Chapter 1
He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He tried to remember where he was, but it was useless. He couldn't even remember his name or where he had come from. 'Well, I won't get anywhere by lying here,' he thought to himself. He sat up in bed and looked around. He was in a white room with a window turned to the sea. Next to the bed were a wicker chair with some clothes, probably his, and a bedside table. There was also a large mirror in the wall. He got up, only in his boxers and looked to the mirror. He was tall, about 1,80 meters. Several tiny scars marked his tanned chest, probably from bullets. His black hair was spiked up in a way that defied almost every physics law. He got dressed and when he reached the door it swung open and a young girl greeted him with a smile. "Oh thank God you woke up. We were starting to think you'd never get out of it," the girl said with a smile. She was about sixteen years old, had long red hair fastened in a ponytail and brown eyes and was about twenty centimeters shorter than him. She was wearing a white toga and sandals. She turned to a boy behind her and spoke a language he didn't understand. "Where are we?" he asked. "We're in Heaven's Island," she answered whilst reaching a hand for him. "Come, the elders will see you tonight. So I'm going to show you the city. By the way, my name's Elaine," she said dragging him outside. "Um, I'd tell you my name but I. um. can't seem to remember," he replied sadly. He closed his eyes when the sunlight stroked his face. He protected his eyes with a hand and looked at the island. It was like time traveling into the past. There were buildings with columns and capitals everywhere. There were no vehicles, and the streets were all paved with beautiful tiles. Everything was clean, with no hint of dirt anywhere. Flowers seemed to grow everywhere and there was a fountain almost every block. They had just passed a bathhouse and a large temple. Everyone dressed like Elaine and bowed to her as they passed. But to him, they just looked the other way and ignored him. "Are these people angry at me?" he asked, looking at a woman who had walked to the opposite side of the street when she noticed him. "No. They just think you don't belong here. You see, when we found you, you were badly hurt. We healed you and brought you here, so we could understand the humans," she explained. "What do you mean, understand the humans? Aren't you humans?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "No, we are Cetra." 'Cetra? Why does that name sounds so familiar?' He thought to himself. "And what are you doing on this planet?" "Ok. I'll explain. Many years ago we lived happily on our planet Utopia with our brothers, the Jenova. So, the gods trusted us a powerful gem, the Ithilium and gave us powers to protect it. We, the Cetra have White Magic and the Jenova have Black Magic. And these powers are based on the four elements. I am a fire guardian. And through centuries we the Guardians, managed to protect the Ithilium. Until one day, Jenova tried to steal the stone to take over the planet. And with all the battles and the bloodshed, the gods broke the Ithilium in two. So we grabbed on piece and escaped from Utopia to Earth. Several Jenova followed us and we destroyed some and imprisoned others. And we build this island. And with our technology we can steer the island and also keep it invisible." They had been walking to a restaurant. They sat down and Elaine ordered for the two. He thought it was delicious. "So, you don't remember nothing?" she asked looking at him. "No. Not even my name," he replied sadly. He continued to ask Elaine questions about the Cetra. Turns out that they had very advanced technology and the ancient environment was only external. When they finished eating Elaine gave him a tour around the island. They went to the beach and stayed there talking until dusk. They got up and he stopped with his mouth open staring at the city. Elaine looked at him and couldn't help smiling. "It's quite a view isn't it?" she asked. All the buildings were shining a green glow that lighted the entire city. "This is a mark of the Cetra. Every structure we build glows like this. It doesn't even matter what type of material you use," she explained. "Come on. We've got to go see Grandpa." "Grandpa? Weren't we supposed to see the elders?" "Grandpa is an elder. He's the most respected man in the entire island." They walked through the city until they stopped at a large temple. They climbed a tall staircase and entered through an arcade. They walked through the building and reached a large room with rows of seats occupying three walls. There were many old men and women seated and on the center an old man with long, white beard greeted them with a nod. Elaine led him to the very center of the room and ran to the man, who he supposed was her grandfather. "Welcome, human. My name is Holgine. I'm sure my granddaughter already showed you around and explained you the reasons why you were brought here," the old man said while coming down to him. "Yes, she has explained. But I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I can't remember anything about my past," he replied while looking down at his shoes. "Don't worry. Our powers will help you recover it." Holgine put a hand on his shoulder and took it back quickly, like it was burning. He looked at the newcomer with fear in his eyes. "He's one of them. He's a traitor. GUARDS!" Ten guards came to the scream and pointed the black haired man their wrists, which had some kind of watch-looking device. From that, beams of electricity hit the man sending him to the ground. "How could you do this?" Holgine said, looking at Elaine with pure hatred in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said, only to be silenced when Holgine slapped her. The man got off the ground to protect his friend but was electrified again. Then there was darkness.
***
Six weeks had passed since the destruction of Meteor. They had all spend so much time together they all fell sorry about separating. But they knew that eventually they would have to. So, Red went back to Cosmo Canyon and Vincent was traveling along the world searching for Lucrecia. Cid went back to Rocket Town and with the help of Reeve's administrational skills, started the Highwind Inc. Cid had surprised them all when he called them saying he had proposed to Shera and she had accepted. Yuffie went back to Wutai (probably with the materia that suddenly disappeared whenever she visited them). The Turks worked for Godo. They were his personal bodyguards. Only when there was nothing to do, Godo ordered Elena to take care of Yuffie. Both of them hated the idea but as the time passed they became friends and occupied most of their time shopping with Godo's money. Barrett went to Corel and was starting to rebuild the town. He felt he owned them that and the people of the town began treating him with respect. Cloud and Tifa stayed together and opened the 'Avalanche' academy in Junon. They became quite famous and very rich after defeating Sephiroth and stopping meteor. Tifa taught martial arts and Cloud taught swordsmanship and chocobo riding. Yuffie came often to teach Materia usage. Tifa had just dismissed a class and was going to deliver some papers to Cloud sign when she walked past the lounge. "What's wrong with master Strife?" Tifa stopped near the door, listening. She peered inside and saw four students, two boys and two girls sitting on a couch in front of the TV. Both girls were blond and one boy had long, black hair, while the other had his short red hair spiked up. "I think he's gay," said the redhead. The others burst out laughing and Tifa was very amused. 'Why would this boy think Cloud was gay?' she thought. But the redhead wasn't laughing. "Come on. I'm serious. Master Lockhart obviously has the hots for him, and yet, he doesn't do anything," he explained. Tifa blushed furiously with embarrassment. "Well I wouldn't think twice if a girl like her liked me. Ouch, what was that for!? He asked when a girl punched him in the chest, 'probably his girlfriend' Tifa thought. The girl got up and glared at the boy. "Well, Johnny, next time ye wanna go on a date, ask her 'cause yer not goin' with me." She left the lounge and went right past Tifa without even seeing her. Tifa saw the boy getting up to go after his girlfriend and ran in the opposite direction. She wasn't even looking at where she was going and ran into someone. "Excuse me, oh it's you Cloud," she said smiling. "Yeah, I wanted to see you." He raised an eyebrow. "Tifa, why are you blushing?" "Um. it was nothing," she replied looking down and noticing the papers on her hands. "Actually I have these papers for you to sign," she told him. He signed the papers and gave them back. "Well, as I was saying Cid and Shera invited us both to some kind of pre- wedding party and also Yuffie's birthday on Saturday. I already said we were coming. You didn't have plans, did you?" "No. I'll go," she answered. "Ok, they'll pick us up. Oh, don't forget we promised them a fight between us at four." "Um. ok," she said, remembering what she overheard on the lounge.
***
The green-eyed girl reached a hand for him as she was falling into the darkness. Suddenly flames enveloped her and she turned into a tall man with long white hair and evil eyes. The man reached for his sword and slashed at him. "Wake up! Zack, wake up!" Zack opened his eyes and saw Gabriel looking down at him. He sat up and wiped the sweat of his brow. He looked around and saw the same thing he had seen for the last six years. His cell: glowing walls bordered three sides of it, but bars lined the fourth one. The cell seemed however, to be immune to their power. They could use their powers but couldn't damage the cell. "The same dream again?" the old man asked. Zack looked at his cell companion. He was a very old man with white hair that fell to the end of his back. His violet eyes were almost hypnotic even surrounded by a wrinkled face. On the other side stood Joshua. He was a blind, bald man who had gotten senile two years ago. "Yes," replied Zack, massaging his temple. "I think I should insist on the training. I don't have these dreams when I'm tired," he explained. "Ok, I'll see what I can do," Gabriel agreed with a smile. "Now go back to sleep." Zack closed his eyes and lay down on his bed. 'I just wish I knew who are the people in my dreams,' he thought right after falling asleep.
***
Shera had told Cid to get the guests on the Highwind. Cid was smiling and as usual, puffing a cigarette. "You're the last ones. Come in." Barrett was already on his place with Marlene on his lap. Elmyra was beside him. Shera was talking to Red and Reeve stood where Cait usually was. "Where's Vincent?" "We don't know," Shera explained. "He said he would meet us there. I think he hasn't found anything about his lover." "Hey Marlene." Cloud approached her with a smile. "How are you?" "I'm fine uncle Cloud, thank you." "I have a present for you." Cloud gave her a small box with holes tied with a bow. She opened it and saw a small golden chocobo. Marlene was so happy that she jumped and hugged Cloud. "Thank you uncle Cloud. Is it a boy or a girl?" "It's a girl." Marlene thought for a moment and then smiled. "Then I'm gonna name it Aeris. Can I daddy, can I?" "I don't know honey. You're gonna have to ask Elmyra." "Of course you can honey. I think Aeris would be very happy," Elmyra reassured. Cloud turned to Cid. "Why is Shera here? Isn't the party in your house?" "It was, but when we invited Godo he insisted that we should make both parties together. That's a whole lot better for me. This way I don't have to clean the damn mess Yuffie makes on my ship whenever she flies with us."
***
"Ok Zack. Now try breaking this," said Gabriel putting a mug on the floor. "You want me to break a mug with wind?" asked Zack raising a brow. "Don't underestimate your powers." Zack concentrated on the mug and the air around it began to swirl. It was getting faster and faster. The mug was lifted from the floor and went into a wall breaking into pieces. "That was cheating," said Gabriel patiently. "No it wasn't. I broke it, like you said," grinned Zack. "You should have done this." Gabriel concentrated on another mug. The air around it began to swirl just like before. The mug was lifted and stopped in the air, right in front of Zack's face. Zack took a step back and protected his eyes. Now the wind was so strong that everything in the room was agitated. The bed sheets, the clothes, even Zack's hair was all messed up. Only Gabriel seemed untouched. Suddenly the wind stopped and the mug turned into dust. Zack looked to the pile of dust at his feet and to the pieces near the wall. "Wow," was all he could say. "This is what you have to do," Gabriel smiled. "Hey Zack," said a whispering voice. "Oh, your girlfriend's here," said Gabriel. "Oh shut up," said the young woman in the other side of the bars. Gabriel lay in his bed and Zack ran to the bars. "Hi Elaine. How are you?" he asked. Over the past four years, Elaine had been visiting him in the jail. She had discovered where he was and have been seeing his since then. He couldn't believe when he first heard her voice. "I'm fine. Look I have very good news for you," she whispered. "What?" "As you know, my grandpa is getting married tonight. Almost everyone is going to the wedding and the security is going to get pretty lax. So I've already made a plan to get you out of here." Zack's eyes widened with surprise. "Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" "Yes. There's only one problem: your friend. I know you're a good person but I'm not sure about him," Elaine said in a murmur. "Don't worry. He's a good person. He told me he only came here under a threat. His wife was a Cetra. They threatened to kill her. So don't worry he won't do anything," Zack reassured. "Ok, so here's the plan: tonight I'm going to give some wine to the guard. Of course it will have some sleeping powder in it. So when he falls asleep you are going to wear his uniform. I'm going to put one as well. So if anyone feels his presence we say we're taking him to another prison. No one will feel you're presence because you're only half Jenova. I'll have a raft ready on the beach. After that you're on your own."
Chapter 2
The moment they saw Godo's mansion their jaws dropped right on the floor. It looked like Christmas. The whole mansion had lights everywhere, and two huge banners stood over the doorway saying 'Happy birthday Yuffie' and 'Congratulations Cid and Shera'. Godo was waiting for them. He greeted them and led them to a big hall. It was decorated with lights, confetti and a mirror ball. There were two tables, a big one with food and another one with beverages and a few sofas against the wall. A curtain covered a corner of the wall. They saw Reno and Rude by the beverage table drinking as usual. "Yuffie will be down in a moment. She's still putting on her dress for the party," said Godo. "Yuffie wearing a dress?" Tifa asked a little surprised. "Yes. Elena convinced her to wear one tonight. I'm sorry but I can't stay here much longer," said Godo leaving the hall. "Yuffie and Elena. Who would have thought those two would end up best friends?" Cloud asked a little surprised. "Well, maybe being kidnapped together by a fat-ass pimp creates more bonds than you imagine," Tifa said sarcastically." Oh my god is that Yuffie?" Tifa's mouth opened as she saw Yuffie coming down the stairs followed by Elena. Yuffie was wearing a tight black dress and had her tied up very elegantly. She was very beautiful. She walked to them. "So? How do I look?" she smiled. "Oh you look beautiful!" the girls said together. "Happy birthday Yuffie." said Cloud handing her a present. "Thank you," she replied, being dragged by the girls. Cloud noticed a strange look that Reno gave Yuffie. It wasn't like the ones he gave to every girl. It was. different. "Oh look, there's Vincent." Red nodded to him. He was sitting on a couch sipping his drink. "Poor guy. He must really like Yuffie. I can't picture him dancing," Cid laughed. "Let's talk to him," Red suggested.
"So Shera, how did the old man proposed?" Yuffie asked. "Well, we were running some tests about the launch of the new rocket on the computer." "But the rocket isn't built yet." "I like to be ready for anything," said Shera with a smile. Yuffie just shrugged. "Anyway, when the countdown reached zero, the screen showed a message "Shera I love you. Marry me. Cid" "Oh! That is soooooo sweet!" Tifa was holding her hands together on her chest. "Pff! That is soooooo lame!" Yuffie replied. "I bet Rude has more interesting conversations." And with this she walked away. Elena shrugged and followed her. "Oh, don't mind her. I think it's very cute but it's not like Cid." "I know Tifa, I don't know where did he got that from."
"You did that!? That doesn't sound like you." Barrett couldn't imagine Cid proposing like that. "I know," Cloud was smiling, "I pictured Cid sitting on a couch watching some soccer, Shera doing the dishes, and then he goes, "Hey Shera. So do you wanna marry me?" Cloud, Reeve and Barrett burst out laughing and Cid started swearing in every language known to men. "Actually I was watching TV and in a soap opera a guy asked a chic to marry him on a screen in a football match." "Oh, so the mean old dog likes to watch soap operas." The Turks and Yuffie had joined them. "Oh just shut up, ok Reno?" Elena asked. She became quite different after she made friends with Yuffie. Reno cast a glace to Elena. And the party continued until late in the night with lots of talking, arguing, dancing and (to Reno's pleasure) drinking. Reno and Yuffie did a drinking contest, which Reno obviously won due to his long years of practice. And so Yuffie got a little happier that usual and didn't shut up the whole night. Reno was nearly lynched by Cid, Barrett and Red. Elmyra was talking to Shera on the couch with a sleeping Marlene on her lap, holding an also sleeping chocobo. Cloud danced with Tifa, and Yuffie danced with every guy in the room, Vincent being the most difficult. Afterward she was whispering something to Reno. The huge grin that appeared on Reno's face showed that it could only be something evil. Godo invited them to stay the night and Red was the first one to accept. He had been strange all night, as if he couldn't focus his eyes on anything.
***
'Yeah, that's just like me. Everyone's in the stupid wedding and I'm on duty. Like anyone would release a Jenova.' The guard leaned against the glowing wall of the cells cursing his bad luck. His thoughts were interrupted by a very pretty girl in a very small dress holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses. "Hello beauty. What are you doing here? This is a very strange night for a girl to be walking alone," the guard grinned, not taking his eyes of the beautiful redhead in front of him. Elaine flipped her hair to the side. "I was thinking of doing company to a lonely man. The wedding is pretty boring." She walked to him until they were only inches apart. The guard put his arms around her waist bringing her closer. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Let's have a drink first," she said, walking away from him. She filled the two glasses and gave him one. She took her glass to her lips and the guard drank his one. "Oh, look. I didn't know you brought your sister with you," he said before falling into the floor. She searched his pockets for the keys. When she found them, she hid the guard in his cabin and took of his clothes. She searched around and found the guards locker. After trying some keys she opened it and took a uniform to herself. She dresses it and climbed down the stairway to the cells where Zack and Gabriel were awaiting her. "Wait a minute," she whispered fumbling with the keys. The door opened with a creak. "Put this on, Zack," she said, giving him the guard's uniform. Zack finished dressing his clothes, which were too small, and turned to Elaine. "What about his handcuffs?" "They're here. Turn around," she uttered. Gabriel turned around and she put his handcuffs. Then she pressed a switch and the handcuffs began glowing. "These are on so you cannot use your powers. But they're not too tight so you can take them off anytime." "Ok, let's go!" Zack exclaimed and they exited the prison. Zack stopped to breath some fresh air but Elaine rushed him. They passed some people in the street that walked away from them, but none asked any question. They could already smell the ocean and Zack was starting to feel very happy. Until they passed a guard. "Halt! Where are you taking that prisoner?" the guard demanded. Elaine spoke in a very low voice. "Prisoner #241 is being transferred to East prison, sir." She stated. "Are those cuffs on?" "Yes, sir." The guard eyed them very carefully. "Very well. Be sure he doesn't escape." "Yes, sir." The guard left and Zack found out he had been holding his breath. Releasing the air, they began their way to the beach, where Elaine uncovered a small raft. Gabriel took of his handcuffs and used his powers to put the raft in the water. Elaine just stood there, looking at the full moon. Zack walked beside her. "It's very beautiful, isn't it?" he asked. "Yes it is. I'm only sorry I won't be able to see it more times with you," she replied looking down. "I love you Zack." "What?" he asked. She leaned to him and kissed him. Gabriel turned around and saw some guards approaching. "We've got to go. They found us," he exclaimed pointing at the guards. They broke the kiss and Elaine stroked his face gently as tears poured down her face. "Go. I'll always be with you," she cried. And she ran from the guards. Zack ran to water and climbed to the raft. Gabriel helped him and bowed his head. Suddenly gust of wind appeared on the beach creating a sandstorm. Then the wind turned to them pushing them far into the ocean.
