Author's Note: And now, a brief interruption of the normal prose, but the feels continue.
Costa del Sol
FWD: Cloud Strife
From Tifa Lockhart
Nibelheim
Cloud,
I know I said I was going to follow you, but it's taken me a lot of time to get everything together and be able to finally leave Nibelheim. I know why it took you so long. If nothing else, Zangan's really supportive of the whole idea. He even gave me extra lessons for free.
My dad thinks I'm crazy, no surprises there. He doesn't want me to go. Also no surprises. I'm going anyway, despite what he says. I know I'm not really all that old yet, in the grand scheme of things. But I can't just keep sitting here, waiting on something else to happen. I want to go see the world. So. I am.
Your mom, is also super supportive of this whole idea. She's going to send me off with a goodbye breakfast. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, and she told me to find you.
And, I suppose that's part of my plan.
Anyway. My work was super good about me leaving. They didn't really give me any trouble. I think my boss knew I was going to leave eventually, despite wanting the job so badly. It was nice though, I had this really great couple of people come through. One of them said it was on his bucket list to see the Mako springs on Mt. Nibel before he died. (Though, why he'd be thinking about dying when he looks no older than thirty is beyond me.) I only mention them because they were mercenaries of sorts—definitely the adventuring type. The younger one, especially, reminded me of you. He's probably not that much older than us. He was really sweet and kept mentioning a 'girl back home'. I almost wish someone would think that of me. But yeah, they were nice, and happy, even. I thought about asking them about you, but I doubt they've ever seen you. There are so many adventurers out there that it would take years to meet all the other ones, and that's probably if you were trying.
I hope you're out there, okay. I really just want you to be okay. I haven't heard from you since you left, and I'm afraid something's happened to you.
But anyway, this is the last letter I'll send to you from Nibelheim. At least for a while, that is. I intend to be gone for a while. I'll be off adventuring. And searching. I'm going to find you! If you read this, write a letter home to your mom, and then see if you can find me. We might be able to find each other if we're both looking. You should come find me though. What if I get into a bind? You promised!
Anyway, at some point, I suppose, I'll come back to Nibelheim. Maybe. I suppose I should, to visit my dad, your mom, Zangan, and perhaps my boss. He's nice. I'll write you another letter from Nibelheim so you know.
However, if you don't read this letter, then I suppose it doesn't matter. I know Costa del Sol's a long shot, but I had to try. It's the only city on this darn world I haven't written a letter to, I think.
I plan to go to Midgar. After that, I'm not sure. But I'm going to start with Midgar. A lot of things start in Midgar, don't they?
I still miss you,
Tifa
xx
To Balamb Garden
ATTN: Squall Leonhart
From Aerith Gainsborough
Traverse Town
Leon,
I hope everything's okay. I haven't heard from you since your last letter where you said you went to get Rinoa. There's a part of me that just wants to pretend that everything went well. That you got her and she's safe now, and everything's lovely. That way someone can at least have a happy sort of life right now.
But, then I remember that I shouldn't think up such fantasies and get my hopes too high, just in case. I have a feeling that you're fine, but I would like to know. Write when you can. I'll start sending letters to Quistis, if I must!
Things here are, well, they've been better.
Zack got me a great book about dark magic, so I can read up on them and find counter-magics for them all.
Unfortunately, Angeal also passed. Something crazy happened with Angeal and the Heartless and I'm not quite sure if I understand it. Thus, I'm not even going to bother trying to explain it in a letter to you. I'll explain it when you're here. I mean, it's hardly even my story to tell, but it's such an interesting connection to the Heartless that I feel it's relevant to day-to-day life. Don't worry though, I've got it under control.
Still though, Zack's got it rough. He's been staying in Traverse Town. He keeps getting nightmares. Which is sad. I wish I could make them go away, but I don't even know how. I'm just going to be there for him, because that's all I know how to do. There's no magic to fix nightmares and the aftershock of horrible things. People just… move on.
Cid's planning on opening up a shop. And here we thought Traverse Town was going to be temporary! Well, anyway, he's setting up an accessory shop and I'm going to help imbue the charms with protection magics and whatnot. It should be great. Cid's got the place and we're fixing it up right now. It'll help bring munny in. Though, worlds' know we've done quite our fair share to keep the rooms.
Yuffie's doing well in school. She's stopped complaining when I send her at least. I think I just had to remind her that I used to go to school when I was her age, and that you used to do it, and that Zack used to do it, and I think she's got it figured out that she just needs to go to school for now. Maybe in a few years, we'll discuss whether or not she needs to keep going. I mean, she's only ten. She should go for a few more years. Even if we leave Traverse Town. Though, where we will go if we did is another story. Zack could take us all somewhere else with his star shard, but where would we go? We're settled well enough in Traverse Town. We might as well stay, honestly.
