Lenna returned alone to her world. She never thought the sight of her castle could fill her with such painful reluctance, but she carried Krile in her bed made of wood and flowers through space already. If she could survive that ordeal, then she could make it to her throne room and explain herself to those there.

The bed weighed heavily at her side, suspended by magic. Lenna avoided looking directly at Krile and dragged it on with the momentum of wind and occasional pushes of her hands. Cats and squirrels darted about her feet.

Once she found the road home, civilians and travelers alongside merchants and performers parted to make way for her. Lenna struggled to keep upright. But she did so because these people needed to remember the strength in her. Lenna couldn't think of fatigue or rest until she undid the injustice to Krile.

Every step grew harder and Lenna overheated. Her dress felt heavy and thick and her head spun. By the time she reached the castle gates, she struggled for breath and muscle failure threatened to drop her.

"Hail, the Queen!"

Lenna didn't know if she should accept the welcome or worry about them killing her, given what happened. But she couldn't fight them.

She blacked out. Sweat dripped from her chin and she struggled to see through the haze of fatigue and heat.

"Queen Lenna!" Men and women scrambled about her, armored in the uniform of the castle guard. Someone apologized before picking her up in their arms and carrying her. She faded in and out of consciousness.

When she came to, she rested in fresh clothes and what felt like clouds. She panicked at the thought of falling through the sky and scrambled to catch hold of something before finding only a mattress beneath her. A mattress so luxurious, she thought she slipped into dreams. She hadn't dreamed in so long, she wondered how she would wake herself and tried blinking, pinching, and shaking herself. Nothing worked.

It smelled like linens and baked sweets in here, the sensation of it bringing a burning pain of nostalgia to her chest unlike anything she felt in… weeks? Months?

Fighting tears, Lenna left the room to find Krile. They must have saved the body. They wouldn't do anything to Krile. … Would they?

The first servant that Lenna found jumped at her approach. "Y—your Majesty!"

"Where's Krile?" Lenna asked. "What did you do with her?"

"Majesty, you're awake!"

"Yes, I've noticed, but where is Krile?"

"She's—you're—"

Lenna gripped the servant by the shoulders. "Tell me! Where is she?"

"In another—in another room, milady!"

"Which one?"

"The Rose Suite. I'll take you there if—"

"I can find it."

Lenna left them and wound about corners and past familiar doors. It felt like a lifetime ago that she last saw this place in person, but it wasn't enough to lose the map in her head that came from growing up in these hallways.

When she found the guest suite named after the flower garden visible from its largest window, a dozen guards snapped to attention. They let her in to find Krile resting in a plush bed of her own, adorned with flowers and sentimental messages.

She barely recognized half the people here, but the girl swinging in the rocking chair beside Krile she recognized.

"Cinque," she said, strength returning to her. "What are you doing here? Does Bhunivelze plan to try for my world next?"

Cinque smiled. "Not anymore!"

"Then why are you here?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we've left a little gift!"

"A what?"

"A gift! The Void was really eager to eat this place, but we dropped a little repellant in its mouth and bang!" Cinque made a wide gesture with her arms. "It got offended and left! For now, at least."

"She's right," said Serah when she joined with Mog and another child Lenna never met. He wore layered and thick cloth like those on Blue Terra

The child said, "We had to get ourselves into this same room to do our work anyway, so we talked about everything else. I think we only confused them at first, but they got the point eventually."

The moogle said, "We had to kick out the Void, kupo. It stuck so close to this place, we knew it served as the center ground of Bhunivelze's work, kupo. To separate them, we had to weaken the Void and distract it from Bhunivelze. Now I think we can keep them from reconnecting. So long as we do that, kupo, we won't worry about them teaming up again!"

"The Void," Lenna said. "It came back?"

"And we stopped it," said Cinque. "You're welcome!"

"Apologies, Majesty," said Ser Yelt. "Would that we kept this mess from interfering in your castle, but they made a compelling argument."

"Yeah," said the boy, "I used shadow puppets and everything! The passing of Mwynn made them cry!"

Ser Yelt nodded, sheepish. "It was… quite artful."

"Deuce would have been proud!" said the Cinque.

The boy fidgeted and looked away. "But I need to stay here. If I don't keep it down, then it could still come back."

"Then I'll welcome your help." Lenna poised herself. "In the meantime, I'll return my duties."

"Majesty," said Ser Yelt. "You're not dressed."

Lenna looked down at her nightgown. It shimmered in the light and fluttered on the wind and felt finer than anything she wore in her travels.

"It would attract attention, Majesty."

"Very well. I'll get dressed and then we'll address what's happened to Krile."

Serah said, "I'm sorry about what happened."

Lenna shook her head. "None of you were involved. We can only blame one creature for it and we're already enacting vengeance. I'll return within the hour and we'll address such matters."

She left them and returned to her room, where half a dozen maids joined her. It was time to let others help her again, even in such silly matters as getting dressed.


Cloud stood on the deck of the S.S. Braska and watched the coiling mist that licked at the waters of Luca's dock and surrounding forest. It looked slower than when he left, and his stomach tinged at the thought of how close they got before Tifa left him. The mist didn't quite reach the tops of the trees. Someone might survive by hopping between those trees.

They kept their distance, boat barely rocking with the waves as they studied that edge. Cloud couldn't quite close the distance with a jump, but every moment made him hungrier to try.

"It's not acting like I expected," Lulu said. "We should chart the edges and study this thing's patterns before trying anything."

"I don't have time to study patterns."

"Neither do I."

Cloud scanned for movement within the shroud and found nothing. It churned and spilled over the edge of land but didn't betray any hidden lifeforms within. "Then let's move in."

"Yes, let's." Lulu lifted a hand and recoiled. Old habit, she told him back at Besaid when she caught him staring after she cast a small lightning spell.