***
"Hey wake up spiky-boy!" Cloud clutched his head, which seemed to be about to explode due to his enormous hangover. He managed to open his eyes and saw Reno in his usual blue suit, playing with his nightstick. "Leave me alone." "Come on. Everybody's downstairs waiting for you." Cloud sat up in bed still holding his head. "Ouch. How can you do that?" "What? How can I be a drop dead redhead and still be better then anyone in a battle?" Reno asked with a grin. "The only thing you have that makes people drop dead is your breath. Actually I was asking how could you drink so much and wake up like it was nothing." "Oh, that's many years of training. Now hurry, Red said last night he wanted to see us all." Reno left the room and Cloud got up, trying not to fall. He went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. 'I feel much better now' he thought. He got dressed and went downstairs. Everyone was in the dining room having breakfast, except Red. "Morning. Where's Red? Didn't he want to speak with us?" Yuffie and Reno looked at each other and burst out laughing. Barrett glared at Reno. "What have you done with Red?" he asked. "Oh nothing. We just put a little extra vodka on his punch," Yuffie explained in the middle of her laughs. "No you didn't!" exclaimed Shera covering her mouth with her hands. "I don't think Nanaki is accustomed with drinking." "Oh we just wanted to see if got drunk." "Well I think he got. He couldn't focus his eyes in anything." Red entered the room with his eyes closed. Everyone shut up and looked at him. "Good morning," he greeted sounding a little strange. "I apologize for being so late but I have an enormous headache today. If I didn't knew better I'd say I have a hangover." Everyone started laughing except Shera and Elmyra. "What's wrong?" he asked a little confused. "Nothing," Cloud said. "Now could you please tell us what are you so secretive about?" "Ok. I waited for this moment now that we are all together but I didn't want to ruin the party. It will sound a little farfetched to you but I guarantee it is absolutely true. Among my grandfather's belongings I found his journal. In it he mentioned a secret room in the Gi cave. Out of curiosity I went there and found an amazing library. Every book of it is Cetra related. I think my grandfather hid them so that they wouldn't fall on the wrong hands. It was one month ago and I've been checking the books since then. Four days ago I found a book that mentioned a way to revive a Cetra." Elmyra was shaking. "Tha-that means that I can have my Aeris back?" "I think so," Red continued. "It mentions a materia that can restore the lifestream into a Cetra corpse. The materia doesn't revive; it only brings the soul back. But if it is used with revive and restore materia in quick succession, it can bring her back." They were all amazed by this new discovery. "I hate to spoil the mood but it has been one month and her body is in the water. Shouldn't it be deteriorated yet?" At the light of Vincent's statement Elmyra started sobbing. "Don't worry Elmyra. I've looked into that. The body of a Cetra has too much magic and knowledge to deteriorate so quickly. It takes about two and a half months to start deteriorating." Now, Cloud was shaking too. "And how do we find this materia. What does it look like?" "This is no ordinary materia. A regular materia is condensed Mako infused with knowledge. This materia was created by the planet itself." "The planet?!" Tifa asked. "Yes. The Cetra always held the planet's welfare above all. Even those who came into this planet did all they could to help it. And this wasn't even their home planet. So the planet created a materia to help them. This materia is found drifting on the lifestream. It's gray, like a stone, but it should glow different colours depending on who is using it and it should feel like silk. It has some Cetra's writing on it, and more important it can be only used once per century. It causes great pain to the planet. The last record of it being used was almost a thousand years ago." Tifa didn't know how to feel. She didn't know if she should be happy to have her friend back, or sad to see Cloud's enthusiasm. 'I'm going nuts. Of course I must be happy. Aeris is my friend,' she thought. "So we must get her body quickly." Cloud got up suddenly. "Ok! You guys stay here. There is no need for everyone to go." Said Cloud. "Cid will take me, Yuffie and Reeve to the lake and we'll get her body back. Is that ok with you?" "Yes, of course." Both Reeve and Yuffie agreed with a nod. Marlene went to Elmyra who was crying with Shera by her side. "Don't wowy. Now you will have two Aeris." Elmyra smiled and pet Aeris on the head. " Kweh!" "What if some of us left on the tiny bronco to Mideel? If the materia drifts on the lifestream I think that's the most probable place to look." "Ok. Cid, Reeve, Yuffie and I will leave now. Decide who's gonna look for the gray materia. Good luck." Cloud looked at Elmyra who was sitting on a couch sobbing. He kneeled beside her. "Don't worry. If that materia is still out there we'll find it," he whispered. He looked at Elmyra but her eyes held nothing but anger. "You better find it. You took my daughter once and you've got a chance to bring her back. And if you don't, I swear to God, I'll kill you with my bare hands," she whispered back. Cloud looked as she got up, her eyes filled with tears now, and walked to her bedroom. He felt numb. It was true. Aeris died and it was his entire fault. He got up and left without a word. Barrett looked at them. "I'll go to Mideel. Who's comin' with me?" "I will," Tifa replied. Red and Vincent looked at each other "We will too." The Turks switched glares. Rude was the one that spoke. "I know that we've done bad things in the past and we regret them. But we would like to help you in this quest." Barrett frowned. "You can come if you want. But if you do somethin' funny," he patted his gunarm, "I'll turn you into Swiss cheese." "Ok, let's go!"
Chapter 3
"Hey, wake up!" Zack opened his eyes with great effort and looked at the two brown eyes staring at him. At first he couldn't remember where he was but then, memories of the previous night flooded his mind like Leviathan's Tidal Wave. The wind building up, the rain, the thunders. Memories of a friend grabbing a raft in a desperate attempt to survive. Memories of a huge wave covering both of them, the haunted face of a friend the last thing he saw before loosing consciousness. He bolted upright, realizing the mistake he had made when his vision began to blur and the floor started spinning. The nurse held him and made him sat on the bed. "Easy. You're still very weak from the wreckage. We are a little low on resources so we only used a couple of Cure spells on you," she said looking at him with a reprehensive glare. "Where's Gabriel?" He asked looking around. He was on a small tent, with only another bed. These were made rather recklessly and the sheets were made of a scratchy fabric, but hey, for someone who spent almost six years on a prison cell that must be heaven. In the middle of the two beds was a small table with a green orb on top of it. "Who?" The nurse asked. A man walked in, letting the sunlight pour through the opening of the tent. Zack could see some men digging in the ground. He was wearing dirty blue overalls and had several stains on dirt on his head. "Hey, Katy, Paul hurt himself with the pickaxe," the man spoke, not noticing Zack. "Again?!" she replied. "That man should be prohibited to get near a pickaxe. I'm going there. Stay here with him and don't let him get out of here," she said nodding towards Zack. The auburn haired man looked at him in surprise as nurse Katy walked out the tent. "Oh, you're awake," the man said. "There was an old man with me on the raft. His name was Gabriel. Where is he?" "I'm sorry, but there was no one with you when we found you." "Are you sure? When was that?" "Two days ago." Zack got out of the bed, slowly this time. "Where are you going? You heard her. You can't get out of the bed until your fine." "I am fine," he said standing up. "See?" As he stood up a loud grumble came from his stomach. He blushed a little. "Oh, you probably haven't eaten for days," the man said. "Come, I'll take you to the canteen. Oh by the way, the name's Elliot." "Zack," he replied shaking his hand. "Come." As they got out of the tent, they heard a loud explosion. "What was that?" Zack asked, looking around. "Oh, that's nothing. It just a way we use to determine the exact place of the items in the ground. You'll be hearing that a lot if you stay here," Elliot answered. Zack's eyes locked on a huge skull resting in the ground. There were men all around it cleaning it with small brushes. An enormous forest stood, undisturbed, behind them. Elliot saw him gazing at the forest. "The Sleeping Forest. I wouldn't advise you to go there, unless if you have a Lunar Harp. It's the only thing that can awake the forest. Anyone who walks into it without a harp gets trapped," he explained. Elliot led him into the canteen. It was a small space, with long tables across. They got their food and sat down on a table. Elliot was watching Zack eat with amazement. "Good lord! How long has it been since you had a decent meal? You look like you didn't have a decent meal for months," he exclaimed. "Probably more than six years," he said. "What?" "It's a long story. I'll tell you someday." They finished their food (Zack ate three times) and went outside. It was almost eleven and they decided to take a walk outside town. "Oh, I forgot my gun," said Elliot. "What do you need you gun for?" Zack asked. "You can't leave town without a weapon of some sort. You've got to have protection against the monsters and wild beasts," he replied. "Oh." Was all Zack said. "Wait a minute. I'll be right back," said Elliot, running to his tent. When he came back he found Zack looking at the showcase in the weapons tent. He approached him without saying something but somehow Zack knew he was there. "I'd like to buy something but I don't have any money," he said sadly. "Come, let's go outside." They went to the beach without any trouble and sat in a rocky zone, watching the sea. "So what's your story?" Elliot finally asked, after a brief moment of silence. "Well to make it short, I wake up in a beautiful island without any memory of my past. I spend the entire day with a beautiful girl and they arrest me like I murdered someone. I have spent six years locked in a cell with another man, for no reason at all. Someway in the middle he helped me remember my name. Sometimes I have dreams and flashes about my past but the only thing I can really remember is some woman with green eyes and chestnut hair, and a man with long white hair, a huge sword and a tattoo." "That guy who was locked up with you was the one you asked me about earlier?" "Yes, but I know he'll be all right. He's a tough one," he said. They spend sometime talking about them and watching the waves. "Should we go back?" Elliot asked. "Yes." As they walked back to the town, Zack suddenly grabbed Elliot's arm. "What is it?" he asked. "There's something up there," said Zack pointing to some bushes. "I'll go check it." As he approached the bushes a wolf-like creature jumped from them, its yellow fangs aimed directly at Zack's throat. The wolf had gray fur that changed to feathers in the middle of his back. Zack quickly stepped aside and kicked the wolf in his lungs. It fell to the ground gasping for air. In the corner of his eye, Zack saw that another wolf was attacking Elliot. Zack kicked the wolf in his head, cracking its backbone. He ran to Elliot, who was on the ground, holding the wolf's head, inches above his neck. Zack picked up the gun, which was several feet away from Elliot and noticed four more wolfs running towards them. In a swift movement he jumped to the ground, picked up the gun and fired five rounds. Elliot pushed the wolf's body away from him and stood up. He looked in amazement to the five bodies in the ground and then at Zack, who was also looking at the bodies and at the gun in his hands. Every wolf had a bullet hole right between its eyes. "How did you do that?" Elliot asked. "I-I don't know," he replied. Elliot was now looking at Zack's eyes very carefully. "You eyes." he said. "What?" "They're glowing. You're Mako enhanced. You're a SOLDIER," he said dumbfounded "I'm a what?" "You're an elite soldier. You're one of the best. Even if you don't remember you still have it in you. But there are only a few alive. But let's go home now. I'll explain everything in the way.
***
When they reached the lake, Cloud felt his heart accelerating like hell. The shell house was the same and the lake looked like a giant mirror with no disturbance whatsoever. "Ok, Reeve and I will go search for Aeris." Cid frowned when he heard this. "Why can't we go?" Cloud smiled. "Smoking the way you do, I don't think you'd be able to hold your breath longer than two seconds. Besides someone has to guard the Highwind." "That's ok with me. I don't mind staying dry. Hey old man! Call me if you need me. I'm going to take a walk," Yuffie agreed at the same time she entered the shell house. Cid grunted and they jumped into the water. It was beautiful down there. Lots of fishes and multicoloured seaweeds lay there unmoving. Reeve had a feeling that no one had disturbed that place for a long time. The lake wasn't very big or very deep so it wouldn't take much time to find her. "So why haven't we found her yet?" This thought kept worrying him. Finally, after almost one hour going up and down, they gave up. Everyone was reluctant to leave the place but Cloud was the one who was suffering the most. He had lost Aeris one, and didn't want to loose her twice. Finally he agreed. "I don't think we should go back now." Everyone turned to Reeve. He always acted through Cait and didn't like when being the center of attention. "It's a lake so her body couldn't have drifted. Someone must have taken it. I think we should go to Bone Village, just south of here to see if anyone asked for a lunar harp or if they saw an airship or a golden chocobo. "That's a good idea Reeve. Let's go." When they entered the village they saw it hadn't changed much. It had a few stores, some houses and an Inn. They went to talk to the workers. There was one who said he had seen a man in a golden chocobo. "And what was he like?" "What caught most my attention was a big sword he was carrying." They all had the same thought. Sephiroth? It couldn't be! Could it? "D-did he have long white hair?" Cid managed to ask in spite of fearing to hear the answer. "It was long but it was brown." They all felt relief flooding their hearts. "Oh! He also had a tattoo. It was the number 4, and when he came back he had a wet girl with chestnut hair with him. She looked fainted." What was this? Long swords, number tattoos, and worse he had Aeris with him. They asked the man where did the stranger go to but he didn't know. As they went to the airship they couldn't escape the feeling of dread inside.
***
The rebuilding of Mideel was going fine although there was still a large hole in the floor filled with lifestream. "Where do we start looking?" said Tifa looking at the extension of the hole. "I think we should split up." Barrett looked at the Turks and said, "I'll go with Tifa and Elena look in the stores, and Red will go with Vincent, Reno and Rude talk to the locals." They split up and after two long hours roaming through every store Barret's PHS rang. "Who was it?" Barrett took Tifa and Elena by the hands and started running. "They found something!" When they reached them, Red, the Turks and Vincent were talking to an old man. "Well, as you never know what you'll find in the lifestream I usually sit around there with a net. One day I caught a very soft rock with some markings that started glowing brown when I touched it. I thought it was a materia but I couldn't make it work so I sold it to a brunette. I think she was from Costa del Sol." They were very excited until they heard it was sold. "When was it?" "Three weeks ago." "Ok, let's go to Wutai."
***
When Barrett entered the living room they saw Elmyra crying and hugging Reeve. Everyone was with a sad look. Marlene was petting her chocobo sobbing. Cloud was with Yuffie in the corner and Cid was holding hands with Shera on the couch. They told them what happened. "We have to look for Aeris" Elmyra sighed. "I know. But where?" Tifa felt real sad to see Elmyra like that and promised she will find Aeris. "Well the gray materia is in Costa del Sol with a brunette girl." Said Red. "It is my opinion that we should go look for it while we don't have clues about Aeris whereabouts. "Cloud had to admit that was the only thing to do. "Ok. I'll go. Who's coming with me?" "I can't go," said Yuffie looking at the ceiling. "I have to. er. take care of something." Everyone except Yuffie agreed. They decided to rest and go there next day. Cloud didn't want to but fell asleep as soon as his head rested on Tifa's shoulder, who was next to him on the couch. He had used most of his strengths diving in search of Aeris.
***
Elliot had told Zack everything about Shinra and Soldier on their way back. Zack stopped again at the weapons store, looking at the showcase. "Hey, I just remembered something. If you were in SOLDIER you should have lots of money," Elliot said. "But where?" "Why don't you try the bank?" "You have a bank here?" Zack asked. "No. But there's a boat coming from Rocket Town every two hours." He gave Zack some money. "This is for the boat." He glanced at his watch. "The next one is leaving in twenty minutes. Try the Shinra Bank." "Thank you. I'll pay you if I'm rich," he laughed. Elliot went to work and Zack stayed there looking at the Weapons. When the boat arrived, he paid the man and sat near the window. After about forty- five minutes the boat arrived near Rocket Town. He walked there and asked where the bank was. He followed the indication and arrived at a huge building with a sign saying 'Shinra Bank'. As he entered he couldn't help notice the red-carpeted floor, the beautiful paintings on the wall and the shining furniture. He walked to the bank clerk and explained is story (with a few modifications). "Don't worry," the bank clerk said. "At first this bank was only for Shinra workers. But now that Shinra is gone, we had to become a regular bank. But ex-Shinra employers still have some privileges. Please follow me," said the bank clerk, picking up a briefcase. Zack followed her to a small room with nothing but a small table and two chairs. She sat on the table and mentioned Zack to sit in front of her. Has he sat down he opened the briefcase turning it towards him. It was a laptop with some strange things to him. "Please put your right hand here and state your first and last name," she said. Zack put his hand on the panel she indicated. "Zack Gongaga," he stated. There were a lot of weird sounds coming from the laptop until the clerk spoke. "Very well, Mr. Gongaga. You do have an account here, with 4 million gil.
***
"4 million gil?! You're bloody rich man!" Elliot said in amazement. "I know," Zack replied, sitting in Elliot's bed at the inn. He sat up walking towards the door. "Come on. The dinner is on me. Hey, I liked the sound of that!" he grinned. "Hell, I liked the sound of that too," Elliot answered. They went down the stairs to the dining room. There were only two persons in the small room for the food was a bit expensive. So everyone just preferred to eat on the canteen. They sat at a table and motioned to the waiter. "Good evening, sirs. Would you like to see the menu?" he asked. "No, just bring us the most expensive food you've got here. And wine too," Zack grinned. The waiter walked into the kitchen to give their orders. "I see you've done your shopping already," said Elliot pointing at the huge sword strapped at Zack's back. "Yeah, it's a Buster sword. I don't know why but of all the swords at the shop, this one seemed more appropriated." After a while the waiter brought their food and the wine. After every bit of food vanished from their plates, Zack paid the man, leaving a big tip. They talked for a bit outside until the wine started having its effects on Elliot. "Damn, that food was good," he said. "I know," Zack replied. "I'm getting sleeeepy," Elliot stated. "I think I'll go to my room. Thanks for the food. See you tomorrow." " 'Night," Zack said. Elliot left for the inn and Zack sat outside in a bench watching the stars.
