Author's Note: This chapter contains a major spoiler for Lightning Returns. I know you're going to want to read it, but may just feel conflicted about it, so please know that yes it really was necessary to include this spoiler.
Chapter 3: Where are They?
Cloud chuckled as he watched Claire and Serah giggle over some photos while drank their coffee. Snow smirked from his spot in the nearby armchair, reaching over to shove Cloud's shoulder.
"You really do love her, dontcha Cloud?"
"Yeah, yeah I do." Cloud smiled slightly. "She's not like any other woman I've met, that's for sure."
"Uh-huh, yeah, that's how you know she's the one for you bud. So, any more kids in foreseeable future? I mean how old is your daughter now, fifteen or so?"
The man scoffed, his thoughts drifting to Ula. "Sixteen, and she loves proving it."
"Ah, yeah I'm sure. Why isn't she with you this time? We haven't seen her in awhile. Everything's… okay, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, she's just busy with school and stuff. She's talking about going to college early, you know, get a head start? So she's pretty much got her head stuck in her books."
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"God dammit there is nothing in this book to tell me about this damn sword!" Denzel tossed Ula's book back at her. "Why the hell is your sword so special Rain?"
"It's one Fenrir got from mom before something, something, world ended, blah blah, restart of time, blah." Ula shrugged. "Dad fixed it up so I could use it easier… I think it was green before, but you know, it's blue now… Yeah."
"Uh-huh. So in other words, there is no documentation on it because dad?"
"That is the perfect explanation, yes." she stood, and walked over to the bar. "Hey Marlene, can I have a soda?"
"Of course." Marlene turned around to grab a glass as Tifa approached. "Any sign of Cloud or Lightning?"
"Not yet. Then again we don't even know where they went or why they were taken there." the girl smiled when she got her drink. "They could be running around Pulse with Aunt Serah and Uncle Snow, or they could be wandering the ruins of Valhalla with Fenrir."
"I assure you, they are not with me." the adults jumped as Fenrir materialized behind Ula, but the girl only turned around to him. "They were pulled to your mother's world to get it back on track in time. They had been gone just a bit too long for the world to handle and were called over. They may or may not be gone a few days."
"Oh that's just lovely."
"Have they told you about the dream Cloud received?"
"I heard bits and pieces."
"That will have to do. Ula, the dream I sent Cloud was no mere dream. It was a warning about events that will happen much sooner than he thinks. Tell me, have your parents told you about the end of your mother's world, and the restart of its time?"
*spoiler* "Yeah, when the goddess died the cycle of life and death was broken, and the chaos was no longer in check. Mom and dad were called upon by the god Bhunivelze, to gather souls to be reborn in the new world he had begun to create in the five hundred years they were in a crystal sleep in Valhalla." Ula tapped her cheek. "The chaos that had burst forth covered most of the world like a sea, and the remaining humans and creatures were pushed to the edge of extinction, no longer aging but no longer able to reproduce, and still able to die. Everyone who died when the chaos flooded, or before mom and dad could 'save' them were lost to the chaos, and when mom and dad found out Bhunivelze was going to destroy those souls, along with what really makes humans 'human', they turned on him and mom killed him, because he had turned her into a goddess in order to serve him in the new world and restore the balance of life and death."
"Yes, and when your mother was spared the fate of being the new guardian of death, she, Cloud, and her friends were reborn in her new world as regular humans, no memories of the 'Crystal Age'. I saved their memories of all that had happened so they could remember to return to this world. However, it seems that what I did to save this world from facing a similar fate, has brought a new one upon it."
"What do you mean, 'a similar fate'?"
"Had your father not been able to return to this world, he would have been completely erased from history. Time would turn back, and Sephiroth would be unchecked. This world would be destroyed."
Tifa gulped in fear, pulling Marlene close to her. "Cloud was that important to the world?"
"His actions in Nibelheim, standing up to Sephiroth in the reactor, were what gave the planet the strength to hold him off in the lifestream. The planet may have been unsure as to whether it wanted the humans to survive, but it did not want itself, or the other creatures that call it home, to be destroyed." Fenrir sat down in front of Ula, turning his gaze back to her. "So if Cloud had never stood up to Sephiroth, the planet would have given up."
"But what does that have to do with what's going to happen now?"
"Cloud has been written into the history of two worlds, as have you, as have your mother… you three will spend the rest of your lives in traveling between the two worlds, aging in both, but dying only in one. Your parents have already hit the peak that will allow them to stop aging in this world, but in the other they will continue to age until they die, when they will be pulled permanently back to this world. The same will happen to you. This new cycle of immortality was already forcibly written onto the life of one of your friends, Vincent Valentine. His actions to help Cloud adjust and keep the balance of light and dark in his heart has put him in a place next to you. The four of you will outlive this planet, and colonize the next." he watched her wrinkle her nose. "Not in that way Ula. Your parents will be the first of the new human race, and your and Vincent shall take the place of the guardians of life and death. But now the fate that plagued your mother's world is threatening to overtake Gaia, and bring that fate upon you much sooner."
"What can we do to stop it?" Denzel was on his feet now, standing beside his adopted sister. "I mean there's gotta be something right?"
"No, she must face this problem alone until her parents return. Vincent Valentine will be her only aid."
Ula frowned, but her gaze didn't waver. "What can I do?"
"Listen to your guardians, they will guide your path."
"Hey wait!" the girl snarled as Fenrir faded away. She and the others were left standing there in confusion and worry, and Ula couldn't help but plop down in a chair to bury her face in her hands.
"If that's all I have to go on then this world is screwed." she looked up, towards the ceiling. "I don't have dad's drive, or mom's instincts, and Gaia knows I don't have the resources Vincent has. I don't even know how to talk to the wolves… I have no idea how to do this, and if Fenrir is right and I'm on my own until mom and dad get back, then I don't know how to help you guys prepare either."
"Don't worry, we're gonna help you out." Denzel put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "And I know where to start."
"And where would that be?"
"Kalm."
