First off sorry this took so long, with work and my comp blowing up and needing to be repaired I haven't had a ton of time to write. Hopefully future chapters won't take this long. Anyways, hope you enjoy. Not my favorite chapter but I've never really liked transition ones.

Note: The song Aeris sings to herself in this fic is actually an amazing poem written by Mary Frye. I in no way claim to own it.

Chapter 2: Journey Home

Aeris had no idea how much time had passed since she had left her mother and stepped through the portal, but it felt like she had been floating through this darkness for hours. Just as she was starting to get worried, she realized that there was a small glowing white dot in the distance ahead of her. Smiling to herself she continued forward, eager to be out of the eternal black at last.

Soon she found herself standing in front of another oval window, however this time it was pure white. Stepping through it she found herself floating a foot off the ground in the middle of a field of wildflowers. The amount of flowers and the variation of colors took her breath away; she had never before in her life seen this many beautiful flowers in one place.

Looking down to see if she could find out why she was floating Aeris blushed lightly as she realized she was also wearing no clothes.

I hope no one's around to see me…

Glancing around to see where she should go, Aeris could only see flowers in all directions, she was also somewhat alarmed to find that the window she had stepped through to get here had vanished. Deciding that she had better get moving Aeris started floating in the direction she had originally been facing, as she thought she could faintly see a mountain range on the horizon.

Remembering her mother's warning not to lose track she decided to pass the time by focusing on Cloud and singing a song. Not knowing what to sing she started making something up as she floated along.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

As she finished the first run through of her song, which she was quite proud of, Aeris realized that there was indeed a mountain range ahead of her, although it was still a ways off. She also noticed that she was now floating closer to the ground and her feet were starting to brush the tops of the flowers. Ignoring it, Aeris continued on towards the mountains, examining them as she continued to sing the song quietly to herself.

Aeris was jarred out of her peaceful state when her feet suddenly hit the ground and she barely managed to not fall over. She had stopped floating completely, and was now once again in contact with the ground. It felt odd to walk since it had been a while since she had, but she still had a small distance to the mountains left to practice in.

By the time she reached the base of the mountains where the flowers ended, Aeris was once again quite comfortable with walking. The size of the mountains was quite alarming, but Aeris refused to give up.

I'm on my way back Cloud; I won't stop until we're together again.

Continuing on, she set off up the mountain. She couldn't see their tops since they passed through the clouds, but she hopped they weren't much higher since she still wasn't in the greatest physical state. As she was climbing up, she realized that after all this time the sun hadn't moved at all.

So this can't be the real world… she thought, confirming her suspicions. I guess that means I don't need to worry about running into anyone else. Mom did say that I could die permanently here though, so I do need to be careful.

Aeris kept moving upward and she gradually entered the shade as the clouds circling the mountains blocked out the sun. It had been quite a while since she had started climbing and she was nearing the clouds. She felt nothing at all aside from a slight wetness as she entered them and found herself in a field of beautiful pure white snow surrounded by the clouds. It turned out that the mountain had no peak and just stretched out into the distance completely flat. Glad that it meant she didn't have to climb multiple mountains Aeris ignored the oddity and continued along.

Walking through the snow was slow and required a lot of work, but Aeris was surprised to notice that she didn't feel cold at all. However after she had been walking for a while she realized she was slowly starting to feel the cold and picked up her pace, realizing that if she started feeling the full force of the cold while wearing nothing she would be in trouble.

Despite her increased speed though, she started feeling more and more cold as shivers started to rack her body. Attempting to take her mind off the cold she started to sing her song again, but she could feel parts of her body starting to shut down as the cold overwhelmed her. When she got to the end of the song she modified the words slightly and started repeating them over and over to herself in a chant.

"I will not die. I will not die. I will not die."

Just as she felt she couldn't go any farther and that it would be best to curl up and take a nap, Aeris found the edge of the plateau. Realizing that she was safe a small surge of energy filled her and she rushed down as fast as she could to get below the cloud level.