The helm master got the message and started up the motors. They drifted closer to Luca's shore and Cloud found the faintest shapes disturbing the soft mist of the shore.

"Oh, my." Lulu gestured to one of Luca's buildings. "We've earned a welcome."

Someone stood atop the Stadium's edge but didn't wave to catch their attention. Instead they swung a blade in hand before leaping from the edge and into the Stadium's seating area.

"Who was that?" Cloud asked.

"Paine, if I had to guess. She disappeared a while ago, but it looks like she's survived the mist. Unless you think those corrupted might act like that given your experience."

"I couldn't tell you."

"Then let's regret not holding more white magic on us that didn't require your strength. Only use your materia if you must."

They docked and found the mist weak on the piers. A leather-clad woman joined them, walking through the mist like it was nothing. Cloud gripped his sword and waited for her to make the first move.

"Don't shoot!" the woman said. "We've got a lot of problems here, but I for once am not one of them! Can't say I'm surprised to see you let the place go to hell with some of those bozos in charge, though."

"The bozos that you endorsed?" Lulu asked. "I'll make sure they get word of your confidence, Paine."

Paine stopped with them and folded her arms, eyes now visible and an alarming shade of red like Lulu's. "It's not Gippal or Nooj that I'm worried about. Yuna, maybe. But that's beside the point—this mist will claim all but our strongest people, and even they aren't immune. I can't make it more than an hour without turning lopsided."

"What about your ship?" Lulu asked.

"You'd have a better idea than me where that thing is."

Cloud tensed. "How long have you been here?"

"Too long." Paine nodded toward the city center. "This thing's gonna twist the world inside out if we don't get him out and back to the abyss where he belongs."

"I hope you brought information on this…" Lulu gave a wave, "… thing?"

"I got used to kicking him out of people, but worlds are a recent development. The stuff that attracts him damages the Farplane, and now it looks like they're merging so that's fantastic."

Cloud's chest tightened at the thought. "What if we don't separate them in time?"

"Then we lose the planet for good. Probably. He's moving so fast, it's impossible to keep up. We're losing ground."

Lulu eyed the mist about them and stepped toward it. "You lasted an hour. A lot can change in that time."

"Keep to the edge of the island," Paine said. "It gets worse the farther in you go, so you should survive if you stay close to the water. Jump in if you have to—these things don't seem to like the ocean."

"We've got two objectives," Lulu said. "Hurt the corruption that's taken the Farplane and rescue survivors. Paine, you should prioritize analyzing this thing since you've got a head start. Cloud, keep to the edge. If your family survived, it sounds like you'll find them close to the water."

"And what about you?" Paine asked.

"I'll do both. Meet back here at sundown."

The sun slid far enough along that Cloud doubted they had more than two hours. That wasn't enough time to skirt the whole edge of this place.

But he had to try.


Denzel tested the trap he laid before climbing back up his and Marlene's tree. Marlene inspected fruit she found. He hoped they kept close to Luca, but in the panic of getting away from the roiling mist, he lost track of their position.

"How are we gonna cook it?" Marlene asked without looking up from her fruit.

"We'll start a fire."

"How?"

Denzel eyed the mist below them. It felt gross even sitting above it, like it rotted his skin with its proximity. "Do you have fire materia?"

"No."

Denzel thought back to his days in the slums, but even in the slums, he could make small fires to cook the things he considered eating if he had to. Not to mention the places he could steal from if he wanted, or the people that gave him food for work. "We can take this back to the shoals to light one."

"But it's wet and cold over there."

"We can't sleep in a tree, either."

Marlene pouted and kept inspecting. "Can we use white magic if this turns out poisonous?"

"Yes."

"Good. Because I have no idea if it is or not. What fruit is three colors? How does that not weird people out?"

"Maybe it does. Colors might indicate poison."

Marlene grumbled and bit into one. "It tastes funny. I don't trust it."

"I've still got my materia."

"But it doesn't even taste that good."

"Better that than starve."

"What if it's super poisonous? Then we could use up more white magic and maybe not have enough for both of us."

"Fair point."

Denzel turned his attention back to the trap. They would probably survive eating raw meat, but there was no telling what diseases the wildlife picked up around here. He remembered his first days here, sick as if he had the Stigma all over again and couldn't even help Tifa through her own illness.

"Wait," Marlene said, "these purple berries taste fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Marlene handed him some. "Try it!"

Denzel popped one in his mouth and tasted sweet earthiness, like the stuff that Cloud put in his pastries. "It's good."

"Figures our luck will probably make it the really poisonous one. But at least with these ones, it might be worth it!"

Denzel's stomach growled, hunger reignited with the taste of food that reminded him he hadn't eaten in a day. Fatigue returned and he leaned against the tree for support. How were they supposed to keep this up until whenever Cloud and Tifa found them? Or until this mist faded?

"It's getting dark," Marlene said. "I don't want to be here when it's dark."

"I doubt any monsters will come out."

"I still don't like it. Can we go back to the rock?"

Denzel mapped out the distance in his head. They wouldn't reach the shore until sundown at the earliest. "We should catch one critter first."

"But that'll take forever!"

"We're gonna lose the light regardless. This way we can fill up before bed."

Marlene huffed and curled against the tree. "My back hurts and this mist makes me feel all funky inside."

"It won't last forever," Denzel said, repeating what he told himself over and over before he met Cloud. Aerith said she helped Cloud find him, but Aerith wasn't here now. "Can you hear them?"

Marlene gave a confused hum. "Hear who?"

"The spirits."

"Kind of. They whisper all over the place, but I can't make out the words."

"Could you make out Aerith's?"

"No."

Denzel looked about them. "Maybe we can learn their language."

"I don't think so. But we can learn to listen."