As time wore on night began to fall, everyone came back to 7th Heaven and had a celebration of being brought back together again. After the party ended around midnight everyone except Vincent went off to bed to dream.
Vincent had a better idea to check up on the woman before going off to bed to nightmares, but not as many of them as there used to be. Because of Lucrecia and the help from his friends Vincent no longer has as many horrors to haunt him at night, yet he has not outgrown the habit of staying awake throughout most of his nights.
Walking up the creaking stairs slowly he finally arrives at the top platform and turns left strolling all the way down the hall to his room. Looking at the guest bedroom across the hall from his own he secretly puts his real human hand onto the door knob and gently turns it to walk inside.
Poking his head halfway into the doorway he gazes upon the woman struggling on the bed next to the modern window. Low moans and stifled screams could be heard from her suffering mind of memories not long forgotten.
Closing in on her Vincent feels a certain current of energy flow throughout his body and into his brain. Suddenly he senses her cry for help to be set free from being combined with someone or something else.
Waving his hand over her head Vincent closes his eyes tight and tries to concentrate on what she sees. All Vincent could retrieve was a small village full of happy people with her sitting underneath a huge oak tree by a small marketplace.
Then it suddenly disappears into nothing but darkness and small cries from the woman on the bed.
"The village must have been destroyed and she is blaming herself or it could have been her home that was taken from her as well," thought Vincent.
Stepping away from her bed Vincent decides to stay in the same room with her to make sure she does not do anything out of the ordinary. Slipping into the bed next to hers he falls into deep slumber, but still struggles as much as the woman to fall completely asleep.
The next morning Nanaki calls everyone for a mandatory meeting in the drawing room off to the right of Tifa's small kitchen. When everyone took their place at the table Nanaki clears his throat for their attention.
"Well does anyone have any idea what to do with this mysterious woman in our care?"
Now it is Vincent's turn to clear his throat. "I want her to live." Everyone turned to face Vincent in an awed stance; no one knew what to say.
"Why do you want her to live Vincent? Don't you think she will cause trouble for us all? Please tell us what your point of view is," encourages Nanaki.
"This woman is suffering terribly from something and I want to help her. Last night I went into her room to check on her and she was struggling in her sleep. I also spotted tear drops on her pillow, so I slept in her room to make sure she was all right for the rest of the night."
Nanaki was speechless in Vincent's request to help this person, but felt in his heart that Vincent was most likely right about these kinds of things.
"Ok then it is settled. We will wait until she fully recovers to hear her story of what has happened to her. I am sure she will be a friendly person at least I hope so. What do all of you think?"
"That is a great idea," pipes up Yuffie.
"I want to help her too," says Tifa.
"She seems like a nice girl and I am sure we could use someone else around here," comments Cid.
"Yeah I agree with the rest of you guys," responds Barrett.
"Fine by me," says Cloud.
Reeve nods in agreement as he is reprogramming something for President Rufus with Cait Sith's help as usual. Hearing cries of faint despair Vincent automatically rises to his feet and begins to climb the stairs to the woman's room.
Taken by surprise Reeve looks at the antique stairs with curiosity.
"It seems Vincent is taken with this young lady. I can not wait for her to wake up now."
Neither could the rest of the group, to see what the woman's reaction would be to Vincent's abrupt kindness and to meet the others.
Many days went by before anyone saw any movement from the woman. On the last day of that week she finally opened her eyes to the shabby bedroom that she occupied.
Her soft golden brown eyes scanned the area for any intruders, but she found herself alone with unanswered emotions swimming inside her soul. Slowly touching her body for any scars or major injures she noticed that her sword was missing from her side.
"Where is it? I know I had it earlier before I left Gaia. And where am I? I guess I might as well search the place for people who can help me."
Rising from the comfy ancient bed she gazes at her surroundings for any clues of who might inhabit the area, but with no luck what so ever. Turning the knob gently clockwise she exits the room and starts to head toward the loud noises downstairs.
Reaching the head of the stairs she holds onto the railing because is seems she does not have all her strength back yet. The first person to hear someone coming down the stairs was Marlene and Denzel.
"Tifa, Tifa the woman is awake now. Look she is coming down the stairs and she is really pretty."
Looking in Marlene's direction Tifa witnesses the beautiful woman staring at everyone in her bar. The stranger had a body shaped perfectly for any man's dream or delight with soft glowing skin covering her strong structure, and illuminating brown eyes that held a cautious gaze among the crowd of onlookers.
