul still cried out, beset with demons but still alive, if anyone could but hear. The Creature growled. The soul huddled back in its shell, taking most of the pain with it. In silence now, the Creature surveyed the land for more pressing needs.

Food.

Out of the night raced a small beast, furry and full of life. The Creature probed the soul and dredged up the word "cat," and a cat on the hunt for prey. Hungry like the Creature. The cat paused, twitching its whiskers at a target beneath a pile of debris, showing no fear of the Creature's presence. The cat flattened its ears, streamlining itself into an arrow of fur. Its rear end twitched.

The Creature felt the taut life of the hunter, the fleeting life of its prey, and above all, its own hunger. Spreading its arms wide, the Creature stirred a dark mist inside, folding it around the life force of both predator and prey. The cat, ready to spring, issued a surprised "Meow?" before dropping limp on its side.

The Creature stepped back, its hunger barely easing, but the tortured soul inside slacked off in its struggle.

The Creature lifted its eyes to the fading sky beyond the flat water. It gazed back at the string of lights along the crescent shore. It took a step, nudging the limp form at its foot. Its hunger raged again. Gazing down at the lights, it felt that tiny mind crying inside itself, but they both knew the truth. Where one found lights, one found prey.

The Creature began to walk, each step bringing it closer to the resort town of Costa del Sol.

Chapter I

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
"Please tell me this is real tea. With real caffeine. Not those vile herbal concoctions you New Age types dream up." - Cid

Tifa Lockheart held on for dear life as the Highwind, (their technically stolen multi-decked, rotor-bladed airship) angled and dodged about in the sky, on the alert for Shinra fighters and their mako tipped missiles. With the blond and sunburnt chain smoker - Captain Cid Highwind - at the helm, the clumsy looking airship outflew the fighters each time. Still, their clashes took a toll, a scorch mark here and a snapped cable there, and though the crew patched things up after each raid, the airship trembled that much harder each time Cid tried to juice more power out of her.

Tifa, her long black hair framing her round face and flowing like a waterfall over the seat back behind her, sat out of the crew's way on the Highwind's bridge, gazing out over the clouds. The martial artist marveled at the chaos she and her team had lived through - okay, caused - during the past few months. From tending bar in Midgar's slums to plotting with her hothead, friend Barret Wallace to blow up mako reactors. From their escape from Midgar to the wild chase that followed, her prodigal friend Cloud Strife leading with his obsession with his old nemesis Sephiroth.

And then her world had imploded. Her best friend (and rival) Aeris Gainesborough, struck down by Sephiroth's sword. Tifa had cried her heart out as Cloud released Aeris' body, still dressed like an angel in her pink dress, to float away in the lake. The last survivor of the Cetra, gone forever.

"Rest in peace, dear Aeris," Tifa had whispered, wishing she had never seen the beauty of the Forgotten City, of its aquatic, shell shaped houses.

Then later, when she had met Aeris again out on the great glacier -

"Gil for your thoughts, Tifa?"

Clang, went her mind. Aeris, the young Cetra woman with green eyes and braided chestnut hair, stood beside her dressed in, yea, pink, her heart shaped face glowing with life.

"Aeris. Aeris." Tifa wrapped the woman in a hug to assure herself her friend really stood there. She felt the tears sting her eyes.

"Wow, Tifa. Bad dream? Or thinking about him?"

"Yes," she dodged. "I wonder, I hope Cloud will be all right."

Tifa always marveled at how well she and Aeris had clicked, even from the start when they met in Don Corneo's madhouse. An unlikely pair; her buff, martial artist's body next to Aeris' pink-clad, dancer's build. But Aeris rubbed off on everyone.

"The guy's tougher than industrial diamonds. He just needs time to rest. Hey, you look smart in that get-up."

Tifa had begun dressing a tad more modestly as of late, clad now in a white tank top and black athletic shorts - no more bare midriff while she shook around in the Highwind like a Ping-Pong ball in a vacuum cleaner.

"And I've seen you try on a darker shade of pink. Time to live, I guess."

"I worry about him too. We all had a, a bruising time back in the crater."

Spiky-haired Cloud Strife, so steady and so strong, had melted while facing Hojo and Sephiroth at the North Crater. Though he had pulled together enough to join the fight, a day later he had broken down again, nearly catatonic. Stress? Relief? In any case, Reeve (their solemn inside man in Shinra) had taken Cloud to a place called the Sleepy Acres Recovery Home. Tifa envisioned everyone there wearing white coats.