Once she emerged back out into the sun, Aeris found the nearest rock and collapsed upon it, still shivering but enjoying the feeling of the sun's heat on her skin as well as the heat being radiated outward by the rock. Once she felt warm enough, she got up and continued down the mountain. At the base she could see an enormous forest and farther in the distance past it, what seemed like an ocean.

As tired as she was from her trek across the mountains Aeris dared not stop and pressed on into the forest when she reached it. Once inside she found berry-laden bushes and trees covered in fruit, but to her surprise after everything she had been through she wasn't hungry at all. Ignoring the food she continued deeper into the forest, searching for a way to get to the ocean she had seen before.

After a while Aeris realized that the food was actually starting to look good and that she was getting somewhat hungry. A few hours later she was starving and decided to stop for a while to eat some of the fruit to replenish her energy.

Wow, she thought in shock, this has to be the best fruit I've ever eaten in my life.

Once she was full, Aeris continued on and found a small beach of sand between her and the ocean she had seen while on the mountain. However, there was no boat or other means of crossing, and she knew there was no way she would be able to swim across an entire ocean. Despairing she attempted to contact her mother to find out what she should do but there was no response.

It must be because I'm in this between world, which prevents me from contacting anyone in the Lifestream or on the Planet.

Not knowing what to do next Aeris stated to turn back to the forest when suddenly she thought she saw something in the water,

"Cloud?"

Without thinking twice Aeris dove into the crystal clear water.

The instant her entire body was underwater she felt something shift and realized something was wrong. The water was no longer as clear as it used to be, she was resting on the bottom with the surface far above her, and she could feel clothes on her body. Not understanding what had happened she started struggling to get to the surface as she felt her lungs beginning to strain. She started to see stars as she neared the surface, her clothes were drastically slowing her down and now she was afraid they might cause her to drown. Knowing she didn't have time to try and take them off she continued to fight to reach the surface.

Somehow she managed to make it right as her lungs were about to burst. She swam over to the shore and realized that this was the lake where Cloud had put her body and that she was back in her normal clothes.

"I'm… back…" she thought before falling unconscious.

Aeris woke up again sometime later with no idea how long she had been unconscious. Glancing up into the sky she concluded that it was sometime in the afternoon.

What now? She asked herself, I'm still on the Northern Continent, Cloud will most likely be in Midgar so I need to find a boat to take me there. I certainly can't go around in public wearing this though, she thought, looking down at her clothes, which had deteriorated after having sat in the lake.

Deciding to solve the clothes problem first, Aeris headed into the City of Ancients to look for some clothes in one of the abandoned houses. After searching for a while she managed to find a simple white woolen dress and changed into it. She placed her other clothes into a backpack she had found, hoping to one day be able to repair them.

Content with her new outfit Aeris headed south to where she knew the docks would be. She passed through the Sleeping Forest, picking up a branch of wood that was about the right size for her to use as a staff, and the abandoned archeology site and kept going until she could see the ocean and ships. Aeris was slightly surprised at the amount of activity, but from the construction going on it seemed like a tourist resort was being built.

Passing through the makeshift town to get to the water, Aeris saw that no one recognized her or paid her any attention besides glancing at her odd clothes. As she neared the docks, however, she heard something that caught her attention.

"That one there looks familiar, can't quite remember why though… Ah, that's it, she looks like that girl who ran through our dig site a couple of weeks ago, the one who had all the people chasing after her. That one wore a pink dress though and I heard she died, what a shame. This one is still pretty cute though, ehh?"

Not willing to risk letting anything happen Aeris tightened her grip on her makeshift staff, picked up her pace, and hurried to find a boat to get on. Luck was on her side and there was a boat leaving in a few hours taking people to Midgar. She had enough gil left in her old clothes to afford a ride as well as a bit left over for when she arrived.

Here I come Cloud!