Bringing her courage forward Tifa approaches the woman with one of her most gentle yet charming smiles.
"Hello there, I see that you have finally woken up. How do you feel? I am sure you are hungry. Why not come to the bar and I will serve you some lunch."
Startled by Tifa's speech the woman jumped lightly at the sound her voice. "Sure I would love something to eat. I am so confused right now that I do not know how I managed to arrive here of all places. Can you tell me what day it is and what this city is called?"
"Well I would love to answer all of your questions, but I want to wait for the rest of the group to arrive. You see they all want to meet you and I thought that we could all talk in the drawing room off to the kitchen here. Would that be okay with you?"
Searching into Tifa's eyes the woman decides to trust her and agrees to meet the rest of the group once they arrive into the city from their errands. As Tifa led the woman to the drawing room noises of a truck and motorcycles could be heard outside, giving a hint of everyone's arrival back to the bar.
Entering the drawing room first was Cid and Barrett with Yuffie and Nanaki right behind them. A few minutes later Vincent and Cloud enter with irritated looks about the girls giggling outside 7th Heaven. Reeve arrives about ten minutes later because of Cait Sith and his urgent plea to drop off the documents of a project to Reno and Rude.
Taking their seats around the dark cherry wood table with antique furnished chairs everyone glazes at the woman, waiting for her to speak her story.
"Well I guess we can all start by knowing your name first," Tifa began.
"My name is Larissa," says the woman softly. "I am from the village called Gaia; it is not far from the Gold Saucer area. My friends and I used to go there all the time for the entertainment."
"When you arrived here you abstracted something from your body that is known as a Jenova cell. Do you have any idea where it came from," inquires Nanaki.
Staring at the group before her, Larissa examines the faces very carefully, trying to see if anyone was untrustworthy in her mind.
Concentrating for a moment she recalls the scene perfectly and tells the group, "I remember someone walking into the village with a black cape on and he told me that I was to be his wife in order for him to become whole again. I also remember that if I did not cooperate with him that he would burn down the village and take me as a hostage until I agreed with his plan. I knew he was insane so I drew out my sword and began to fight him. We fought for some time when suddenly I saw a white flash before my eyes. Before I could figure out what had happened I was on the ground, loosing my strength fast. All I was able to do was watch this mysterious man burn down the village as promised and not being able to help the people. Of course we have gone through several drills, so they knew exactly what to do. He also told me that his name was Sephiroth, but a spirit of him not the real thing. I escaped just in time by teleporting wherever my body would take me, just as long as I was away from Gaia. The last words he spoke to me were, "You will be my wife! I will find you and then we will be as one being!"
Everyone around grew into a deadly silence at Larissa's words of her story, dreading another war against Sephiroth when they all thought he was gone for good.
"Wait, hold on just a sec. You mean to tell me that Sephiroth is still alive?! What the hell Cloud, you were supposed to finish him off!" Barrett became infuriated with this news of more fighting when they were finally at peace in many years.
"Now, now Barrett if we have to defeat Sephiroth again then we will until he is really gone," reassures Tifa.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but Sephiroth is my problem now. I will take care of him myself even if I am to sacrifice my body and soul to succeed. He is no longer your concern and besides there are the children and the people to consider. It will not be that difficult in destroying Sephiroth anyway because of the condition his spirit is in. I have never seen such a mutilated aura in all of my existence. Please do not worry about me, in a few days I will be gone to rebuild Gaia again with the rest of its people," concludes Larissa.
"No Larissa, you will not fight this battle alone," states Nanaki. "Seeing you weak as you were a few days ago does tell me that Sephiroth still has plenty of strength left. I refuse to stand idly by when there is another war going on. At least stay here in Midgar where we can help you."
Looking into Nanaki's bright yellow eyes Larissa feels a wave of trust wash over her body, a new emotion that she was not quite ready for.
Apparently her thoughts were revealed by her peaceful silence for Cid chides in, "I think that is a great idea Red. I know most of us are going to be around here for a while helping out Tifa and her business. Why not stay a while Larissa?"
The rest of the group tells Larissa that she should stay with them for some time, until she made up a plan to face Sephiroth and to reconstruct Gaia.
Meeting a diverse group of friends so quickly was unexpected and Larissa felt quite comfortable and content with her new surroundings. All she has to do now is try to keep their trust in her as she slowly reveals her past to them.