There's always wind blowing here.

Never a lot, never too much. But always, always, it is there.

I take careful steps, trying not to tread on the flowers that have sprung up since I started spending my time here, their aureate petals shaking just so.

Time…

Time had passed since my death, though I often forgot about it.

I saw so much when I closed my eyes, and it was so easy to get lost, to watch and watch and watch…

I've met many people since I died. People whose hearts, whose souls had ached, for whom death was not enough for rest, who needed the gentle balm of patience, of forgiveness.

Forgiving oneself is the hardest.

Entering the lifestream had been so easy. There was pain at first, of course. That is what happens when a sword pierces you. But I ceased to feel it. I was so suffused with joy, knowing I had succeeded, knowing Holy was on its way. My last vision was of my loved one, his face drawn and pale, unsure of himself. I had smiled at him, knowing what he would become, what he already was, inside.

He only needed a hand along the way, which I had provided.

I smiled as I thought of him reaching for me, as I pulled his consciousness back into the world of the living, into his body and Tifa's worried gaze.

I had summoned everything I had left of myself, then, coursing through the lifestream and pushing the Meteor away from the surface. I had thought then, my hands clasped in prayer, that I was over, that I would dissolve into the lifestream, become one with the Planet, having prevented its final destruction at the hands of a man who believed himself to be me.

The last remaining Ancient.

It was not yet meant to be, though.

I heard a sound growl in the distance, and felt my lips pull to the sides, curving under my nose.

It seemed I had too much to do, still. Death would not stop my loving the people in my life.

The Planet speaks to me at times, and pulls me into the world of the living. Great Gospel healing and curing my friends, the world. A drop of water hanging from the Highwind, a promise and a wish. Gratitude.

The sound grew closer, rumbling with vigor. I turned, my eyes searching for its source. After all that had happened, he still came for me. That's all that matters.

Cloud came around the bend, and we smiled at one another, his motorcycle stopped beside my field of flowers.