"How about our little friend?" Tifa asked.

"He drifts in and out of life. At times he seems his old self but the next moment he looks near death. I have tried everything I know to help him. None of it seems to work. Not even a Healing Wind."

John Philip Sorea, that smart-mouthed, albino twelve-year-old (though Tifa thought him much older, if foolish beyond his years), had turned out to come from the same race as the vicious alien creature who had nearly wiped out the Cetra years ago. The young Jenova's obsession with Aeris had terrified Cloud, who had ordered him to stay away from their party. But John's meddling at the Ancient Capital had, in some way Tifa might never grasp, resulted in Aeris standing next to her now.

Aeris said, "Bugenhagen doesn't seem worried about Cloud or John. The old man says, 'Ho-ho-hoo, have patience, young ones.'"

"Bugenhagen is one hundred thirty-seven years old. I don't have that kind of patience."

The Highwind jerked to port before righting itself. Cid's swearing sounded almost comforting.

"I can see why Yuffie left," Aeris said.

Yuffie Kisaragi, the immature yet driven Wutai ninja girl, had demanded Cid take her back to her home after just one jostling air battle. "Pressing personal business," she had said, clamping her hand over her mouth. "And I'm tired of throwing up six times a day."

"If you want to be with Cloud, perhaps you should visit him," Aeris said. "After all - "

The Highwind shook again. Tifa's stomach took a header inside her body.

"Air pocket!" Cid roared when the ship leveled out.

"What's inside an air pocket?" Aeris said. "Isn't it more air?"

Cid swore another streak. Tifa opened her mouth to rib him herself when her PHS phone chirped.

A mechanical voice on the other end began talking before Tifa could even say hello. "Ti-fa, your pres-ence is re-quest-ed at the Home. Cloud is in need of you. Please make haste and ar-rive on the mor-row."

"Cait Sith?" Tifa said. "Is that you? You sound, flat."

Cait Sith, the mechanical cat riding a robot moogle, had by far fared the worst during their Northern Crater encounter. Tifa heard a sproing sound from the other end before Reeve came on. "I'm sorry. I still have work to do on him. He was doing so well this morning."

"Does he lack, bounce?"

"That battle took a lot out of him - as in most of his internal parts - but with my help he will pull through. Cloud does want to see you though. You, and you alone, might break him out of his funk. How soon can you arrive?"

Tifa looked at Aeris who looked at Cid.

Aeris said, "I'm sure Cid can get you close, perhaps even today."

Cid started to protest but Aeris gave him a puppy dog look she likely picked up from that Jenova kid.

"Oh, all right," the crusty captain said. "I'll do it for you, Tifa. Besides, we need old spike-head back on the job to fight off these Shinra gnats. I can put you down on some islands north of the Midgar continent and you can catch a ferry from there. Shinra won't let me get any closer, I'm afraid."

"I heard," Cait Sith groaned from the other end. "That will suf-fice."

Aeris patted Tifa on the shoulder when she signed off. "I'm glad he's feeling better," she told her friend.

Tifa sighed. "Thanks. Let's just hope Cloud remembers who I am."

John Philip Sorea, the aforementioned albino Jenova, awoke when the airship yet again flung him from his bed. He lay on the metal floor thinking about seat belts, why beds never had them, and feeling as if he had never slept, an annoying feeling so familiar he by now rarely noticed it. Earlier, late morning probably - though he couldn't say which morning - he had summoned enough energy to shower, pull on a dressing gown and hobble down to the ship's mess hall for a late breakfast, enduring Barret's complaints about lazy boys who lie around in bed all day and expect him to cook a gourmet meal at any hour. Still, the big guy enjoyed cooking, though John could not stop laughing when he saw Barret's new gun arm attachment. A big black guy with a buzz cut, tattoos and prosthetic arm that ended in mechanical wire whisks? Robo-Chef had arrived.

Someone later carried him back to his bed. Someone other than captain Cid, as his body didn't reek of stale cigarettes. He lay on the floor, eyes easing closed, debating whether to bother climbing back into bed. Perhaps try his gone-when-you-need-it telekinesis. Ha, his gift. (That and projecting emotions, which blew up in his face even more often). He decided, even if he did manage to catch some real sleep, the kind with actual dreams and stuff, the ship would just toss him onto the floor again. So he lay there, not noticing he had drifted off three times while trying to complete that thought. The rumble of the airship's rotors surged, warning him of a roll across the floor like one of Barret's crepes. Instead, the deck recoiled so hard it nearly bounced him up into his bunk. Bones rattled down his body in protest.