Chapter 4
Yuffie silently got up from the bed trying not to awake Elmyra, Tifa, and Marlene who were on the same room of the inn. She quickly got out through the window into the warm night and went to the Chocobo's pen and unleashed Vincent's golden chocobo. She mounted it and took off to Forgotten Capital. She had entered it yesterday and, while seeing the gazebo where Aeris stood when Sephiroth killed him, looked down into the water and noticed a white sphere lying there. Her eyes widened and as she was just about to jump, Cid called her back. She decided to come back later to get the Holy materia, because this was one materia she wouldn't let escape. As she was passing through Bone Village a dark haired man crossed the street. "Look out!" she yelled. The collision was unavoidable. The man fell to the ground and she flew away as well as her pouch. It opened and her materia scattered on the floor. The man stood up and ran to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that," she said. "Hey no prob'. But your materia is all over the floor," he pointed. She looked at the floor, noticing her materia. "Oh shit!" she cussed. She picked them all but one. "Oh no. Where are the Knights of the Round?" The man picked something from the floor and walked to her. "Is this it?" he asked. "Yes thank you. Cloud would have gone nuts if I lost it. Thanks." She mounted the chocobo and left very quickly. She arrived at the shell house, tied the chocobo to a tree and entered it. She couldn't help be amazed each time she entered the Capital for its light glow. She reached the gazebo, looked around and took her clothes and her backpack off. The water was a bit cold but she didn't mind. She would have one more powerful materia to guarantee Wutai future. She swam to the place she had found Holy before and grabbed the materia. As she got out from the water she noticed that Holy was glowing a very pale green. "What the hell?" She entered the gazebo and when she reached a towel from her backpack, a gentle, yet distant voice came from behind her. "Hi Yuffie." She turned around with a scream dropping the towel and saw behind her the fading image of a young woman, with green eyes and chestnut hair, and her usual smile. "Aeris?! But.how.why.it's not possible!" Her heart skipped a beat, her eyes were wide opened and the towel laid on the floor. She quickly caught the towel and covered herself. "You look fine. But I can't be here much longer and I have an important message for you." "What? Why me?" She was looking at her dead friend, on her smallest bikini, and a glowing green globe on her hand. "Why me and not Tifa or Cloud?" "It doesn't matter who the message is delivered to. But it has to be delivered now. Listen carefully. My body has been taken by nº 4. He is a Sephiroth clone made by Hojo and is trying to merge the power of his Jenova cells with my Cetra powers in order to possess Sephiroth's soul. You have to stop him." "Ok, but where is he hiding?" "Follow the flowers that grow in unusual places. They will take you to him. Now I must go back. Goodbye Yuffie." "Wait! Come back!" But all she heard was the echo of her voice. She got dressed very quickly and reached her backpack for her PHS. "Damn. I forgot it. I'll tell them when I get back." She put the towel inside her backpack as well as Holy and started running up the stairs. When she got out of the shell house she looked at the place where the chocobo should be but it was gone. After swearing for almost five minutes she decided to get going on foot since there was nothing else to do. She walked for almost two hours in the forest on a pitch-black night. A dozen of monsters had attacked her, which she easily killed with the Conformer. Only then she heard a roar right behind her. She pivoted to a fighting stance and found the silhouette of a dragon. It took a deep breath but before it could incinerate her with its breath, Yuffie threw the Conformer at its throat and followed with an attack of Ice3. But the dragon, instead of dieing rose up in its lower limbs, took a deep breath and showered her with a jet of ice. Her legs got frozen and she fell to the floor. "Shit! It's a blue dragon!" As it was dark she couldn't see the colour of the dragon, so, instead of killing the dragon she healed his wound by casting a spell of his element. She quickly reached her backpack and produced a red materia. The materia started glowing as she concentrated on its effect. "Hell Fire!" That exact moment, she disappeared. The ground shook and a hole appeared on the floor where Ifrit rose from to aid his master. Then, like the dragon did trying to kill Yuffie, Ifrit took a deep breath and hit the dragon with a flaming shockwave. It fell dead to the ground the same moment Ifrit went back to the underworld and Yuffie appeared in the same place. She cured herself with a restore materia but she knew her legs weren't the same. She was now slowed down by the numbness on her legs, but she knew she had to get going. In spite of all her efforts she had to stop many times to rest, so when she got to Bone Village it was almost noon.
***
Zack picked the red orb from the ground and gave it to the girl. "Is this it?" he asked. "Yes thank you. Cloud would have gone nuts if I lost it. Thanks." She left and Zack stood on the same place. Hidden memories aroused from their sleep. A boy with blond hair spiked like his own, looking at him with a smile. "Cloud." he muttered. He started running the way the girl had gone. He reached for his sword for protection and noticed that all his materia was gone. "Shit. She robbed me," he said. He concentrated on his Time materia on his armlet and cast Haste on himself. The trail left by the chocobo was very easy to follow and soon he arrived at a huge shell with a hole in front of a beautiful lake. The chocobo was tied to a tree and when he approached it, the chocobo warked furiously and ran away. Zack entered the shell and went down the stairs. He recognized the structures immediately, for he had spent six years locked up in one. The ninja thief emerged from a lake a lake and climbed to the gazebo. He ducked for cover and peeked. The materia on her hand was glowing and a faint image materialized behind her. An image he knew very well. The pink dress, the ribbon on her chestnut hair, the smile on her lips. The woman talked to the thief and he listened carefully. 'So Aeris is her name' he thought. When the image disappeared he ran outside the house and waited until the thief was gone. "Follow the flowers that grow in unusual places. They will take you to him." As he thought about the meaning of those words, an image came to his mind. A huge city with two stories, a decrepit church surrounded by garbage, beautiful flowers growing inside of it and a beautiful girl tending them. He knew where he had to go. Midgar.
***
The party was getting ready to leave and Barrett noticed the Turks weren't there. "The Turks are already on Costa del Sol looking for that girl," Reeve explained. "Hey Reeve!" Cid was approaching him. "You told me you were training with a special gun but I haven't seen it yet." Reeve produced a gun from his coat. "It's a Mako gun, similar to the one Palmer used, but it's more powerful. It's got the power of all the enemy skills and sense, " he smiled very proud of his gun. Then both Reeve's and Cloud's PHS rang. They answered the PHS and when they hung up the phone Cloud seemed very worried. "A man from Bone Village says that a young woman just appeared there dragging herself. She gave my name and my number and fainted. It must be Yuffie." "Who's gonna get her?" In spite of being mean to each other all the time, Barrett was still very concerned about Yuffie. "I will. You guys go to Costa del Sol find the brunette." Cloud picked up the Ultima Weapon and left to the Tiny Bronco. "Ok. Let's go guys." Everyone followed Cid and entered the Highwind. "Oh by the way, who was it on the phone, Reeve?" "Oh, yeah. Elena thinks she found the girl." "Great," Cid said lighting up a cigarette, "We'll be there in five minutes."
As Cloud entered Bone Village a men rushed to him. "Are you Mr. Strife?" "Yes, I am. Where is my friend?" "Come with me quickly. She should be waking soon. I think she's having nightmares. She has been talking to a girl, Aeris I think, and saying something about flowers and holy." The man was leading Cloud to an Inn. They entered a room and he found Yuffie laid on a bed, soaked in sweat and saying something about Aeris. Cloud rushed to her side and kneeled on the side of her bed. "Yuffie wake up! It's me, Cloud!" Yuffie opened her eyes and stared at Cloud trying to focus his image. She jumped and hugged Cloud. "Oh, Cloud! I'm so glad you're here. You won't believe what I have to tell you." "Calm down, Yuffie. Breathe. Now, what do you have to tell me?" "Ok. When we were looking for Aeris I went to a walk in the shell house. I went to the gazebo, looked down and I saw the holy materia. You know how I am when materia's the business. But when I was gonna pick it up Cid called me. So I waited for the night, borrowed Vincent's chocobo and went there again. I tied the chocobo outside, entered the shell house and went for the materia. But when I got out of the water it started glowing." "You were praying?!" Cloud couldn't picture Yuffie praying. "No, that's the weird part. I walked to the gazebo to get dressed, and some ghostly form of Aeris appeared behind me." "Aeris? But she is dead!" "It wasn't her. It was some kind of ghost. She warned me that nº4 is trying to merge her Cetra powers and his Jenova powers to bring Sephiroth's soul into his body." At the mention of Sephiroth's name Cloud's hands curled into fists. "He again. Why can't he just rest in pieces and leave us alone? Oh, forget it. But where is nº4?" "She told me: follow the flowers the grow in unusual places. And then she vanished." "Just like that?" "Yes. So I got out of the shell house, but the freakin' chocobo was gone. So I got out on foot and a blue dragon attacked me. It froze my legs and I killed him." Cloud put his hand on her shoulder. "You did good, Yuffie. Now get dressed. We have to leave to Costa del Sol."
*** Zack got off the boat near Kalm and looked at the once greatest city of the planet. He looked at the tall building in the center that was once the headquarters of Shinra Inc. He headed for Kalm to rent a chocobo. As he was passing by a hill he had a feeling of uneasiness. He got off the chocobo and walked to the hill. He could see it better now. A sudden pain that seemed to throb in his head hit him. He fell to his knees and clutched his head. Flashes appeared on his mind. Flash. Zack climbed the stairs leading to Jenova's chamber. Sephiroth stood in front of it searching for a way to open it. He had his sword poised but Sephiroth was never caught by surprise. As soon as Zack was behind him, he unsheathed his Masamune and slashed at him in one swift motion. Zack fell in top of a chamber and Sephiroth turned to his mother's tomb again. Zack watched shocked as his body refused to move. His vision became blurred and the last thing he saw was his best friend, Cloud, picking up his sword and walking towards Sephiroth. Flash. He opened his eyes and stared at the lab\ library. 'Why is everything so green?' he thought. As he looked better he saw he was trapped in a tube filled with Mako. His body began convulsing violently attracting the attention of the scientist in front of him. 'Hojo, you son of bitch'. "Administrate serum #J0012 to the subject," he said to another man in a lab coat. The man picked up a syringe with a purple liquid inside and injected it into a tube. Zack felt the liquid entering his veins and pain spread from his arm to the rest of his body. "Sir. It is not working!" "Administrate another dose," Hojo instructed his assistant. "But it could damage his cells.," the assistant began. "DO IT!" The assistant reluctantly picked another syringe and injected it again causing the intensity of the pain to increase so much that Zack couldn't see a thing. Flash. "Halt!" Several Shinra soldiers advanced but a slash of the Buster Sword caught them immediately. Unfortunately even Zack couldn't stop the other wave and he felt again a jolt of pain as several bullets tore his skin and hit his internal organs. He had failed to protect his friend. Zack got up, clutching his chest and stared at Midgar. "I failed a friend once. I won't fail again." With that he ran towards the sleeping city.
***
Back in Costa del Sol Elena was waiting for them at the entrance. Reeve waved her. Suddenly a boy about 19 years old approached her. " Hey babe! Ya know, you're a very." "No." Elena replied without even looking at him. "What if." "No." "But." "No." She was getting tired of it but the young man gave up. He left and Barrett could see his friends pointing at him and laughing. They walked over to her, trying not to laugh. "I've spoken to the girl and she says she gave it to her boyfriend. Reno and Rude are looking for him. He's supposed to be surfing." Said Elena very quickly to avoid unnecessary comments. "Ok. Let's go to the beach." Vincent seemed like he didn't appreciated the sun very much. "Hey Red, I dunno how you handle this heat. If I had that fur I'd probably turn into roasted meat." Barrett was wiping the sweat of his brow. "Now that's a pleasant thought." Said Elena. "It's ok for me," Red replied. Although the beach was crowded spotting Reno and Rude's dark suits wasn't very hard. They were talking to three or four surfers. When they reached them Reno was very bored. "This guy won't let us have it unless we beat him in a surf contest," said Reno, obviously pissed off. He looked at Tifa with puppy eyes. "Can I kill him?" "We're not gonna kill anyone. But I don't know if anyone here knows how to surf." She looked to her team. Everyone shook their heads. "Great, what will we do next?" she thought to herself. Reeve turned to the Turks. "Hey, none of you guys know how to surf?" Surprisingly he heard Rude's voice. "Actually I can," said Rude looking down. Reno's jaw dropped right off to the floor. "How the hell did you learn how to surf in Midgar?" Reno was still stunned by Rude's statement. "Actually this is my hometown. I surfed on this beach since I was little. I stopped only at 20 to join the Turks." "So, go get changed. We need that item," said Reeve trying to picture Reeve surfing. "This is gonna cost you," said Rude at the same time he took of his jacket and handed it to Elena. She too had her jaw open and couldn't say a word. Rude walked away to get changed. When he came back everyone burst out laughing. He was wearing blue trunks with chocobo pictures in one side and moogles on the other. One of the guys gave him a surfboard and he and another guy with bleached hair went into the water. If they had their chins opened before, they all had to picked them from the floor now. As soon as Rude got on the surfboard they could see he was on his element. He was definitely better than his challenger. After about ten minutes Cloud and Yuffie appeared behind them. Seeing them all with their mouths open, Cloud momentarily forgot his rush. "What are you. looking. at?" His eyes focused on Rude and his challenger who were getting out of the water. Rude gave his surfboard to its owner. "I believe we deserve that," said Rude pointing to the gray materia. "Here it is. Hey dude, you're awesome! You gotta teach me that stuff." Rude grunted and grabbed the gray materia that shone deep blue when he touched it. "Hey Cloud! Aren't you gonna tell them?" said Yuffie behind Cloud. "Oh yeah, right." Cloud told them everything Yuffie said on Bone Village. They were stunned by these revelations, but decided to go back to Yuffie's house in Wutai, which had become their headquarters by now.
Chapter 5
The old church stood helplessly among the dirt and trash that came down on Midgar's close encounter with Meteor. The door was hidden beneath the trash so Zack was climbing it to see if he could find an entrance. He didn't remember how he had gotten there. He had just let his feet take him. As soon as he stepped inside Midgar his feet seemed to have a life of their own. When he got through the roof he saw a hole in it. He passed through it and climbed down to the backroom. He walked to the altar and saw the girl he had dreamed about lay there. He stroked her face and picked her up. "Put her down," he heard a cold voice behind him, the same voice that hunted his dreams. He put Aeris down and turned around and saw a man with a tattoo, brown hair and a long sword. "You're different," he said. "Oh, I see you knew my predecessor, but don't worry. You'll meet him soon enough." Zack unsheathed his sword. "I'm here to take Aeris and if I have to take her by force, I will," he stated. "Oh you want to play? If that's your will." In one swift motion, the clone unsheathed his sword and invested at him. Zack barely had time to dodge. He concentrated on his defense, attacking only when he had the chance. Nº 4 was on the offensive, without paying any attention to the cuts he had suffered. He tried to stab Zack but he dodge to the side. But he forgot about the benches and was thrown off balance. As he saw no chance of breaking the fall and his adversary was momentarily vulnerable to an attack, he pulled off a dagger from his ankle and stabbed the clone in the gut. However, as he fell to the floor, if he expected to hear a groan from nº4 he was wrong. He bolted to his feet and turned around to see the clone laughing. "Did you really thought you could hurt me? Poor creature. You have no idea of how great my power is. And you know what? Thanks to that little Cetra- whore of yours I'll be even more powerful. Powerful enough to bring back the soul of my master and his body! But enough games. Now, behold as the destruction of the infidels begins!" He pulled of a green orb and used a Stop spell on Zack. He picked him up and sat him on a bench, turned to the altar. He put two silver bowls in front of the altar and filled them with clean water. Then he put another bowl, this time made of pure gold an put it next to the others. He took a green dagger from his pocket. The handle had the shape of a dragon and the blade came from its mouth. "Oh Ifrit, God of war and all that it hateful. Grant me the power and knowledge of destruction so that every foe may fall to my feet." He cut his hand with the dagger and let some drops of blood fall to a silver bowl watching the water become dark as night. "Mighty Shiva, Goddess of love and peace. Grant me the light of healing and cure so that no fiend can ever defeat this servant of yours." He cut Aeris' hand and let a drop of blood fall to the other bowl. The water became golden. He then kneeled. "Bahamut, God of all Gods. I kneel before you. Grant me the spirit and the strength to contain my power, so that I can become one, with the Planet." He took the two bowls and emptied them into the golden bowl. The concoction turned green and emitted a fierce yet warm light. The clone picked up the bowl and drank the liquid. He screamed in horror and dropped to bowl. It shattered into a million pieces and the liquid evaporated as soon as it touched the ground. The clone fell to the ground and there was an explosion of light. Zack sat there, helpless, victim of the oldest trick in the book, the Stop spell. As his vision cleared he saw number four standing up, looking at him, but a different fire burned in his eyes. "Hi, Zack."