Oh goodness, I'm rambling. I really try not to do that in letters, but every now and then, I just trail off into the trivial and the unimportant. I hope you don't mind.
Anyway, write when you can, I'm sure you're busy. Let me know if Rinoa's okay or not. I'm praying she is. I really do wish the best for the two of you.
Wishing you well!
Aerith
xx
To Aerith Gainsborough
Traverse Town Hotel
From Squall Leonhart
Centra
Aerith,
Just as a heads up, don't send stuff to this address, I'm not sure I'm going to be here for very long. Correction, I'm not. Continue sending stuff to Balamb Garden, that's still your best bet.
Anyway, with that business out of the way. I'm writing to tell you that this may be my last letter. I don't know. It's… Oh, if you could see me sighing now…
It's like this: we have to go fight Ultimecia. We have to rid the worlds of her, otherwise no one is safe, particularly Rinoa, but she's insisting that she's a small matter and the world is a bigger one. Fine. Whatever. But back to the fighting Ultimecia part.
Where we have to go to fight her is basically the end of time. The sheer act of going there might kill us. (Don't ask me how we're getting there, it involves magic. My half-sister's magic, to be precise.) Anyway, but going there might kill us. Fighting Ultimecia might kill us. The stakes are very high, but we have no other options and sticking our heads in the sand isn't going to do us any damn bit of good, so we've got to go.
The plan is, assuming we survive getting there, we find Ultimecia and fight her to the death. There's a lot of us going, so that should increase our chances. I'll be going, Rinoa will be going, Quistis and Zell will be going. So will my father and Edea. I have mixed feelings about my father going, but I think that just has everything to do with I have mixed feelings about my father and not much else. Edea going will probably help us a lot. She seems to know what Ultimecia's after and she's a wonderful wealth of knowledge.
Oh, I should probably say I rescued Rinoa, shouldn't I?
I rescued Rinoa.
It wasn't too much trouble getting to her, once I got to her. The hardest part was banishing Adel from her, which I'm sure you knew would be the case. That left Rinoa really shaken. She's a bit emotional about it, and I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do. I guess I'm at as much of a loss with her on that one as you are at a loss with Zack and him not being able to cope with killing someone. I know, they're totally different things and I'm not actually equating one to another. It just falls under 'everyone has their own stuff to deal with and we shouldn't belittle them for it.'
I suppose Rinoa might be getting a little better now, though. I've spoken with her on the whole issue a couple times now. I think I've got her convinced that no one hates her. Why would she even think such a thing? I might be biased a little, but she's hard to hate!
Don't tease me. I don't want to live with you teasing me. But, I like Rinoa. I went and I rescued her and I swore I'd rescue her time and time again. She just has to believe me. I think she does now.
But man, girls are so emotional! (I suppose that statement is unfair, for I don't find you horribly emotional… and before I dig this hole, I'm going to stop.)
Anyway, I promise I'll send word as soon as I'm back in the present time and I'm sure I'm okay.
Leon
xx
To Aerith Gainsborough
Traverse Town Hotel
From Mr. and Mrs. Fair
Gongaga
Aerith,
Our son told us we could write to you and you would ensure he got our letters. He's been away from home for a while and dropped us a line saying this was the best place to reach him.
At some point, we would like to meet the lovely lady he's been talking about. Next time he's around you should tell him to bring you home for dinner. We wouldn't mind the company.
The enclosed letter is for Zack. Please pass it along to him.
Best wishes,
Mr. and Mrs. Fair
..
Zack,
You can't just write us like that and casually mention Aerith's your girlfriend in the post script! That's rude! Though, we do appreciate being told where we can send you mail. It is nice.
Your father says that you shouldn't worry too much about killing a bad man. Yes, it can be confusing, but if you killed him out of self-defense, then there's really nothing that you can blame yourself for. Don't beat yourself up over it.
We are glad though that Angeal and Aerith are helping sort things out.
We'd like you to bring home Aerith to meet us! We told her too that you should bring her. It's just, you brought home Angeal and introduced us and he seemed like he was a really nice man and, in short, we'd like to meet Aerith as well. Especially if she's your girlfriend!
Nothing much else to say. Gongaga is the same as you left it. You should come home and visit. Bring Aerith.
We love you,
Mom and Dad
xx
Cid,
I know you're busy, which is why I'm leaving this on the door. Zack and I are going out for a while. He wants to get up and moving to clear his head. Yuffie knows to walk home from school if no one's there to pick her up. However, if you can't find her, you're going to need to go looking for her. She's a ninja, that one. Zack and I will probably be home for dinner.
Thanks so much,
Aerith