"Oh, just kill me. God, I know you're out there. Put me out of my misery, please?"

As if in answer, the ship tilted and a pillow plopped onto his face.

Luck had fled him; he did not die.

With way too much effort, he cracked an eye. Crinkled his nose. Sneezed, because a white Persian cat had decided see how far it could insert its whiskers up his nostril.

"Fluffy?"

The cat nuzzled him under the chin and purred, pushing the pillow off to the side.

"Come on. Can't you let me die in peace?"

In answer, Fluffy unsheathed her front claws and began to knead his neck.

"Ow!"

Fluffy grinned. Insofar as cats could grin. She opened her mouth and a sliver of drool dripped onto his chin. John lifted an arm to shove the beast off, but his limbs felt like day old linguine. "Cripes." He settled for turning his face to the side, ear to the floor. Fluffy stuck her wet nose on his exposed cheek.

"Grrr."

A paw appeared in front of his face, claws flexing in and out in time with her purr, now loud as a roar.

"What the hell is this!"

The gruff voice of Cid boomed down the hall. Heavy feet tromped on the metal floor.

"And this?" The door to John's room slid open. He looked up from the thick leather boots to the red faced pilot standing in the doorway.

"Meow?" said Fluffy.

John managed to crack a smile, recalling his caper. How had he had summoned the energy to pull it off?

A sweet voice spoke up. "What are you yelling about, Cid?"

Aeris. So she had remained on board. John hadn't seen her on his last trek to the bridge. He knew both Yuffie and Tifa had gone off on personal missions and feared Aeris had done likewise.

"I can't take this. On my ship!"

Aeris laughed. "You have to admit. It is funny."

"Hell. I need a cigarette." John heard another ripping sound. Cid held a tattered sign up where John could read it: 'Thank you for not smoking.'

"All over my ship? You got a lot of damn nerve, Jenova boy."

Aeris laughed again, walking into view. She wore a sleeveless pink dress that sparkled with sequins - though John's watering eyes may have added that detail. He had never had a cat allergy until he met Fluffy.

Always the charmer, Fluffy leaped off to scrub her head against Aeris' legs. With the weight on his chest gone, John felt his body reinflate.

"Kid, you can't be sick," Cid said. "Doctor said there was nothing wrong with you."

John tried to sit up. Aeris smiled in support. Then his head spun like a drunken compass and his body slumped back to the floor.

"Damn, kid," Cid said. "If you're going to malinger, at least watch your head."

"Ow."

The world faded out.

When John next awoke, he lay on a padded bench. On the glassed-in bridge of the Highwind, he watched as streams of clouds breezed by.

"Damn." Cid stood over him, lost in thought. "You awake now?"

Marlene - Barret's adopted daughter who reminded him of a tiny Tifa - spoke. "Kid sleeps hard. He didn't wake up. Even when I poked him." Something big rattled. A spear? Yea. Cid's spear.

"I wish I knew what was wrong with him," Aeris said.

"One minute he's posting those damned no smoking signs all over my ship, and next he's keeled over in my lap. Hell."

"I'm always so, so tired," John said.

"Maybe Nanaki could help you?" Aeris said.

"That beast? He's no doctor," Cid said.

"The doctor couldn't help, remember? Neither could I. Strange thing is, after my - ordeal - one would think I would be the exhausted one. But I feel so pumped up I could run a marathon."

"Times like this I wish Cloud were here," Cid said. "Even though he can be a real moron, he always seems to know what to do."

Where had Cloud gone? Oh yea. Sleepy Acres Recovery Home. John caught a vision of a quaint brick mansion perched above the seashore. "Nothing wrong with me," Cloud had insisted. "I just need my number." Sure. Lots of things weirder than to staring at the stars night after night mumbling "My number. What is my number?" But Cloud had agreed to the trip, though only after Tifa had promised the Home would give him a number.

John rolled his gaze to Marlene, the little black-haired girl, now almost six years old. Funny thing, this illness. He could neither stay awake nor fall asleep. If he closed his eyes, his head buzzed like an old microwave oven. If he tried to keep them open, his eyelids drooped like hound dog ears, daring him to sleep off this fever and awaken the next day, ready to make a fool of himself anew. He already owed Barret several meals.

Aeris had curtained off a section of the ceiling for him, in deference to his nearly translucent skin and his sun sensitive eyes. Aeris had lain on this bench herself during their mad rush back to the Forgotten Capital to try his wild plan to save her.