***
When they got there they told Elmyra and Shera what happened. When Elmyra heard about Aeris appearance, she started crying and Barrett comforted her. They were all thinking about Aeris message and what type of flowers grew on unusual places, but they weren't going anywhere. So, it was about dusk and they have gotten nowhere. Marlene was playing with Aeris, her pet chocobo. But when Marlene turned to talk to Elmyra, Aeris ran through the door (it was a hot day so the door was open). When Aeris came back, she had a flower on her beak. "Look Elmyra. Aeris brought a flower to you." Elmyra was about to thank her but Tifa's scream interrupted her. "That's it," she said pointing at the chocobo. "Aeris flowers. The flowers on Aeris church. It's impossible for flowers to grow in the slums but those flowers did." "Tifa's right!" said Red jumping from his place. "The absence on sunlight makes the slums a sterile environment." "So let's go to Midgar!" said Cloud. And so they started to get their gear together. Reeve was touching in a panel in Cait's back. "What are you doing Reeve?" Yuffie asked at the same time she stuffed her backpack with materia. "I'm installing a program that can give AI to Cait." He finished, close the panel and Cait's eyes opened. "Hello Yuffie," he said in his usual voice. "Hello Cait." "It's not perfect yet. I still need Cid's help." Cait got up and went to say hello to every member of the Avalanche. Barrett was equipping a ribbon that Marlene gave him on his gun-arm. "Hello, Barrett." Said Cait. Barrett turned to Reeve just about to ask him if this was the time to be playing with Cait, but Reeve was putting his Mako gun in his pants. "He-hello Cait," he said very shocked. They finished packing and said goodbye to Godo, Elmyra and Shera. They boarded the Highwind and everyone took their place. The Turks split up. Rude was talking to Red, Elena was talking to Reeve, who was next to Cait and Reno was meddling with Yuffie. They landed near the entrance to sector five, which wasn't much damaged. Cloud was up front, the Ultima Sword in his hands, and Red was on his side. Next to him were Barret and Rude. Rude had his gun drew and Barrett was holding his gun arm with his good arm. Yuffie followed them with her Conformer and Cid was holding his Venus Gospel like a javelin. "Hey watch that thing. You almost impaled me twice." Reno had his nightstick out and was right behind Cid. "Shush," said Tifa. She was next to Reno and had her fists up. Reeve and Cait were behind them with a Mako gun and a megaphone. Vincent and Elena were closing the line, each with their weapons ready. They were walking for about five minutes and the only thing they saw was destruction. As they were approaching Aeris church, a dozen wolf-like creatures suddenly attacked them from the flanks. Barrett, Rude, Vincent and Elena opened with fire immediately. Cloud jumped and started slashing viciously at every creature that walked past him. Tifa dodged an attack from a creature and kicked it in the head. Yuffie held her Conformer in front of her head and concentrated on a yellow materia inserted on her weapon. She felt the power of the materia and when it was ready she threw her weapon that hit every opponent. Reeve used his weapon to sense their weakness and then attacked with Flame Thrower. Red lunged at one's throat and the last creature was killed by Cait who struck it in the head. Cloud looked at his party but the only damage the creatures had caused them was some scratches and bruises. They kept going but when they reached Aeris' church they found the entrance blocked by rubble that had fell from the upper plate. "Well, looks like the entrance I made previously will prove itself useful this time." Said Cloud remembering the day he fell through the roof of this church. Everyone looked at him blankly. "Follow me," he said and started climbing the debris. Everyone climbed it easily except for Cait who had to jump all the way through. When they reached the hole in the roof they stepped through it and made their way down to the back room of the church. "Ok, everyone. This is it. We'll beat the crap out of the clone and then we'll revive Aeris." Everyone nodded at Cloud's command. They entered the main room. Aeris was laying on her back on the flower bed. Her hands rested on her chest that showed no movement. Seeing her like that made his anger grow. Suddenly a man he hadn't noticed before got up from a bench. "Finally! I must say I expected more from the man who killed me." The resemblance was amazing. He looked exactly like Sephiroth. His cold eyes, his evil voice. The only difference was that his hair was brown. His sword wasn't that long too. Cloud's grip over his sword tightened. Then he noticed something bright on the other side of the altar. It seemed like a cage of lifestream. And inside it was. "Zack?" Cloud asked incredulous. "Yes, you're right," Sephiroth said. "Our little friend wasn't dead. Looks like the Reunion finally happened. He came here to take the Cetra with him and just as before, he failed. But you're also too late. The powers of the last, remaining Cetra flows through my veins now. And with the powers from both guardian species I can twist reality and control the lifestream. And now I shall show you my endless power." He pointed his hands to the tiny space between the two rows of benches and it suddenly got larger like a soccer field. He raised his hands. "JENOVA MULTIPLY," he screamed while blue beams shot from his hands into the sky and then turned around and hit the ground in three different places. From the impact points, three creatures emerged. They recognized them as some creatures they have seen on their journey but they were different, mutated. One was a taller and thinner version of Tonberry, the other looked like a hybrid between Materia Keeper and a dragon. The last one seemed like the woman who was guarding Alexander but she was brown with tentacles protruding from everywhere. "Split up!" Cloud ordered. "Leave him to me!" and he ran to nº4. "We'll take the brown hag!" said Elena running towards the brown woman. Reno and Rude followed. Cid, Red and Yuffie ran to the dragon\ Materia Keeper and Cait, Reeve and Vincent turned to the Tonberry.
The Turks lined up in their usual formation. Rude opened fire right away but she seemed to have Wall so he wasn't doing much damage. Reno was attacking with his nightstick using Grand Spark and Pyramid and Elena had already cast Wall and Regen and was attacking when she could. But the woman was no easy target. It dodged most of their attacks and was shooting acid from her tentacles and using Pandora's Box. It hit them and then all tentacles pointed to Reno and starting shooting acid like a machine gun. Elena used Cure 3 on them but the woman wasn't going to rest. She used Trine on them. "Bitch!" Elena produced a red materia, concentrated and yelled: "JUDGEMENT BOLT!" As they disappeared, the ground shook and rose up on a tower. At the end an old men with long beard lifted a rod and several lightning bolts hit the woman. Ramuh disappeared and on his place appeared the Turks. The woman wasn't dead and didn't seem to have suffered great damage. But before having time to react she was hit by a blast of Fire 3 and Ice 3. The woman screamed in agony and then opened her mouth. She seemed like she was going to throw up. Then she spit three little creatures that looked like goblins. These creatures ran in inhuman speed using Flame Thrower around them. When the attack was over the goblins jumped and grabbed them. Their heads started to glow and then exploded. Reno was the only one who was standing. He used Phoenix Down and Hi-Potions on them. Elena stood up and picked a grenade. "Eat this, freak!" she threw the grenade and it exploded. But the woman was still standing. She spoke for the first time in a cold guttural voice. "So you don't like my appearance. That can be changed." And she took a deep breath and released a scream so sharp that Elena thought her head was about to explode. But it wasn't because of the scream. The woman seemed to be wandering through her memories in search for something. She kneeled on the floor and managed to open her eyes a bit and noticed that the woman was shining silver. Slowly her shape began to change and the pain ceased. When the transformation was over it wasn't a brown, ugly woman that stood right in front of her. It was Tseng. He still had the tentacles and seemed to be in great pain. He spoke in his usual voice but seemed to be pleading. "Elena, please help me." He reached a hand for her. "I love you so much. Please help me Elena." Tseng? Could it be that her long lost love was back from the dead and was proclaiming his love for her? She slowly walked toward him ignoring her pain caused by the burns and the explosion, completely ignoring Reno and Rude's warnings. She was only looking at his eyes that showed nothing but pain When she was about two feet away from him, his tentacles suddenly lunged toward her wrapping her and bringing her to him. "Ha! Try to hit me now!" he spoke with his cold voice again. He was holding her right in front of him leaving no chance to strike. Elena was feeling the grip of tentacles tightening around her hands and neck. Reno and Rude looked at each other, nodded and each grabbed one materia. Rude's was green and Reno's was red. Rude concentrated on its effect and Elena got suddenly enveloped in smoke. She felt the grip of the tentacles loosen and she fell to the ground. She knew that Rude had used Mini on her and ran quickly to him, avoiding the mutilated bodies scattered across the ground. Reno's materia got brighter and he summoned Alexander. When the attack was over Tseng still lived, but it wasn't for much. Rude used Esuna on Elena and she got taller again. "How can you mess with peoples feelings like that?" Elena's face was Red with anger. She knew what was going to happen and so did her opponent. She was going to use her ultimate limit. "TURK EMOTIONS!" she yelled as light flashed around her. Suddenly all sounds from the other battles faded and the only thing the Turks could hear was the beating of Elena's heart. Elena's eyes turned pink and a tiara with a single diamond on the center appeared on her head. Her gun turned into a scepter incrusted with various gems. Butterfly wings grew on her back and she flew into the air. Suddenly she came into a halt. She pointed her scepter to her opponent and it transformed into a giant bazooka. She put it on her shoulder and shot ten times before coming to the ground. When she became normal again and the smoke cleared, nothing but mutilated limbs remained there. "Split up! Let's help the others."
Reeve knew what type of attacks Tonberry used so he immediately cast Big Guard and Death Force on them all. Unfortunately he couldn't sense it so he used Magic Breath and Aqualung. Cait was beating him with his megaphone but didn't seem to be doing much damage. Vincent was shooting with his Death Penalty, but Tonberry deflected most shots with his knife. So Vincent turned into the Chaos beast and started attacking much more effectively. But Tonberry knew some new moves. He made a circle with his flashlight and a circle of light was drawn in the air. He pointed to Reeve and the circle flew to him and grabbed him in the waist. His left hand got stuck and so he couldn't use any items. Cait rushed to his master but he couldn't release him. "No! Attack him!" said Reeve, obviously in great pain. Cait turned to Tonberry and started attacking. Vincent was attacking with Chaos Sabre, but Tonberry threw his knife into the air. He cast a beam of light to it and dozens of knifes fell upon them. Reeve was badly hurt but used Angel Whisper on them. Feeling reinvigorate he used Laser on Tonberry but it wasn't enough. Cait used Slot and Reeve threw his gun to the floor (he couldn't use his left hand) and produced a materia. He concentrated and then, "DESINTEGRATION!" Tonberry was hit by Typoon and seemed like he was going to die. But he reached his pocket and used an X-Potion. The Chaos beast had already turned into Vincent who was using Titan and Shiva. Tonberry concentrated and touched his flashlight with his knife. The knife began shining and shot a beam of light that hit Vincent in the chest and Cait in the head. Cait fell to the ground lifeless. He used his Circle of light again and Vincent got his legs stuck. Reeve knew he only had one chance. He forced his left arm to move and grabbed a red materia and with the right hand grabbed another one. He concentrated and used his limit. "POWER FUSION!" The materia began to shine and fused with Reeve. He roared and began growing. The ring of light vanished and Reeve turned into a knight mounted in a three-headed dog. He ran to Tonberry and slashed him with his sword fifteen times while the dogs expelled smoke from their mouths. When Reeve became normal again a mixture between Hades and Odin had hit Tonberry causing Stop, Poison, Sadness and Frog. He was still alive but barely. He only ceased to exist when Vincent cast Comet 2, followed by several gunshots from Elena's gun. Elena grinned and used Elixirs on them. They split up to help the others.
Their enemy may be big, but that also made him slower. Cid and Red ran to the dragon while Yuffie stayed behind healing them and attacking when possible. She immediately cast Big Guard on them and Freeze on the dragon. Red was attacking him but his spider claws were giving him a hard time. As they weren't going anywhere Cid and Yuffie tried a different approach. "DIAMOND DUST!" Cid called. "TIDAL WAVE!" Yuffie shouted. The dragon\ Materia Keeper caught himself suddenly enveloped in an explosion of water and ice as Shiva and Leviathan unleashed their elemental powers against their foe. The dragon roared and discharged a jet of flames directed to Cid who managed to avoid a direct hit being burned only on a leg. "Shit! Take this you bitch!" "HIGHWIND!" The airship responded to his master command and attacked his opponent doing a hole in the roof of the church. The dragon lost two claws but managed to stay up. He pointed one claw to Yuffie and fired spider webs keeping her constrained and unable to use her Conformer or materia. It then fired flames against her at the same time poison flowed throw the webs poisoning her. Cid cut the webs with the Venus Gospel, concentrated on a yellow materia and used White Wind on her. The dragon closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating. He was completely ignoring the fact that Red's fangs were ripping his flesh, or that Cid's spear was impaling his enormous body and even having a Conformer trying to rip off his legs didn't seem to bother him. Then his body seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. They only realized it until it was too late. "He's gonna blow!" they all screamed. The dragon exploded and green mucus showered them burning at the simplest touch. Yuffie got up, her flesh burned, gave the spider legs a sour look and used Cure 3 on them. "Yuffie, look out!" Warned by Cid's scream she turned and saw that the spider legs still lived and were running towards her. She was paralyzed from shock. She realized it was too late and that she could do nothing about it. She closed her eyes waiting to feel a claw impaling her but instead she felt someone colliding into her left side. She fell to the ground, opened her eyes and saw Reno on top of her grinning. He bent down and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes widened in shock and she brought her knee up. She got up while Reno squirmed in the floor. "I'll deal with you later," she said. She picked her Conformer from the floor, kicked Reno and saw the spider running to her again. But this time she was ready for it. "BLOODFEST!" she yelled while running to her enemy and slashing viciously at it. The spider fell to the ground, a few legs missing.
Cloud ran to Sephiroth, Barrett and Tifa not far behind, but before he could reach him spikes came out of the floor encircling them. "Ha, ha, ha! You are nothing against my power. But let's play a little," he said grinning evilly. He raised one hand and green mist surrounded them. They felt strange, aerial. "Hey, what the hell just ha." Tifa began talking but stopped when she heard her voice. It was strange. It sounded just like Barrett's. She looked to her left and saw Cloud looking to his hands. He seemed short. She brought her right arm to her head and fell to the ground like something had hit her head. "Ouch!" She looked at herself. Big feet, strong legs, huge muscles instead of her breasts, a gun-arm attached to her strong right arm. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" she screamed realizing that was not her body. "What's this shit?" She looked at her right and saw Cloud running towards her. "Who're you and what are you doin' with my body?" yelled Cloud. "This isn't your body! This is Barrett's," she replied. "Are you Tifa?" Cloud frowned. "Yes I am. So you must be Barrett." she said as they both turned around to see a Tifa very absorbed into looking at her breasts. "CLOUD!! Stop looking at my breasts," she said in a hoarse voice. Cloud jumped and turned to them. He looked at them with an eyebrow up. "Tifa is that you?!" He grinned at the sight of Barrett with his hands on his hips. "Yes. Don't do that anymore!" They hadn't been paying attention to what was happening around them and didn't noticed Sephiroth bringing down the spike wall that was surrounding them. "Well, I'm sure you'll all have time to get to know each other in the afterlife," grinned Sephiroth whilst unsheathing his sword. They all turned to him. Cloud had had martial arts lessons while in Soldier training, but he wasn't nearly as good as Tifa. So he ran to Barrett and snatched his sword from his hands. He found the sword a bit heavy but started slashing at Sephiroth. Barrett, as he didn't have any weapons started attacking with materia. He cast Wall on them as well as Regen. He produced a red materia and focused. "ULTIMATE END," he shouted. Then the Knights of the Round appeared and slashed the clone, each one with a different element. Sephiroth was visibly weaker but he was grinning. He cast Super Nova and Shadow Flare on them and Cure 3 on himself. "Did you think those pathetic attacks can harm me?" said Sephiroth with a smirk. Tifa looked at her gun-arm helplessly. "How the hell do I use this thing?" she asked. "Try to find the mechanism!" said Barrett whist casting Fire3, Bolt3 and Ice3 on quick succession. She fumbled in the gun-arm and jumped when it started firing and almost hitting Cloud. This permitted the clone to break through Cloud's defense and cut his arm. Cloud felt his anger building up inside him. He knew he couldn't use his limit in Tifa's body so he tried something different. He used the increase of his strength and instead of using combos like Tifa did he delivered a very powerful blow with his sword. He hit Sephiroth in the chest and send his sword flying to his side. "Ha, ha. Very funny!" He grinned. He reached a hand to his sword and it came flying to him. He concentrated on his sword that was glowing light blue. Tifa had been continuously firing at him but he had been protected by Wall, so only a few bullets could break the barrier. But now the glow of his sword seemed to protect him completely, not only from Cloud's slashes and Tifa's bullets, but also from Barrett's Tornado and Flare. He grinned at Barrett and sliced the air sending a beam of light that send Barrett flying through the air, landing near Zack's cage. He couldn't get up but Cid gave him an Elixir. "Come on Cloud!" Cid said, giving him a hand. "I'm not Cloud, I'm Barrett." Barrett replied, taking Cid's help. Cid looked at him blankly. "I'll explain later. Come on!" He shouted while running to his friends. 'I think that blow caused more damage than what I thought,' Cid said to himself whilst following his friend. Neither one noticed the small gray orb rolling from Barrett's pocket. When they got near Sephiroth, his friends had come to their aid. Red was already trying to tear Sephiroth apart, Yuffie was casting Leviathan, Rude was attacking with his gun and Elena, Vincent and Reeve were running to their side as well. They were all surprised when they saw Tifa using Ultima Weapon, Barrett missing most of the shots he fired and Cloud using only materia. Reeve attacked with Shadow Flare, Vincent turned into Chaos Beast, and Elena was using Quake3 and Bio3. Sephiroth\Nº4 looked at them and produced a red materia. They were all hit by Hades' powerful attack and everybody was down with Bio, Toad, Slow, Silence, Confusion, Darkness and Paralyze, all mixed up. Only Tifa stood up realizing that Barrett's ribbon had protected her. She tried to use a Megalixir on them but Sephiroth was faster and cast Shadow Flare and Supernova. Tifa felt her strengths abandoning her, her vision blurring and prayed for a miracle. Then she felt a refreshing breeze flowing through her. 'If this is death than it isn't so bad after all,' she thought to herself. Then she noticed that her vision was focusing and saw her friends getting up in apparently good condition. The only one who didn't seem good at all was Sephiroth, who was looking at something behind her. She got up, turned around and nearly fell to the ground when she noticed who was behind her. Aeris stood behind them grinning, with Princess Guard on her hands and next to her stood Zack. Sephiroth seemed stunned by Zack's escape and Aeris' revival. "Hi Sephiroth! How are you? Have you burn any town today?" said Aeris looking at the clone, who was grinning. "The day's not over yet," he replied. "How nice to see you alive. You'll be one more to return to the planet." He had his sword poised and was about to use his Sword Beam again but was interrupted by Aeris. "Not so fast," she grinned. She concentrated and used Fury Brand and everyone felt their Limit building up inside. Sephiroth's eyes widened as Chaos Sabre, Cosmo Memory, All Creation, Turk Emotions, Power Fusion and Highwind suddenly hit him. When the attack wave was finished Sephiroth\Nº4 was on his knees, blood dripped from his brow and chest. He got up, his face twisted with anger. "Enough playing. Now I shall get my body back and then I'll be unstoppable." He closed his eyes and the air in front of him seemed to be twisting until a black hole appeared. He jumped into the hole and disappeared the darkness. Cloud didn't even think about the consequences. He only knew that he had to be stopped and that he had to have his body back. So he ran and jumped to the hole as well. Tifa saw him and ran to the hole jumping as well. Barrett looked at her and ran as fast as he could. "Come back with my booodddyyy!!!!!" he said disappearing into the darkness. Their friends looked at each other very nervous. Zack turned to them as he ran to the black hole. "Follow them!" he screamed. Aeris was next, followed by everyone. "Geronimo!!" yelled Reno, closing his eyes. Then there was darkness.