The plan had worked, hadn't it?

It must have, since here she stood, taking Marlene by the hand and leading her over to the window.

A new spell. A new materia orb none of them had seen before and had seen used only once. He had poured his heart into that spell. Perhaps he had poured his soul as well. For a moment he swore he had failed yet still, both he and Aeris pulled through.

Or so he had thought.

Had he transferred Aeris' wasting sickness onto himself? Had she felt just like this on that final trip? Not quite alive but not dead enough either? If true, he called it a fair trade. Aeris had a great destiny, whereas he, the pale Jenova -

"Call coming in, Captain." Lena Jones, an attractive communications tech and original member of the Highwind's crew waved to get Cid's attention. Her black hair and caramel skin glistened in the sun. Barret had discovered the poor woman shackled to a table in the back of the engine room, where someone had thrashed her with a length of electrical cord until she had passed out. Apparently she had refused to perform her official ship duties, such as lap dancing for Shinra big wigs like Heidegger and Scarlet. Cid had dropped off Heidegger - along with the insane doctor Hojo - at Corel Prison, out in the desert where he hoped they would rot with the maggots in the trash under the Gold Saucer. As for Scarlet - she who had conducted the whipping - John had last seen her left hand (the only part of her that had survived the North Crater) floating in a jar in Lena's room.

"Aren't you going to tell me who it is?" Cid sidled over to the railing, peering down into the pit where the vampire-like Vincent Valentine liked to ride. A display screen the size of a pool table lit up with the furry face of Nanaki.

"Greetings," the red lion/dog creature said.

"Well now," Cid said. "What can we do for you this fine day?"

"How is our sick passenger faring?"

"I have this hacking cough that won't go away."

"I wasn't referring to you. I am asking about - "

"The kid's fine. Still loafing around but he felt lively enough to paste No Smoking signs around my ship this morning."

Nanaki's mouth opened to a smile.

Aeris handed Cid a silver tray with a steaming teacup. Cid coughed and thanked her.

"Maybe you should follow his advice?" Aeris said.

"Bah. Please tell me this is real tea. With real caffeine. Not those vile herbal concoctions you New Age types dream up."

"Real tea, Cid." Aeris shook her head. "The chamomile tea is for John to help him sleep." John caught the 'but you could use some too' tone in her voice.

"Sleep? All the kid does is sleep!"

"Restful sleep," Aeris said. "He sleeps, but does not rest."

"Hell. Now we have to worry about his dreams?" Cid took a noisy slurp and clinked the cup down. "Ah. Much better. Not as good as Shera makes but it still hits the spot.

Aeris shook her head and refilled his cup.

Nanaki spoke up. "How are you feeling, Aeris?"

"I have to feel well to put up with our grouchy captain here." She smiled, as did Lena. This looked like a morning routine, the crew trading off who got to play tea server. Though John noticed Barret always seemed to get out of tea duty by misplacing his prosthetic arm.

"Grandfather has made progress with his research in the Ancient Capital and wishes to return to Cosmo Canyon to report his findings. If you could give him a ride back here in the Highwind we would much appreciate it."

"Ah, I was just enjoying my tea. You want me to be a damn air taxi service?"

Aeris said, "The good captain would be honored to give dear Bugenhagen a ride." She smiled. "Isn't that right?"

Cid snorted. "Hell. I was getting bored chasing around those damn Shinra tako things."

"I believe they call them Takeo fighters, not tako, which means 'octopus,'" Nanaki said. "Takeo fighters are fast and sleek but not armored. Yuffie would tell you Shinra stole the designs from Wutai."

"Goddamn things are too fast to hit with missiles and too crafty to get in range of small arms. Luckily those flying takos have no range on their weapons so we're safe as long as we stay away from populated areas. But the damned things sneak up on us when we stop to refuel."

"The elders might be able to help. They say they found a new secret, adapted to our desert climate and our refusal to use mako."

"Excuse me but I didn't understand a word of that." Cid took another drink of his tea.

"I will show you when you get here. I believe you will be pleased."

"Can it increase our range? The only safe places to refuel are Cosmo Canyon and Fort Condor. Shinra controls every damn place else."

"Grandfather will have an answer to that, too."

"Your Grandpappy is full of answers, isn't he?"

"Yes. He's Grandfather."

"Why of course. I'll go pick up old twirly beard now. That is, if my knot-head of a pilot can keep from dunking us in the drink. Hell. I'd love it if your Grandpappy could stop this cat and mouse game. I'm sick of being the damn mouse."

The screen went blank. Lena looked at him, a grin on her oval face.

"Captain, shall I notify - " Her words cut off as the Highwind bucked to starboard. Lena grasped her console to keep from flying across the bridge. Cid invented some new curses as he clung to the railing, feet wedged to anchor himself to the floor. John, dumped from his bench again, rolled across the deck into Cid's railing. Aeris fell beside him, the hem of her dress flopping over his face. Out of nowhere, Fluffy screeched in to a perch on his chest, claws digging in for traction.

"You idiot!" Cid yelled nearby. "Who taught you to fly, you worthless piece of - "

His rant cut off when the ship pitched back to port. Again John rolled across the deck, face now tangled in Aeris' dress, her knee banging his chin while her boot mashed into his ribs. At least it knocked Fluffy off, though John swore that demon cat took a bite out of his ankle as a farewell gift. He and Aeris broke apart when they struck his bench.

"Ow!" His head hit the wall hard enough to see Cloud's number printed in all the stars.

The Highwind finally leveled out, giving them a few good-bye jiggles for luck. John pulled a pink strip of fabric from around his throat, looking up to see Aeris and Fluffy staring down at him, the cat with her fuzzy fore paws extended.

"Wake up sleepyhead," Aeris said.

Fluffy yawned, careful to display her full endowment of teeth.

"Sorry about the dress."

"Needed replacing anyway."

"Ever thought of branching into different colors? Yellow maybe?"

"I thought I might experiment with dark pink."

"Are you sure that's not over the top? What if someone mistakes the color for magenta?"

"At times I have to be daring."

"As for you." John looked at Fluffy. "Keep those claws out of my body."

"Meow?" Her head lifted in a 'who, me?' gesture. Aeris scratched behind the cat's ears.

"As if you'd ever bare a claw in front of Aeris."

From the far end of the bridge, Cid barked out his commands. "That's it. That's it. slow, easy moves. The last one nearly jerked my damn arm off."

"Yes, Captain," said a timid voice of one who knew of his future involved sweeping out the chocobo stalls.

"Get us to the Ancient Capital in one piece, all right?"

"Yes, Captain."

Cid grunted. He walked toward the center of the bridge. He rummaged through his pack and swore.

"Anyone got a Restore materia? Mine's back in my quarters."

"Come over here." Aeris waved him over. "You too, Lena. I can tell by the way you're holding your arm that you're hurt."

They complied. Aeris drew herself up. Holding her dress together with one hand, she bowed her head. John felt a warm wind blow, soothing his aches and banishing his pains. He also, to his fragile hope, felt a charge of energy prick the back of his neck. Could his recovery have finally started? Before the North Crater, he had an ability to store other people's magical effects for use at a later date. (Blue magic, Nanaki called it.) He also received unwanted visions off nearly every object he touched. Yet since the mad rush back to the Forgotten Capital, he had not performed any of his useful tricks. Unable to do much but sleep, and not very well at that.

"That Healing Wind is amazing," Lena said. "I feel like a new person."

"So do I," John said, "though in my case it could be amnesia."

Little Marlene ran up the steps to the bridge. "Fluffy. There you are, silly kitty."

"Mrrrp?" The white Persian lifted her head as if sniffing the air.

"You don't fool me," John said. "I know there's a wolverine inside that ball of fuzz."

"No, Fluffy is a sweetie. Aren't you?"

"Meow?" Fluffy daintily leapt into Marlene's arms.

"Yep, a sweetie," Marlene said. "I miss Aunt Tifa."

"So do I, Marlene," Aeris said. "We will see her again soon. Cloud too, I hope."

John pulled himself back onto the bench, feeling as if he had just re-scaled Gaia's Cliff.

"Damn," Cid said. "If I hadn't seen how that cat went after that Nestor creep in the North Crater, I'd believe that sweet, innocent act."

"She misses Sheila," John said, referring to his former neighbor in Midgar, the cat's real owner - if a cat could ever have an owner.

"She seems to have taken to Marlene," Aeris said.

Lucky for me, John thought, hoping for an escape from the midnight claw massages.

"All right." Cid hovered over his pilot. "We're due to pick up Bugenhagen in the Lost Capital in three hours. Try not to pitch us into the drink."

"Yes. Yes, Captain."

Yet another wave of fatigue washed over John and this time he chose not to fight it. Vaguely he felt Aeris catch him as he slumped toward the bench but this time, to his relief, he did manage to sleep.