Chapter 6
Cloud opened his eyes and saw with very discomfort that he was still on Tifa's body. He looked around and recognized the place he was as Nibelheim. He was laid on his back near the well where he had made the promise to Tifa. The town was different but it was still recognizable. The old truck and the well still remained there, but the houses seemed a little improved. The most noticeable change was the Shinra Mansion that seemed to be replaced by a hospital. It was around noon and the sky was exactly like he remembered. Next to him was a tall, black man with a gun-arm. "Tifa, is that you?" he whispered poking the man in the shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked at the sky. "Yes. Oh I still don't have my body back," she whined. "Hey, where are we?" "Don't you see? It's Nibelheim," he replied. "This is soooo creepy," Tifa said. "What?" "Looking at you. or me. I don't even know how to express myself." She stopped, looking at something behind Cloud. "Hey, look. Isn't that." she was pointing to a little boy with blonde spiky hair that had just left what was supposed to be Cloud's old house. "That's me." Cloud whispered as they hide behind the old truck at the entrance of the town. "I'm going there," he said, not taking his eyes from the boy, who seemed to be waiting someone. "I'll go too." They approached the young boy, who seemed not to be older than ten or eleven. He didn't saw them coming and jumped as he felt someone touching his shoulder. "Excuse me, but is your name Cloud?" Cloud asked. The boy looked at the young woman and the enormous man behind her. "Of course I am. Don't you recognize me mom?" the little boy asked suspiciously. Cloud stood there speechless and Tifa seemed to be gasping for air. "Are you ok, uncle Barrett? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Midgar with Marlene?" the boy asked raising an eyebrow. "Yes, uh, I only came her because, uh, I, uh, missed you." Cloud lied. "Mom, you only left yesterday. And what's with the outfit uncle Barrett? Did you leave the orphanage?" Tifa choked but was interrupted by a young girl, also blonde but with a remarkable resemblance to Tifa. She ran to Cloud and jumped to his neck kissing his cheek. "Hi mom!" she said. Cloud and Tifa were amazed. This couldn't be happening. This had to be some kind of strange dream. An old woman who was approaching them interrupted their thoughts. "Cloud, Aeris. What are you doing here? I told you to go direct to your friend's house." As she got closer Cloud felt tears running down his cheeks. He ran to the woman and gave her a bear hug. "Mom, you're alive!" he cried hugging the perplexed old lady. "Of course I'm alive, dear. And what made you call me mom?" "That doesn't matter now." He said without releasing the old woman and wiping his tears. "Mrs. Strife, do you mind telling us where the other members of Avalanche are?" Tifa asked, hoping the woman knew what Avalanche was. "Of course. Let me see; Aeris is in Midgar with her husband, Cid's in space, and Cloud is currently on a mission, God knows where. Why do you ask? Are you ok? You seem worried about something." she asked a bit worried about her daughter-in-law. "Yes he is." Said Cloud, hoping Barrett wasn't doing anything stupid with his body. "Let's get inside. Kids, go to your friend's house now." As they got inside, she turned to them with a frown. "Ok. I may be old but I'm not stupid. Now tell me what's going on." She demanded with her hands on her hips. "This is a long story but here it goes."
***
Barrett opened his eyes and saw four Soldiers looking at him. He was laid on bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. It had only one window on the side of his bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. "Captain, are you alright?" asked one Soldier. "Oh, shit!" said Barrett looking at his two good, white hands. A doctor entered the room with papers on his hand. "Where the hell am I?" he asked. "You're in Corel hospital, Capt. Strife." The doctor answered. "Corel?!" He got up, looked at the window and saw an incredible city that looked more like Midgar or Junon than with Corel. He saw restaurants, hotels, bars, theaters, a gym and a church. He couldn't believe in his eyes. What had happened? His hometown, once completely destroyed, was more developed than he could ever imagine. "This can't be." he said, gazing through the window. "But it is. And all thanks to Father Barrett and President Sephiroth," the doctor replied. "WHAT?! Father Barrett? President Sephiroth? Isn't that bastard supposed to be dead?" He was completely lost. "I'm sorry sir, I thought you two were friends. After all he was your best man at your wedding." "My best man? My wedding? And what about father Barrett?" "Oh yes. Father Barrett has been a great help for our city. Since president Shinra was deposed ten years ago and president Sephiroth took charge Father Barrett has been negotiating the rebuilding of Corel. If it wasn't his love for the children he could even become Mayor." The doctor was looking at Barrett a little confused. "Are you ok, sir? I mean physically you're fine, you seem ten years younger but." "Is father Barret at. priest?" He was having trouble swallowing this story. "Oh no. Everybody calls him father Barrett since he opened his orphanage." "Where is he?" he asked. "He is in the orphanage here in Corel," the doctor answered. "Take me there." "Yes, sir!" The four Soldiers answered.
***
Aeris opened her eyes a bit and saw two green eyes looking at her. "Are you Aeris?" a sweet, feminine voice asked. She opened her eyes and saw one face she knew very well. Green eyes, big smile and chestnut hair. Her face. "Ahhhh!" she yelled as she got up looking at a not much older version of herself. "But you're me!" "No shit," the other woman replied, rather sarcastically. She was dressed in blue jeans and a rather small white top and had her hair tied up. She had a silver necklace with a small white orb on it. It was Holy. Aeris looked around and saw she was in a very beautiful wood church. It looked like her church. This one had small, white flowers on the walls and the benches, an old organ and only had a couple of statues. Only then she noticed a flower bed in front of the altar. It was her church. "Your name is Aeris isn't it?" the other woman asked. "Yes I am. And you are." Aeris was feeling a bit confused. "My name is Aeris Gainsborough. I am the daughter of Ifalna and Prof. Gast, being adopted by Elmyra when I became an orphan. I am a member of the original Avalanche. Sounds familiar?" Aeris head was spinning. That woman had just described her. "Yes. But that's me. How can there be two Aeris?" "Let me explain. The planet told me that a group of people traveled here from another dimension. That dimension had a delay of ten years in relation to this one. It also told me that among those peoples there was a Cetra named Aeris. Each of these people would be transported to a very important place. So I came her to see you." "But how can that be? This church is supposed to be destroyed. In fact, this whole city is supposed to be destroyed," Aeris said looking at what she would be like, ten years from now. "But why would it be destroyed?" said her older self, looking at her blankly. "It was destroyed by Sephiroth. He summoned Meteor to destroy all life and become one with the planet," Aeris replied. "Shut up! You don't know anything about Sephiroth. My Seph would never do that! He's a sweet, loving man that cares about this planet as much as I do," the old Aeris seemed to be offended by those words. "I'm sorry, I must have wax on my ears. I thought you said your Sephiroth," said Aeris, her eyes widened. "I did. Sephiroth is my husband," she said with a smile. "We have a five year old son named Alexander." "What?!" Aeris screamed trying to control herself. "Do you know what that. that thing did to me? Do you? He killed me! There I was, praying quietly to Holy, trying to save the planet from total annihilation and he jumps behind me and pierces me with that wicked looking sword of his. I'm only here because Zack brought me to life. And you marry him?!" "Hey, just because your Sephiroth is evil that doesn't mean my has to be evil too. He was a great help when we overthrew pres. Shinra and founded Avalanche Corp." "I'm sorry. I overreacted. But didn't he freak out when he found out he had Jenova's cells inside him?" "No. He was very depressed and I helped him through that." Aeris then remembered why she was here, on another dimension, having this discussion. "Oh my god! I must find the others quickly." She explained her older version the reasons of their travel. The woman got hysterical. Sephiroth, her husband, was on a business trip to Costa del Sol. She tried to contact him but his PHS was turned off. "Call Cid. Tell him to pick us up on the Highwind!" said Aeris, trying to reassure the older woman. "Cid's in outer space!" "What about Shera? Can she pick us up?" Aeris asked. The older Aeris called Shera and asked her to come pick them up. "Shera said that your Cid's already there. They'll be here in about ten minutes," the woman sobbed.
***
Mrs. Strife looked at her daughter-in-law with a look of disbelief. "Tifa, honey, are you on drugs?" she said with a frown. "No, and for the last time I am not Tifa. I am Cloud. Look mum, if you don't believe me, call Tifa." Mrs. Strife reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hello, Seventh heaven?" she asked. "Yes, who is it?" Mrs. Strife's eyes widened in shock and her jaw opened. "Tifa, is that you?" she asked while Cloud said 'I told you so'. "Oh, it's you Mrs. Strife. How are you? Are the kids ok?" said the voice from the other side of the line. "Yes, everything's ok. But I think you should come here as fast as you could," the old lady explained. "But why?" Tifa asked a bit confused. "Just come as fast as you can," she said, hanging off the phone. Cloud and Tifa hadn't noticed they were holding each other hands, splitting up quickly when they noticed realizing it was very strange. Cloud felt like he was holding hands with Barrett and Tifa felt like she was holding hands with herself. A bang on the door cut off their thoughts. Cloud opened and saw Zack leaning against the doorpost. "Hi there Cloud. Can I come in?" he asked with a grin. "Sure," he said. The fact that his best friend was still alive was disturbing here. Zack came in and Cloud's mother asked him to sit down. She was tempted to ask who he was, but she felt like she had already listened to enough stories so she excused herself and went to her bedroom. Cloud was staring at Zack. "I'm sorry, not that I'm complaining, but aren't you supposedly dead?" he asked. Zack rolled his eyes at his friend's stupid question. "Duh! Usually when a person is standing up, talking to you, usually that person is alive," he said sarcastically. Cloud narrowed his eyes. 'My supposedly dead friend comes back from the dead and the first words that come out of his mouth are sarcastic replies. I should have known. If it wasn't some smart-ass replies it was some pick- up line to the first female he saw,' he thought to himself. "So, care to explain your miracle resuscitation?" Tifa asked, cutting off his thoughts. "I think we should wait for Aeris. What I have to say is for her interest as well," he replied. "So Cloud, what do you think about women now that you have a first person view in the subject?" he grinned at his friends. "I can't believe you! All these years I thought you were dead and now you appear in perfect health and don't even care about giving an explanation," Cloud snapped at his friend, angry at his attitude. "Sorry mom!" he grinned, unable to stop his sarcastic reflexes. "But I said I'll explain everything when Aeris comes."
***
"Well, this is the orphanage, sir," one soldier replied, as he opened the door of the limousine for Barrett. Barrett got out of the car and looked at the enormous building before him. He entered through the gates, avoiding the children as they ran from side to side. A girl, about seventeen, approached him. Her short hair was black, with blue nuances. She wore a sleeveless black top that showed the piercing on her navel and a scorpion tattoo on her shoulder, a leather skirt way above her knees and black high-heeled boots. She also had several earrings and wore too much make-up. "Hi Uncle Cloud ! How ya doin'?," she asked. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" he thought her face was familiar but he couldn't quite remember. "It's me, your favorite niece, Marlene. Don'tcha remember me?" she asked. "Uh, uncle Cloud? Are you breathing? You're getting white. DAD!" she yelled. A familiar figure came running down the stairs from inside the house. His clothes were different and he didn't have his gun-arm anymore. It was replaced by an arm. It was strange though, Barrett thought, seeing him from this point of view. As soon as the man saw who it was he smiled and gave him his characteristic bear hug. "Cloud, you bastard, how ya' doin'?" Barrett got free of the hug and looked at the imposing figure before him. "Well, I'm not sure how will I put this. Do you like surprises?
***
"What the hell is wrong with you Barrett? And who is she?" Tifa asked. It was all a bit too much for her head. First, her mother-in-law calls her and tells her to go there as soon as possible, and then she sees a woman that looks just like her and says she is Cloud. And on top of that, Barrett, who is like a father to her, says he is Tifa. Also, there is one stranger that looks like Cloud. "I think I can explain that," someone said behind her. She turned around and blinked hard to see if she was not having visions. At the door was her husband, two Aeris, another Barrett and Cid. "That's it," she said. "Who are you people?" One of the Aeris and the Barrett that had just come in approached her. "We are the ones you know," Barrett said. "The others are real too. But they came from another dimension." "What?" "Let us explain. I'll begin," the older Aeris said. "There are several planes of existence that are similar to each other. Similar, not equal. While the differences may be little from one plane to another, they may also be huge. What we didn't know was that one could travel to another plane. On their plane, when Sephiroth discovered he was a Jenova, he went nuts, summoned a huge meteor to destroy the planet and. killed their Aeris. Well, making a long story short, a madman with the power to control the lifestream has gain power of their Sephiroth's soul and came to claim our Sephiroth's body. They followed him to stop him," she finished. Tifa looked at her in disbelief. "Ok, let's say I believe in that load of crap. What about those three weirdo's?" she said, pointing at Cloud, Tifa and Barrett. "He exchanged their souls. As the lifestream is made of souls, he can control them. He switched them. So that's what happened to them. Cloud's in Tifa's body, Tifa's in Barrett's and Barrett's in Cloud's." The older Tifa narrowed her eyes and looked at them suspiciously. "So we just have to stop the madman, rescue our Sephiroth and send you back to your home," she said. "Yes," the younger Aeris said, "we just have to do that." "Ok, "Tifa said, "Are you missing someone?" Cloud looked at his group examining it. "We're missing Yuffie, that should be in Wutai, Vincent, probably in the waterfall, Nanaki should be in Cosmo Canyon, Reeve and the Turks, somewhere on this goddamn planet," he said. "The Turks?" the older Tifa asked rolling her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Ok, our Turks are dead and I don't know who Vincent, Nanaki and Yuffie are. I suppose your Reeve is an architect?" a quick nod from the newcomers answered her question. "He is alive but I don't think he'll be of much help. So, I guess that's it. We should start looking for your partners." Cloud stepped forward. "Wasn't there an old mansion there instead of an hospital?" "Yes, but it was demolished to built the hospital," the older Tifa answered. "So your Vincent is dead," Aeris said. "Hey isn't that a chopper?" They all stepped outside and saw a chopper landing in front of the house. The Turks, Reeve, Nanaki, Vincent and Yuffie came out of it. Elena looked at the unusual group in front of her. "Freak show," she whispered to Yuffie. Yuffie giggled and the older Tifa glared at them. She turned to her younger version. "You gotta be kidding me! A vampire, a ninja brat and a.something are your companions?" "Not only my companions, they are my friends whom I trust with my life. And for you information, they're not so helpless as you may think. Vincent could shoot you in the head before you could even raise your hands, Nanaki can tore you apart in no time at all and Yuffie could. snap your neck with her hands tied. So in the future I'd restrain myself from those kind of remarks." The older Tifa raised her head and walked into the house followed by her friends, leaving the younger party outside. "Yuffie could snap your neck with her hands tied?" Reno asked. Everyone, except Yuffie, burst out laughing. "Hey, don't laugh!" said Elena. "She may not be able to snap your head but she can certainly rob you dead." Everyone burst out laughing again. "Hey, that's not funny," Yuffie whined. "What about him?" she asked nodding towards Zack, "Shouldn't he be dead?" "Ok, now that everyone's here I suppose I can tell you now."
Chapter 7
Sephiroth impatiently pressed the intercom. "Janet, could you bring me those papers? I can't wait all day!" He dropped the report he was reading and leaned back in the chair, massaging his temples. He looked to a picture of himself, with his wife and their kid. How he longed to be with them. He spun around so that he was facing the window behind him. His reflection greeted him. He studied his features noticing how his face betrayed his fatigue. He made a mental note to remind him to take his wife and kid somewhere special to compensate them for his tardiness on this trip. The sound of the door being opened made him turn around. "Finally Janet." he trailed off as he saw a man walking into the room. The man was exactly like him, except for the hair color, which was brown. He had a bloody sword that reminded Masamune and through the door, he could see Janet's decapitated body sprawled on top of her desk. Even with the fact that he hadn't had a real fight for along time, he wasn't helpless. He still trained every week and always brought his sword along. He graciously leaped from the chair and grabbed his Masamune. The stranger smirked and poised his sword. Sephiroth, analyzing the situation, realized that he had no choice inside the tiny room, so he jumped through the window onto the street. He urged the people on the streets to go away and tossed his PHS to the owner of a bar, who he knew very well. The phone never got near the man, for a lightning spell hit it pretty bad. Seph turned around to face his foe. He clearly noticed that he was in disadvantage because the only materia he had was an Enemy Skill that his wife made him use in an armlet. His opponent grinned and tossed his jacket aside. Sephiroth, realizing that fighting with a suit would be pretty hard, took of his jacket, his shirt and his shoes. They stood still on the street, poised for action, each one expecting the other to make the first move. Finally, the stranger bolted forward and his sword met Masamune. Seph took every chance he had to cast spells but his opponent seemed to have some kind of barrier so he changed tactics. The next opportunity he cast Big Guard on himself, thus gaining advantage of the situation. He decided to give it a try and lunged for his foe. The brown haired man smiled and tossed his sword aside. "Enough games," he said. Sephiroth ran to his foe and pierced Masamune through his enemy's abdomen. He laughed and a green mist surrounded them. Sephiroth felt a consciousness forcing the entrance into his mind but his resistance was futile. It gained entrance and Sephiroth's mind subsided to a corner. The clone looked at his body and at the sword still stuck in his abdomen. "Master, you left me here. Please don't let me die." he begged. "You have served your purpose: to get my soul back from the Lifestream. Now I don't need you anymore." The now evil Sephiroth pushed Masamune deeper into the clone's body before removing it, licking the blood from the sword. By the time the battle was over, everyone had run away. Sephiroth took the Materia from the corpse and something ran through his mind. Five presences. Two Jenova, two Cetra. They were here.
***
"So you mean there are other Cetra around?" Aeris asked a bit incredulous. Zack nodded. "And they've kept you locked all this time?" He nodded again. Aeris was shocked. "I can't believe this. They locked you up without giving you a reason to explain yourself! They're supposed to be good, protectors of the planet!" Nanaki approached her and touched her leg with his nose. "I'm sorry Aeris, I know you should feel betrayed but I think we should leave this for later. The other party said they've already gathered their gear. We should leave." "You're right," she said looking at nothingness. Red noticed that she had a cold stare, one that he thought he would never see on her face. As they followed the other party to the Highwind, a soft murmur escaped Aeris' lips without being heard. "I'll get them later." They entered the Highwind and they scattered around the ship. Only Aeris was outside leaning over the edge, with her eyes closed, trying to hear the Planet searching for an answer to her troubles. Zack climbed the stairs and looked at her, her pink dress waving. He admired her feminine silhouette and the way her hair swayed with the wind without losing its beauty. "You know, they weren't all that bad," he said. She had probably already noticed his presence, for his interruption did nothing to her. "That doesn't change anything. It wasn't supposed to be this way," she said, turning around to face him. "You told me that they reproved Jenova for wanting to take over their planet. And are they doing? Imprisoning people just because they are different, without even a fair trial? If you ask me Jenova doesn't stand too much below them." Brown eyes stared at Mako ones for an awkward moment as both remembered those past times, when Zack passed everyday by Aeris, always buying large quantities of flowers, and asked her out every time. Of course she always gave him her cold shoulder. But, with time, his persistence had its results and she finally said yes. Aeris saw those intense Mako eyes approaching as Zack closed the space between them and held her in a tight embrace. "Gods, Aeris. I missed you so much. I never want to lose you again. You were the only thing that kept me going all these years," he whispered. She nuzzled her cheek on his shoulder, their embrace exactly like she remembered. The way his calloused hands caressed her back and her waist and his exquisite scent. "I missed you too, but so much has changed since those times." she trailed off as they heard a young girl clearing her throat behind them. "Yes Yuffie?" she asked. "Well, I thought that errr. you could possibly. errr. need. something." she stuttered. "Get it over with, girl. Hey, you're the one that stole my materia," Zack retorted, his arm still on Aeris' shoulders. "Here, take it," she said, taking his materia from her backpack. "And stay outta this, it's difficult for me," she said taking something from her pocket. "Here," she whimpered. She shoved something into Aeris' hands and as soon as the orb touched her hands, she knew what it was. "Holy!" she exclaimed. "But how?" "Well, to tell you the truth, I was gonna keep it but since you're back. Just don't tell the others, you know I have a reputation to keep." "Thank you Yuffie, I know it was hard for you, but you did a good thing," Aeris said watching the young girl as she left them alone. She unfastened her ponytail to put the materia as she always did. "Why do you keep the materia on your hair?" Zack asked. Aeris shrugged. "My mother used to carry it like this also. Oh! It's falling!" Aeris bend over the handrail, trying to grab the falling materia, but failed miserably. But then she noticed that the materia wasn't falling. It was standing in midair. She then noticed that Zack had his eyes closed, his right arm extended with the palm of his hand facing the materia and his face was the perfect mask of concentration. The materia came flying through the air directly into Zack's left hand. "How did you do that?" Aeris asked astonished. Zack grinned sheepishly. "Remember what I told you about both Cetra and Jenova having powers? Well, I can use mine like you use yours. And I am also a wind element like you," he explained. Aeris' face lit up with a grin. "Zack my dear, you gave me an excellent idea. Sephiroth used both his Jenova powers with my Cetra powers to switch Cloud, Tifa and Barret's soul, right? So why don't we try to do the same? Perhaps if we combine our powers we can put the back to normal." "We can try," he said. "Worst scenario, we make complete fools of ourselves in front of three people, right?" "Yeah, nothing you're not used to," she grinned, as she walked inside the Highwind to call her friends. 'I just hope this works,' Zack thought. Aeris arrived soon with Barrett / Cloud, Cloud / Tifa and Tifa / Barrett. "Ok, you guys just. stay there in a line and we'll do our best," Aeris explained. "Aeris, I think we should take it slowly and do two at a time," Zack explained. "Ladies first," Tifa / Barrett said, grabbing Cloud / Tifa's hand. Zack chuckled as he heard that remark coming from a big, muscled, grown man. Aeris grabbed Zack's hand and they both bowed their heads concentrating. The other two felt the green mist surrounding them again, and again they felt strange, floating. As Aeris fearfully opened one eye, Tifa was looking at her own hands. "Yeah, I'm back," she grinned, doing a somersault. "And I'm in Barrett's body," Cloud sighed. "Just get this over with."
***
As they landed in Costa del Sol only destruction greeted them. Cars burning, the corpses of many policemen and a few townspeople lying around were the only thing they saw in the beautiful coastal village. A gust of the hot wind that usually carried the salty scent of the sea brought the disgusting stench of burnt flesh to their noses. The heat twisted their sight as they walked under the burning sun, trying not to stumble on the scattered limbs that littered the ground. "So you finally came," a cold voice said. They stopped as Sephiroth appeared from behind a burning car. The vision of the silver haired man walking through the flames brought the unpleasant memory of his mother's already blackened corpse. His anger grew as well as the fire in his eyes. Without a second thought, he grabbed his sword and lunged at his enemy. Sephiroth wasn't expecting this impulsive action but that didn't faze him. He easily avoided the attack by taking a side step. "Well I see you've put your minds back were they belonged. So the bitch and the puppet finally learned how to harness their powers. Pathetic. You should know by now that nothing you can do will stop me! SUPER NOVA!" This attack did severe damage to the group as no one was protected. They were all scattered on the ground. Cloud got up and searched the area for Cid and Zack. "Cid, Zack, help me take him. The rest of you cover us." Cid got out of the hood of the car he had been thrown and quickly ran towards Sephiroth while Zack spit the sand from his mouth. Sephiroth grinned and picked the sword nº 4 had been using from the ground. "Not so fast," he said as Cloud, Zack and Cid approached him. "You have company." He pointed behind them and, as reluctant as they were, they couldn't help looking when the earth began to shake. Hundreds of monsters were charging towards them. By ground and by air, they were gaining speed and no rock, tree or car seemed to stop them. "Zack help me!" the younger Aeris shrieked. "Let's create a barrier." Cloud nodded to Zack and he quickly ran to Aeris. With his left hand he embraced her waist and pointed his right palm to the incoming wave of monsters as she pointed her left palm. They closed their eyes in concentration and almost fell down when the monsters collapsed against the invisible wall. After the first wave they kept slamming against the barrier attempting to break it. "Help!" Zack screamed, trying not to break his concentration. Yuffie ran towards them. "Go help Cloud. I'll stay with them," she said. She started by casting elemental magic but they weren't very effective. So she picked her Enemy Skill and cast Magic Breath and Pandora's Box. But they kept coming. "Try a summon," Aeris called. Yuffie picked her favorite red orb and prayed to Leviathan. She felt the power grow within her as well as the air around her changing. The heat from the materia spread through her arms to the rest of her body while the breeze around her seemed to get colder. "What is she doing?" Zack asked. "Why hasn't she cast the spell?" "She's charging the attack. That's a technique very ancient used by the old ninjas. But I didn't know she could do it." She explained. 'Just a little longer Yuffie, you can do it' Yuffie thought. Suddenly the heat coming from the materia was gone as well as the cold breeze. She opened her eyes and instead of seeing the once beautiful town turned into a battlefield she saw black. The sounds of fighting abandoned her, leaving only a sound that resembled an annoying leaking tap. "Where am I?" she asked turning around in search of something. A blinding flash lit the area as two yellow eyes came to be in front of her. The gentle glow emanated by those eyes seemed to embrace her like a mother would embrace her just born son. "You are a chosen one." In spite of the whole situation she felt all her fears abandon her as the warm voice filled the strange place. "Release the spell now!" As the voice left her ears she was back at the battlefield holding the materia and did as she was told. "TIDAL WAVE" An immensely huge serpent appeared and its tidal wave swept all the monsters away drowning them. She grinned and looked at Aeris who shot her a horrifying glare. "Yuffie behind you! Look out!"
***
"Help!" Zack screamed, trying not to break his concentration. Yuffie ran towards them. "Go help Cloud. I'll stay with them," she said. They all turned to Sephiroth who had assumed his combat stance. Cid and Cloud ran towards their foe slashing away like madmen. Sephiroth blocked every blow easily with both of his swords. The Turks, Reeve and Vincent were firing at him but with little effect. So they switched to materia while Vincent turned into Chaos. Aeris was concentrating on healing magic and both Tifa's ignored their orders and ran to Sephiroth as well as Red. Now with six people directly attacking him Sephiroth began to worry. So he concentrated all his powers and send them all flying backwards. In quick succession he cast Shadow Flare, Pandora's Box, Magic Breath and Super Nova. Almost everyone had fell unconscious at this point. "Prepare to die," he grinned. Cloud stood up in his shaky legs with the help of his sword. "None of them will die if I'm still alive," Cloud said. "Oh yeah, let's see about that," he grinned. Sephiroth looked at Masamune and at his other sword thoughtfully. "I guess I won't be needing two swords since you're the only one standing," he grinned. He held the sword like a spear and threw it directly at. "Yuffie behind you! Look out!" Aeris' scream made her turn back but it was too late. Yuffie felt the sword piercing her fragile body without being able to stop it. The quickness of the vile act made it painless. She dropped to her knees and watched as the world around her seemed to be in slow motion. Cloud ran to Sephiroth and used Omnislash on him. Now that was a pretty thing to see in slow motion. The few times Cloud did it he was so fast she couldn't see where he was. At least her last vision was a good thing: Seph getting his ass kicked. Her head rolled back and she saw the reason why she hadn't fell down yet. Zack and Aeris were holding her, trying to talk to her. She smiled to them and held Aeris' hand as she felt the Lifestream escaping from her body. Zack ran to Sephiroth quickly casting White Wind on Cloud and Aeris distributed Phoenix Down's among her teammates bringing everyone back to their senses. A Healing Wind later, everyone was up and before the sight of an impaled Yuffie, Sephiroth was hit by almost every Limit Break known to men. Yet, he was still standing. Then. "You shall return to the planet," a ghostlike voice between them said. They saw Sephiroth's eyes glowing with something that seemed like a mix of fear and surprise. They all turned back and saw a young girl, with short hair, wearing slightly unbuttoned green shorts, a pair of baggy yellow sneakers and a black top. Her bandana swayed with the wind and her arm protection was forgotten on the floor next to her Conformer. The wicked sword was still lodged on her chest. And her left hand locked something the could not see. But the strangest things were her eyes: bloodshot red on her expressionless face. "Yuffie?!" Her walk was strange, like she was about to fall at every step. She walked past everyone of them, straight towards Sephiroth. "This can't be. You're dead," he replied. As she got near him, he lunged at her, piercing Masamune on her stomach. Then, after looking down at her pierced abdomen, she tilted her head to the side and looked at Sephiroth. And in her eyes he saw nothing. Not anger, not hatred, not pain and not fear; only two pools of red liquid. Sephiroth released his grip on the sword and stumbled backwards. Yuffie grabbed both swords with her hands and pulled them out of her body. They fell to the ground, not tarnished with blood, but trickling crystal clear water. The same water was also leaking from her wounds, but instead of falling the ground, it enveloped her, until all they saw was her water- body. Then, it compressed into a sphere and stretched until it got the shape of a serpent. They were all amazed as they saw Yuffie turning into Leviathan before their eyes. The serpent moved smoothly until its head was inches apart from Sephiroth's. Paralyzed by those eyes he felt the serpent wrapping around his body. "Now! Act now!" it screamed in its spectral voice. Zack and Aeris held their hands and concentrated. Green mist enveloped Sephiroth and with a loud roar the mist vanished into thin air.
Chapter 8
"Ouch, my head hurts," a voice coming from the bed said. "Easy there," a warm voice said as a damp towel was set on her forehead. She tried to open her eyes but all he saw was a blur. Her head seemed to be about to explode but surprisingly her body seemed to be perfectly fine. Not a single ache. She shifted beneath the velvet sheet facing the direction of the voice. "Where am I?" she asked, trying to open her eyes again. She tried to recall her last memory from the depths of oblivion. Aeris' tear streaked face came to her mind and in a flash, everything before that passed through her mind. She sat up abruptly expecting to see Masamune poised above her, and an evil set of jade eyes behind it. A sudden pain coursed through her head as she opened her eyes. But instead of feeling a sword tearing her apart, she felt two comforting arms expecting her. And the second she buried her head on the chestnut hair and felt the fresh scent of morning dew, she knew exactly who it was. "Only God knows how I missed your hugs Aeris," she said holding her friend close. "I missed you too Yuffie," she replied. "Don't worry, you're safe now. It's all over." "But how am I." "Later. Now rest," Aeris' gentle, yet firm voice told her. Yuffie tried to protest but the heavy sensation of a Sleepel spell flowing inside her mind convinced her not to.
***
"So you mean it wasn't just a dream?" The only answers to Yuffie's question were a few nods. The whole group sat on the tiny room in Wutai trying to answer all the girl's questions. "I actually died?" she asked incredulous. "That's not the weirdest part of all, really," Tifa replied nervously. "So? Tell me!" "After you were. after it happened you, er. got up and you. turned into something else." In those milliseconds after Tifa's statement, Yuffie's mind sorted through a million things she could have possibly turned into. "What?" she fearfully asked. Everyone in the room traded nervous glances, well, except Vincent of course. "Oh, for the love of Shiva. Yuffie, to make it short, you basically turned into water, then transformed into Leviathan and scared the living shit outta Seph." As soon as Reno's words left his mouth he was surrounded by angry glares from everyone (yes, even Vincent's). "What? She would have to know sooner or later," he said rapidly. Yuffie looked into their eyes and saw nothing but truth and shock looking at her. But still it wasn't easy to believe. Silence filled the big room once again. The girls sat on the sides of the bed, as well as Elmyra who sat right next to Aeris, as if to make sure her daughter wouldn't disappear again. Zack stood next to the bed, not very far to Aeris as well. Cloud sat on a chair next to the bed, holding Tifa's hand, though he didn't seem to realize he was doing it. Red sat on the floor near the couch, where Cid, Barrett and Reno (as far away as they could) slouched. Vincent and Rude were standing near the wall, very straight. Godo stood on the doorpost, as if afraid of invading her daughter's territory. She barely slept in this room at all, but he always hoped she would come back home one day. "Th-that's impossible," she said. Aeris took something from her pocket and gave it to her. "You were holding this," she said. Yuffie held the small orb and raised it to her eye level. "So, this is just a crystal ball." "No, that's not. That's Leviathan." Then "You were holding it while. it happened." "This can't be," she said turning her head to face Elena, as if looking for an answer in her best friend's face. A tear walked its way down Elena's cheek and she took Yuffie's arms and showed her her wrists. Then she pulled her jacket sleeves up and showed her her own wrists. "See?" she asked. While Yuffie's wrists had nothing at all, Elena's had two scars marking her two wrists for eternity. Those were made trying to escape from Corneo's grasp when they were his captives. Only one thing was wrong. Yuffie used to have them also. Yuffie stroked her wrists and noted they'd never felt so smooth before. Then she raised the covers to look at her knees and shins and noticed that all of her scars were gone. "So it's true." "Yes." "Could you just, let me be alone for a moment?" As everyone file out of the room, she put the covers over her head and cried. And prayed.
***
Yuffie eventually got out of the shock. And they never talked about it again. But the changes in Yuffie had become more than evident. Her magic skills became better; all her senses seemed improved, as well as her strength, agility and reflexes. But that wasn't all. And they all noticed that she gained a certain affinity with water. She swam for one hour every morning. Her physical aspect also changed. Her skin was softer, her hair shinier, and her eyes became even bluer. And everyone saw it. Specially Reno. He seemed to be picking more on her lately. Not that he'd admit it of course. Well, things went on pretty calm until the wedding came. Cid had chosen Cloud to be his best man and Tifa was to be Shera's maid of honor. So Aeris went with Zack, Barrett with Elmyra, Elena with Rude and Yuffie went with Reno. Only Nanaki, Reeve and Vincent went alone. The wedding itself went well, although Cid seemed to be having a nervous breakdown. It took place on a small church in Rocket town at 10 am. The party was held in a large hall. A band was singing on one side of room. They had been hired because one of them was a nephew of Cid's head engineer. In front of the stage was an empty space designated as a "dance floor". The whole "self service tables" were against the wall and on the other side of the room were the lunch tables. Near noon a waiter told Cid the preparations for the lunch were ready. And so Cid, Shera, Nanaki Cloud and Tifa sat at their table waiting for everyone to follow their example. Yuffie and Godo sat at their table with the Turks, Barrett was with Marlene, Elmyra, Aeris and Zack and finally Vincent and Reeve sat at one table with some cousins of Shera. They ate their lunch and after the dessert the band came to the stage and asked Cid, Shera, Cloud and Tifa to go to the "dance floor". Cid took Shera's hand and, grumbling all the way against the #%$&=$% traditions, led her from the table and Cloud did the same with Tifa, without the grumbling part, of course. Both men were wearing tuxedos and Shera's dress was very simple. A few pearls adorned her chest, its tail wasn't so long and her hair was held with a flower wreath. Tifa was wearing a black v-neck dress that showed her outline, diverging many eyes from the bride and groom. They walked to the dance floor and Cloud put his arms on Tifa's waist, while she put hers on his neck. She smiled and let him led her while the band started singing.
Sometimes it's wrong to walk away
Don't you think it's over
Knowing there's so much more to say
"Tifa I think we need to talk," Cloud said as they were dancing. Tifa looked up to meet Cloud's shining blue eyes. "I've been thinking a lot on our relationship lately," he said.
Suddenly the moment's gone
And though your dreams are upside down
And you just want to change the way the world goes round
"I like being your friend but." he trailed off. Their faces were only inches apart and Cloud could actually feel the heat emanating from Tifa's body. Her eyes were half closed and she was looking at him through her eyelashes which was distracting him immensely. "What I'm trying to say is.."
Tell me
Have you ever loved and lost somebody
Wish there was a chance to say I'm sorry
Can't you see
That's the way I feel about you and me baby
"This is what I'm trying to tell you. I don't want to lose you," he finally admitted, though the fear from her reaction had increased a thousand fold.
Have you ever felt your heart was breaking
Looking down the road you should be taking
I should know
Cause I loved and lost the day I let you go
"Are you saying that you. love me?" she was speaking right to his face and he felt her breath on his mouth. Her lips brushed against his and she slowly kissed him. When at first he was too stunned to respond to her sweet kiss, he quickly regained control of his actions and kissed her back. It wasn't the hard, wet, passionate kiss he always imagined but it felt exquisite to him. The ambrosia of the Gods couldn't taste better than her lips on his. Their kiss was interrupted by sounds of clapping, cheering and howling. They opened their eyes and saw the whole Avalanche group and some other familiar faces cheering for them, and saw, with some surprise, that Reno was the one howling. Well, maybe it wasn't so surprising. They smiled and kissed again, dancing to the music.
***
At night the party still resisted. After a very blushed Elena caught the bouquet and the 3 floor chocolate cake (with a bride and an astronaut on top of it) was cut people were starting to get tired. Yuffie and Reno were sitting on a table alone, talking quietly to each other (probably planning to steal the silverware). Vincent sat on another table accompanied with one of Shera's cousins. She didn't seem annoyed by his bloodshot eyes and, truth be told, he didn't look bad in a tux and with his hair well groomed. "So, what do you do when you're not saving the world?" she asked him resting her elbow on the table and her head on her hand. "Besides transforming into one of the four beasts that inhabit my mind as a punishment for my uncaring deeds when you weren't even born? Nothing really," he said. The girl looked at him horrified and quickly excused herself from the table. "Vincent, Vincent, Vincent. Were you just being sarcastic?" Reeve sat beside Vincent grinning at him. "Seems to me that you are regressing to your older self. Good for you. I know it's none of my business but what happened to that 'I must atone for my sins in order to attain peace' attitude? You met someone?" he grinned. "You're right," Vincent replied. "It's none of your business." The bride and groom were doing their usual tour around the tables and the rest of the gang were sitting somewhere or dancing. Only four people weren't there. Cloud and Tifa had retreated to somewhere with a little more privacy and Aeris and Zack sat on a bench outside looking at the moon and at Cid's new rocket called Tiamat. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Zack felt Aeris shivering when she talked to him so he offered her his coat. She turned to him and smiled. "Are you sure you're not the one causing the wind so you can look good by giving me your jacket?" He smiled back. "Are you sure you're not the one causing the wind so you can see me without my jacket?" She giggled and held the coat tighter. "Aeris, I need to know where we stand right now," he blurted. "What?" "You and me. Our relationship, if there is one at all." "I don't know. When you disappeared I thought you had left me. My heart was broken. I thought you were the one I'd spend my whole life with." "But." "But now I'm not sure." "It's Cloud isn't it?" he asked. ". Yes," she admitted. "At first I only liked him because he reminded me of you. But now I'm not so sure. Could you give me sometime to sort this out?" "Aeris, in all these years you were the only thing that kept me going. I think I can wait a bit longer." She leaned against him and he held her. "Well, we're together again. Not in the way I wanted but it's good enough. For now."
The end
He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He tried to remember where he was, but it was useless. He couldn't even remember his name or where he had come from. 'Well, I won't get anywhere by lying here,' he thought to himself. He sat up in bed and looked around. He was in a white room with a window turned to the sea. Next to the bed were a wicker chair with some clothes, probably his, and a bedside table. There was also a large mirror in the wall. He got up, only in his boxers and looked to the mirror. He was tall, about 1,80 meters. Several tiny scars marked his tanned chest, probably from bullets. His black hair was spiked up in a way that defied almost every physics law. He got dressed and when he reached the door it swung open and a young girl greeted him with a smile. "Oh thank God you woke up. We were starting to think you'd never get out of it," the girl said with a smile. She was about sixteen years old, had long red hair fastened in a ponytail and brown eyes and was about twenty centimeters shorter than him. She was wearing a white toga and sandals. She turned to a boy behind her and spoke a language he didn't understand. "Where are we?" he asked. "We're in Heaven's Island," she answered whilst reaching a hand for him. "Come, the elders will see you tonight. So I'm going to show you the city. By the way, my name's Elaine," she said dragging him outside. "Um, I'd tell you my name but I. um. can't seem to remember," he replied sadly. He closed his eyes when the sunlight stroked his face. He protected his eyes with a hand and looked at the island. It was like time traveling into the past. There were buildings with columns and capitals everywhere. There were no vehicles, and the streets were all paved with beautiful tiles. Everything was clean, with no hint of dirt anywhere. Flowers seemed to grow everywhere and there was a fountain almost every block. They had just passed a bathhouse and a large temple. Everyone dressed like Elaine and bowed to her as they passed. But to him, they just looked the other way and ignored him. "Are these people angry at me?" he asked, looking at a woman who had walked to the opposite side of the street when she noticed him. "No. They just think you don't belong here. You see, when we found you, you were badly hurt. We healed you and brought you here, so we could understand the humans," she explained. "What do you mean, understand the humans? Aren't you humans?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "No, we are Cetra." 'Cetra? Why does that name sounds so familiar?' He thought to himself. "And what are you doing on this planet?" "Ok. I'll explain. Many years ago we lived happily on our planet Utopia with our brothers, the Jenova. So, the gods trusted us a powerful gem, the Ithilium and gave us powers to protect it. We, the Cetra have White Magic and the Jenova have Black Magic. And these powers are based on the four elements. I am a fire guardian. And through centuries we the Guardians, managed to protect the Ithilium. Until one day, Jenova tried to steal the stone to take over the planet. And with all the battles and the bloodshed, the gods broke the Ithilium in two. So we grabbed on piece and escaped from Utopia to Earth. Several Jenova followed us and we destroyed some and imprisoned others. And we build this island. And with our technology we can steer the island and also keep it invisible." They had been walking to a restaurant. They sat down and Elaine ordered for the two. He thought it was delicious. "So, you don't remember nothing?" she asked looking at him. "No. Not even my name," he replied sadly. He continued to ask Elaine questions about the Cetra. Turns out that they had very advanced technology and the ancient environment was only external. When they finished eating Elaine gave him a tour around the island. They went to the beach and stayed there talking until dusk. They got up and he stopped with his mouth open staring at the city. Elaine looked at him and couldn't help smiling. "It's quite a view isn't it?" she asked. All the buildings were shining a green glow that lighted the entire city. "This is a mark of the Cetra. Every structure we build glows like this. It doesn't even matter what type of material you use," she explained. "Come on. We've got to go see Grandpa." "Grandpa? Weren't we supposed to see the elders?" "Grandpa is an elder. He's the most respected man in the entire island." They walked through the city until they stopped at a large temple. They climbed a tall staircase and entered through an arcade. They walked through the building and reached a large room with rows of seats occupying three walls. There were many old men and women seated and on the center an old man with long, white beard greeted them with a nod. Elaine led him to the very center of the room and ran to the man, who he supposed was her grandfather. "Welcome, human. My name is Holgine. I'm sure my granddaughter already showed you around and explained you the reasons why you were brought here," the old man said while coming down to him. "Yes, she has explained. But I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I can't remember anything about my past," he replied while looking down at his shoes. "Don't worry. Our powers will help you recover it." Holgine put a hand on his shoulder and took it back quickly, like it was burning. He looked at the newcomer with fear in his eyes. "He's one of them. He's a traitor. GUARDS!" Ten guards came to the scream and pointed the black haired man their wrists, which had some kind of watch-looking device. From that, beams of electricity hit the man sending him to the ground. "How could you do this?" Holgine said, looking at Elaine with pure hatred in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said, only to be silenced when Holgine slapped her. The man got off the ground to protect his friend but was electrified again. Then there was darkness.
***
Six weeks had passed since the destruction of Meteor. They had all spend so much time together they all fell sorry about separating. But they knew that eventually they would have to. So, Red went back to Cosmo Canyon and Vincent was traveling along the world searching for Lucrecia. Cid went back to Rocket Town and with the help of Reeve's administrational skills, started the Highwind Inc. Cid had surprised them all when he called them saying he had proposed to Shera and she had accepted. Yuffie went back to Wutai (probably with the materia that suddenly disappeared whenever she visited them). The Turks worked for Godo. They were his personal bodyguards. Only when there was nothing to do, Godo ordered Elena to take care of Yuffie. Both of them hated the idea but as the time passed they became friends and occupied most of their time shopping with Godo's money. Barrett went to Corel and was starting to rebuild the town. He felt he owned them that and the people of the town began treating him with respect. Cloud and Tifa stayed together and opened the 'Avalanche' academy in Junon. They became quite famous and very rich after defeating Sephiroth and stopping meteor. Tifa taught martial arts and Cloud taught swordsmanship and chocobo riding. Yuffie came often to teach Materia usage. Tifa had just dismissed a class and was going to deliver some papers to Cloud sign when she walked past the lounge. "What's wrong with master Strife?" Tifa stopped near the door, listening. She peered inside and saw four students, two boys and two girls sitting on a couch in front of the TV. Both girls were blond and one boy had long, black hair, while the other had his short red hair spiked up. "I think he's gay," said the redhead. The others burst out laughing and Tifa was very amused. 'Why would this boy think Cloud was gay?' she thought. But the redhead wasn't laughing. "Come on. I'm serious. Master Lockhart obviously has the hots for him, and yet, he doesn't do anything," he explained. Tifa blushed furiously with embarrassment. "Well I wouldn't think twice if a girl like her liked me. Ouch, what was that for!? He asked when a girl punched him in the chest, 'probably his girlfriend' Tifa thought. The girl got up and glared at the boy. "Well, Johnny, next time ye wanna go on a date, ask her 'cause yer not goin' with me." She left the lounge and went right past Tifa without even seeing her. Tifa saw the boy getting up to go after his girlfriend and ran in the opposite direction. She wasn't even looking at where she was going and ran into someone. "Excuse me, oh it's you Cloud," she said smiling. "Yeah, I wanted to see you." He raised an eyebrow. "Tifa, why are you blushing?" "Um. it was nothing," she replied looking down and noticing the papers on her hands. "Actually I have these papers for you to sign," she told him. He signed the papers and gave them back. "Well, as I was saying Cid and Shera invited us both to some kind of pre- wedding party and also Yuffie's birthday on Saturday. I already said we were coming. You didn't have plans, did you?" "No. I'll go," she answered. "Ok, they'll pick us up. Oh, don't forget we promised them a fight between us at four." "Um. ok," she said, remembering what she overheard on the lounge.
***
The green-eyed girl reached a hand for him as she was falling into the darkness. Suddenly flames enveloped her and she turned into a tall man with long white hair and evil eyes. The man reached for his sword and slashed at him. "Wake up! Zack, wake up!" Zack opened his eyes and saw Gabriel looking down at him. He sat up and wiped the sweat of his brow. He looked around and saw the same thing he had seen for the last six years. His cell: glowing walls bordered three sides of it, but bars lined the fourth one. The cell seemed however, to be immune to their power. They could use their powers but couldn't damage the cell. "The same dream again?" the old man asked. Zack looked at his cell companion. He was a very old man with white hair that fell to the end of his back. His violet eyes were almost hypnotic even surrounded by a wrinkled face. On the other side stood Joshua. He was a blind, bald man who had gotten senile two years ago. "Yes," replied Zack, massaging his temple. "I think I should insist on the training. I don't have these dreams when I'm tired," he explained. "Ok, I'll see what I can do," Gabriel agreed with a smile. "Now go back to sleep." Zack closed his eyes and lay down on his bed. 'I just wish I knew who are the people in my dreams,' he thought right after falling asleep.
***
Shera had told Cid to get the guests on the Highwind. Cid was smiling and as usual, puffing a cigarette. "You're the last ones. Come in." Barrett was already on his place with Marlene on his lap. Elmyra was beside him. Shera was talking to Red and Reeve stood where Cait usually was. "Where's Vincent?" "We don't know," Shera explained. "He said he would meet us there. I think he hasn't found anything about his lover." "Hey Marlene." Cloud approached her with a smile. "How are you?" "I'm fine uncle Cloud, thank you." "I have a present for you." Cloud gave her a small box with holes tied with a bow. She opened it and saw a small golden chocobo. Marlene was so happy that she jumped and hugged Cloud. "Thank you uncle Cloud. Is it a boy or a girl?" "It's a girl." Marlene thought for a moment and then smiled. "Then I'm gonna name it Aeris. Can I daddy, can I?" "I don't know honey. You're gonna have to ask Elmyra." "Of course you can honey. I think Aeris would be very happy," Elmyra reassured. Cloud turned to Cid. "Why is Shera here? Isn't the party in your house?" "It was, but when we invited Godo he insisted that we should make both parties together. That's a whole lot better for me. This way I don't have to clean the damn mess Yuffie makes on my ship whenever she flies with us."
***
"Ok Zack. Now try breaking this," said Gabriel putting a mug on the floor. "You want me to break a mug with wind?" asked Zack raising a brow. "Don't underestimate your powers." Zack concentrated on the mug and the air around it began to swirl. It was getting faster and faster. The mug was lifted from the floor and went into a wall breaking into pieces. "That was cheating," said Gabriel patiently. "No it wasn't. I broke it, like you said," grinned Zack. "You should have done this." Gabriel concentrated on another mug. The air around it began to swirl just like before. The mug was lifted and stopped in the air, right in front of Zack's face. Zack took a step back and protected his eyes. Now the wind was so strong that everything in the room was agitated. The bed sheets, the clothes, even Zack's hair was all messed up. Only Gabriel seemed untouched. Suddenly the wind stopped and the mug turned into dust. Zack looked to the pile of dust at his feet and to the pieces near the wall. "Wow," was all he could say. "This is what you have to do," Gabriel smiled. "Hey Zack," said a whispering voice. "Oh, your girlfriend's here," said Gabriel. "Oh shut up," said the young woman in the other side of the bars. Gabriel lay in his bed and Zack ran to the bars. "Hi Elaine. How are you?" he asked. Over the past four years, Elaine had been visiting him in the jail. She had discovered where he was and have been seeing his since then. He couldn't believe when he first heard her voice. "I'm fine. Look I have very good news for you," she whispered. "What?" "As you know, my grandpa is getting married tonight. Almost everyone is going to the wedding and the security is going to get pretty lax. So I've already made a plan to get you out of here." Zack's eyes widened with surprise. "Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" "Yes. There's only one problem: your friend. I know you're a good person but I'm not sure about him," Elaine said in a murmur. "Don't worry. He's a good person. He told me he only came here under a threat. His wife was a Cetra. They threatened to kill her. So don't worry he won't do anything," Zack reassured. "Ok, so here's the plan: tonight I'm going to give some wine to the guard. Of course it will have some sleeping powder in it. So when he falls asleep you are going to wear his uniform. I'm going to put one as well. So if anyone feels his presence we say we're taking him to another prison. No one will feel you're presence because you're only half Jenova. I'll have a raft ready on the beach. After that you're on your own."
Chapter 2
The moment they saw Godo's mansion their jaws dropped right on the floor. It looked like Christmas. The whole mansion had lights everywhere, and two huge banners stood over the doorway saying 'Happy birthday Yuffie' and 'Congratulations Cid and Shera'. Godo was waiting for them. He greeted them and led them to a big hall. It was decorated with lights, confetti and a mirror ball. There were two tables, a big one with food and another one with beverages and a few sofas against the wall. A curtain covered a corner of the wall. They saw Reno and Rude by the beverage table drinking as usual. "Yuffie will be down in a moment. She's still putting on her dress for the party," said Godo. "Yuffie wearing a dress?" Tifa asked a little surprised. "Yes. Elena convinced her to wear one tonight. I'm sorry but I can't stay here much longer," said Godo leaving the hall. "Yuffie and Elena. Who would have thought those two would end up best friends?" Cloud asked a little surprised. "Well, maybe being kidnapped together by a fat-ass pimp creates more bonds than you imagine," Tifa said sarcastically." Oh my god is that Yuffie?" Tifa's mouth opened as she saw Yuffie coming down the stairs followed by Elena. Yuffie was wearing a tight black dress and had her tied up very elegantly. She was very beautiful. She walked to them. "So? How do I look?" she smiled. "Oh you look beautiful!" the girls said together. "Happy birthday Yuffie." said Cloud handing her a present. "Thank you," she replied, being dragged by the girls. Cloud noticed a strange look that Reno gave Yuffie. It wasn't like the ones he gave to every girl. It was. different. "Oh look, there's Vincent." Red nodded to him. He was sitting on a couch sipping his drink. "Poor guy. He must really like Yuffie. I can't picture him dancing," Cid laughed. "Let's talk to him," Red suggested.
"So Shera, how did the old man proposed?" Yuffie asked. "Well, we were running some tests about the launch of the new rocket on the computer." "But the rocket isn't built yet." "I like to be ready for anything," said Shera with a smile. Yuffie just shrugged. "Anyway, when the countdown reached zero, the screen showed a message "Shera I love you. Marry me. Cid" "Oh! That is soooooo sweet!" Tifa was holding her hands together on her chest. "Pff! That is soooooo lame!" Yuffie replied. "I bet Rude has more interesting conversations." And with this she walked away. Elena shrugged and followed her. "Oh, don't mind her. I think it's very cute but it's not like Cid." "I know Tifa, I don't know where did he got that from."
"You did that!? That doesn't sound like you." Barrett couldn't imagine Cid proposing like that. "I know," Cloud was smiling, "I pictured Cid sitting on a couch watching some soccer, Shera doing the dishes, and then he goes, "Hey Shera. So do you wanna marry me?" Cloud, Reeve and Barrett burst out laughing and Cid started swearing in every language known to men. "Actually I was watching TV and in a soap opera a guy asked a chic to marry him on a screen in a football match." "Oh, so the mean old dog likes to watch soap operas." The Turks and Yuffie had joined them. "Oh just shut up, ok Reno?" Elena asked. She became quite different after she made friends with Yuffie. Reno cast a glace to Elena. And the party continued until late in the night with lots of talking, arguing, dancing and (to Reno's pleasure) drinking. Reno and Yuffie did a drinking contest, which Reno obviously won due to his long years of practice. And so Yuffie got a little happier that usual and didn't shut up the whole night. Reno was nearly lynched by Cid, Barrett and Red. Elmyra was talking to Shera on the couch with a sleeping Marlene on her lap, holding an also sleeping chocobo. Cloud danced with Tifa, and Yuffie danced with every guy in the room, Vincent being the most difficult. Afterward she was whispering something to Reno. The huge grin that appeared on Reno's face showed that it could only be something evil. Godo invited them to stay the night and Red was the first one to accept. He had been strange all night, as if he couldn't focus his eyes on anything.
***
'Yeah, that's just like me. Everyone's in the stupid wedding and I'm on duty. Like anyone would release a Jenova.' The guard leaned against the glowing wall of the cells cursing his bad luck. His thoughts were interrupted by a very pretty girl in a very small dress holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses. "Hello beauty. What are you doing here? This is a very strange night for a girl to be walking alone," the guard grinned, not taking his eyes of the beautiful redhead in front of him. Elaine flipped her hair to the side. "I was thinking of doing company to a lonely man. The wedding is pretty boring." She walked to him until they were only inches apart. The guard put his arms around her waist bringing her closer. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Let's have a drink first," she said, walking away from him. She filled the two glasses and gave him one. She took her glass to her lips and the guard drank his one. "Oh, look. I didn't know you brought your sister with you," he said before falling into the floor. She searched his pockets for the keys. When she found them, she hid the guard in his cabin and took of his clothes. She searched around and found the guards locker. After trying some keys she opened it and took a uniform to herself. She dresses it and climbed down the stairway to the cells where Zack and Gabriel were awaiting her. "Wait a minute," she whispered fumbling with the keys. The door opened with a creak. "Put this on, Zack," she said, giving him the guard's uniform. Zack finished dressing his clothes, which were too small, and turned to Elaine. "What about his handcuffs?" "They're here. Turn around," she uttered. Gabriel turned around and she put his handcuffs. Then she pressed a switch and the handcuffs began glowing. "These are on so you cannot use your powers. But they're not too tight so you can take them off anytime." "Ok, let's go!" Zack exclaimed and they exited the prison. Zack stopped to breath some fresh air but Elaine rushed him. They passed some people in the street that walked away from them, but none asked any question. They could already smell the ocean and Zack was starting to feel very happy. Until they passed a guard. "Halt! Where are you taking that prisoner?" the guard demanded. Elaine spoke in a very low voice. "Prisoner #241 is being transferred to East prison, sir." She stated. "Are those cuffs on?" "Yes, sir." The guard eyed them very carefully. "Very well. Be sure he doesn't escape." "Yes, sir." The guard left and Zack found out he had been holding his breath. Releasing the air, they began their way to the beach, where Elaine uncovered a small raft. Gabriel took of his handcuffs and used his powers to put the raft in the water. Elaine just stood there, looking at the full moon. Zack walked beside her. "It's very beautiful, isn't it?" he asked. "Yes it is. I'm only sorry I won't be able to see it more times with you," she replied looking down. "I love you Zack." "What?" he asked. She leaned to him and kissed him. Gabriel turned around and saw some guards approaching. "We've got to go. They found us," he exclaimed pointing at the guards. They broke the kiss and Elaine stroked his face gently as tears poured down her face. "Go. I'll always be with you," she cried. And she ran from the guards. Zack ran to water and climbed to the raft. Gabriel helped him and bowed his head. Suddenly gust of wind appeared on the beach creating a sandstorm. Then the wind turned to them pushing them far into the ocean.
***
"Hey wake up spiky-boy!" Cloud clutched his head, which seemed to be about to explode due to his enormous hangover. He managed to open his eyes and saw Reno in his usual blue suit, playing with his nightstick. "Leave me alone." "Come on. Everybody's downstairs waiting for you." Cloud sat up in bed still holding his head. "Ouch. How can you do that?" "What? How can I be a drop dead redhead and still be better then anyone in a battle?" Reno asked with a grin. "The only thing you have that makes people drop dead is your breath. Actually I was asking how could you drink so much and wake up like it was nothing." "Oh, that's many years of training. Now hurry, Red said last night he wanted to see us all." Reno left the room and Cloud got up, trying not to fall. He went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. 'I feel much better now' he thought. He got dressed and went downstairs. Everyone was in the dining room having breakfast, except Red. "Morning. Where's Red? Didn't he want to speak with us?" Yuffie and Reno looked at each other and burst out laughing. Barrett glared at Reno. "What have you done with Red?" he asked. "Oh nothing. We just put a little extra vodka on his punch," Yuffie explained in the middle of her laughs. "No you didn't!" exclaimed Shera covering her mouth with her hands. "I don't think Nanaki is accustomed with drinking." "Oh we just wanted to see if got drunk." "Well I think he got. He couldn't focus his eyes in anything." Red entered the room with his eyes closed. Everyone shut up and looked at him. "Good morning," he greeted sounding a little strange. "I apologize for being so late but I have an enormous headache today. If I didn't knew better I'd say I have a hangover." Everyone started laughing except Shera and Elmyra. "What's wrong?" he asked a little confused. "Nothing," Cloud said. "Now could you please tell us what are you so secretive about?" "Ok. I waited for this moment now that we are all together but I didn't want to ruin the party. It will sound a little farfetched to you but I guarantee it is absolutely true. Among my grandfather's belongings I found his journal. In it he mentioned a secret room in the Gi cave. Out of curiosity I went there and found an amazing library. Every book of it is Cetra related. I think my grandfather hid them so that they wouldn't fall on the wrong hands. It was one month ago and I've been checking the books since then. Four days ago I found a book that mentioned a way to revive a Cetra." Elmyra was shaking. "Tha-that means that I can have my Aeris back?" "I think so," Red continued. "It mentions a materia that can restore the lifestream into a Cetra corpse. The materia doesn't revive; it only brings the soul back. But if it is used with revive and restore materia in quick succession, it can bring her back." They were all amazed by this new discovery. "I hate to spoil the mood but it has been one month and her body is in the water. Shouldn't it be deteriorated yet?" At the light of Vincent's statement Elmyra started sobbing. "Don't worry Elmyra. I've looked into that. The body of a Cetra has too much magic and knowledge to deteriorate so quickly. It takes about two and a half months to start deteriorating." Now, Cloud was shaking too. "And how do we find this materia. What does it look like?" "This is no ordinary materia. A regular materia is condensed Mako infused with knowledge. This materia was created by the planet itself." "The planet?!" Tifa asked. "Yes. The Cetra always held the planet's welfare above all. Even those who came into this planet did all they could to help it. And this wasn't even their home planet. So the planet created a materia to help them. This materia is found drifting on the lifestream. It's gray, like a stone, but it should glow different colours depending on who is using it and it should feel like silk. It has some Cetra's writing on it, and more important it can be only used once per century. It causes great pain to the planet. The last record of it being used was almost a thousand years ago." Tifa didn't know how to feel. She didn't know if she should be happy to have her friend back, or sad to see Cloud's enthusiasm. 'I'm going nuts. Of course I must be happy. Aeris is my friend,' she thought. "So we must get her body quickly." Cloud got up suddenly. "Ok! You guys stay here. There is no need for everyone to go." Said Cloud. "Cid will take me, Yuffie and Reeve to the lake and we'll get her body back. Is that ok with you?" "Yes, of course." Both Reeve and Yuffie agreed with a nod. Marlene went to Elmyra who was crying with Shera by her side. "Don't wowy. Now you will have two Aeris." Elmyra smiled and pet Aeris on the head. " Kweh!" "What if some of us left on the tiny bronco to Mideel? If the materia drifts on the lifestream I think that's the most probable place to look." "Ok. Cid, Reeve, Yuffie and I will leave now. Decide who's gonna look for the gray materia. Good luck." Cloud looked at Elmyra who was sitting on a couch sobbing. He kneeled beside her. "Don't worry. If that materia is still out there we'll find it," he whispered. He looked at Elmyra but her eyes held nothing but anger. "You better find it. You took my daughter once and you've got a chance to bring her back. And if you don't, I swear to God, I'll kill you with my bare hands," she whispered back. Cloud looked as she got up, her eyes filled with tears now, and walked to her bedroom. He felt numb. It was true. Aeris died and it was his entire fault. He got up and left without a word. Barrett looked at them. "I'll go to Mideel. Who's comin' with me?" "I will," Tifa replied. Red and Vincent looked at each other "We will too." The Turks switched glares. Rude was the one that spoke. "I know that we've done bad things in the past and we regret them. But we would like to help you in this quest." Barrett frowned. "You can come if you want. But if you do somethin' funny," he patted his gunarm, "I'll turn you into Swiss cheese." "Ok, let's go!"
Chapter 3
"Hey, wake up!" Zack opened his eyes with great effort and looked at the two brown eyes staring at him. At first he couldn't remember where he was but then, memories of the previous night flooded his mind like Leviathan's Tidal Wave. The wind building up, the rain, the thunders. Memories of a friend grabbing a raft in a desperate attempt to survive. Memories of a huge wave covering both of them, the haunted face of a friend the last thing he saw before loosing consciousness. He bolted upright, realizing the mistake he had made when his vision began to blur and the floor started spinning. The nurse held him and made him sat on the bed. "Easy. You're still very weak from the wreckage. We are a little low on resources so we only used a couple of Cure spells on you," she said looking at him with a reprehensive glare. "Where's Gabriel?" He asked looking around. He was on a small tent, with only another bed. These were made rather recklessly and the sheets were made of a scratchy fabric, but hey, for someone who spent almost six years on a prison cell that must be heaven. In the middle of the two beds was a small table with a green orb on top of it. "Who?" The nurse asked. A man walked in, letting the sunlight pour through the opening of the tent. Zack could see some men digging in the ground. He was wearing dirty blue overalls and had several stains on dirt on his head. "Hey, Katy, Paul hurt himself with the pickaxe," the man spoke, not noticing Zack. "Again?!" she replied. "That man should be prohibited to get near a pickaxe. I'm going there. Stay here with him and don't let him get out of here," she said nodding towards Zack. The auburn haired man looked at him in surprise as nurse Katy walked out the tent. "Oh, you're awake," the man said. "There was an old man with me on the raft. His name was Gabriel. Where is he?" "I'm sorry, but there was no one with you when we found you." "Are you sure? When was that?" "Two days ago." Zack got out of the bed, slowly this time. "Where are you going? You heard her. You can't get out of the bed until your fine." "I am fine," he said standing up. "See?" As he stood up a loud grumble came from his stomach. He blushed a little. "Oh, you probably haven't eaten for days," the man said. "Come, I'll take you to the canteen. Oh by the way, the name's Elliot." "Zack," he replied shaking his hand. "Come." As they got out of the tent, they heard a loud explosion. "What was that?" Zack asked, looking around. "Oh, that's nothing. It just a way we use to determine the exact place of the items in the ground. You'll be hearing that a lot if you stay here," Elliot answered. Zack's eyes locked on a huge skull resting in the ground. There were men all around it cleaning it with small brushes. An enormous forest stood, undisturbed, behind them. Elliot saw him gazing at the forest. "The Sleeping Forest. I wouldn't advise you to go there, unless if you have a Lunar Harp. It's the only thing that can awake the forest. Anyone who walks into it without a harp gets trapped," he explained. Elliot led him into the canteen. It was a small space, with long tables across. They got their food and sat down on a table. Elliot was watching Zack eat with amazement. "Good lord! How long has it been since you had a decent meal? You look like you didn't have a decent meal for months," he exclaimed. "Probably more than six years," he said. "What?" "It's a long story. I'll tell you someday." They finished their food (Zack ate three times) and went outside. It was almost eleven and they decided to take a walk outside town. "Oh, I forgot my gun," said Elliot. "What do you need you gun for?" Zack asked. "You can't leave town without a weapon of some sort. You've got to have protection against the monsters and wild beasts," he replied. "Oh." Was all Zack said. "Wait a minute. I'll be right back," said Elliot, running to his tent. When he came back he found Zack looking at the showcase in the weapons tent. He approached him without saying something but somehow Zack knew he was there. "I'd like to buy something but I don't have any money," he said sadly. "Come, let's go outside." They went to the beach without any trouble and sat in a rocky zone, watching the sea. "So what's your story?" Elliot finally asked, after a brief moment of silence. "Well to make it short, I wake up in a beautiful island without any memory of my past. I spend the entire day with a beautiful girl and they arrest me like I murdered someone. I have spent six years locked in a cell with another man, for no reason at all. Someway in the middle he helped me remember my name. Sometimes I have dreams and flashes about my past but the only thing I can really remember is some woman with green eyes and chestnut hair, and a man with long white hair, a huge sword and a tattoo." "That guy who was locked up with you was the one you asked me about earlier?" "Yes, but I know he'll be all right. He's a tough one," he said. They spend sometime talking about them and watching the waves. "Should we go back?" Elliot asked. "Yes." As they walked back to the town, Zack suddenly grabbed Elliot's arm. "What is it?" he asked. "There's something up there," said Zack pointing to some bushes. "I'll go check it." As he approached the bushes a wolf-like creature jumped from them, its yellow fangs aimed directly at Zack's throat. The wolf had gray fur that changed to feathers in the middle of his back. Zack quickly stepped aside and kicked the wolf in his lungs. It fell to the ground gasping for air. In the corner of his eye, Zack saw that another wolf was attacking Elliot. Zack kicked the wolf in his head, cracking its backbone. He ran to Elliot, who was on the ground, holding the wolf's head, inches above his neck. Zack picked up the gun, which was several feet away from Elliot and noticed four more wolfs running towards them. In a swift movement he jumped to the ground, picked up the gun and fired five rounds. Elliot pushed the wolf's body away from him and stood up. He looked in amazement to the five bodies in the ground and then at Zack, who was also looking at the bodies and at the gun in his hands. Every wolf had a bullet hole right between its eyes. "How did you do that?" Elliot asked. "I-I don't know," he replied. Elliot was now looking at Zack's eyes very carefully. "You eyes." he said. "What?" "They're glowing. You're Mako enhanced. You're a SOLDIER," he said dumbfounded "I'm a what?" "You're an elite soldier. You're one of the best. Even if you don't remember you still have it in you. But there are only a few alive. But let's go home now. I'll explain everything in the way.
***
When they reached the lake, Cloud felt his heart accelerating like hell. The shell house was the same and the lake looked like a giant mirror with no disturbance whatsoever. "Ok, Reeve and I will go search for Aeris." Cid frowned when he heard this. "Why can't we go?" Cloud smiled. "Smoking the way you do, I don't think you'd be able to hold your breath longer than two seconds. Besides someone has to guard the Highwind." "That's ok with me. I don't mind staying dry. Hey old man! Call me if you need me. I'm going to take a walk," Yuffie agreed at the same time she entered the shell house. Cid grunted and they jumped into the water. It was beautiful down there. Lots of fishes and multicoloured seaweeds lay there unmoving. Reeve had a feeling that no one had disturbed that place for a long time. The lake wasn't very big or very deep so it wouldn't take much time to find her. "So why haven't we found her yet?" This thought kept worrying him. Finally, after almost one hour going up and down, they gave up. Everyone was reluctant to leave the place but Cloud was the one who was suffering the most. He had lost Aeris one, and didn't want to loose her twice. Finally he agreed. "I don't think we should go back now." Everyone turned to Reeve. He always acted through Cait and didn't like when being the center of attention. "It's a lake so her body couldn't have drifted. Someone must have taken it. I think we should go to Bone Village, just south of here to see if anyone asked for a lunar harp or if they saw an airship or a golden chocobo. "That's a good idea Reeve. Let's go." When they entered the village they saw it hadn't changed much. It had a few stores, some houses and an Inn. They went to talk to the workers. There was one who said he had seen a man in a golden chocobo. "And what was he like?" "What caught most my attention was a big sword he was carrying." They all had the same thought. Sephiroth? It couldn't be! Could it? "D-did he have long white hair?" Cid managed to ask in spite of fearing to hear the answer. "It was long but it was brown." They all felt relief flooding their hearts. "Oh! He also had a tattoo. It was the number 4, and when he came back he had a wet girl with chestnut hair with him. She looked fainted." What was this? Long swords, number tattoos, and worse he had Aeris with him. They asked the man where did the stranger go to but he didn't know. As they went to the airship they couldn't escape the feeling of dread inside.
***
The rebuilding of Mideel was going fine although there was still a large hole in the floor filled with lifestream. "Where do we start looking?" said Tifa looking at the extension of the hole. "I think we should split up." Barrett looked at the Turks and said, "I'll go with Tifa and Elena look in the stores, and Red will go with Vincent, Reno and Rude talk to the locals." They split up and after two long hours roaming through every store Barret's PHS rang. "Who was it?" Barrett took Tifa and Elena by the hands and started running. "They found something!" When they reached them, Red, the Turks and Vincent were talking to an old man. "Well, as you never know what you'll find in the lifestream I usually sit around there with a net. One day I caught a very soft rock with some markings that started glowing brown when I touched it. I thought it was a materia but I couldn't make it work so I sold it to a brunette. I think she was from Costa del Sol." They were very excited until they heard it was sold. "When was it?" "Three weeks ago." "Ok, let's go to Wutai."
***
When Barrett entered the living room they saw Elmyra crying and hugging Reeve. Everyone was with a sad look. Marlene was petting her chocobo sobbing. Cloud was with Yuffie in the corner and Cid was holding hands with Shera on the couch. They told them what happened. "We have to look for Aeris" Elmyra sighed. "I know. But where?" Tifa felt real sad to see Elmyra like that and promised she will find Aeris. "Well the gray materia is in Costa del Sol with a brunette girl." Said Red. "It is my opinion that we should go look for it while we don't have clues about Aeris whereabouts. "Cloud had to admit that was the only thing to do. "Ok. I'll go. Who's coming with me?" "I can't go," said Yuffie looking at the ceiling. "I have to. er. take care of something." Everyone except Yuffie agreed. They decided to rest and go there next day. Cloud didn't want to but fell asleep as soon as his head rested on Tifa's shoulder, who was next to him on the couch. He had used most of his strengths diving in search of Aeris.
***
Elliot had told Zack everything about Shinra and Soldier on their way back. Zack stopped again at the weapons store, looking at the showcase. "Hey, I just remembered something. If you were in SOLDIER you should have lots of money," Elliot said. "But where?" "Why don't you try the bank?" "You have a bank here?" Zack asked. "No. But there's a boat coming from Rocket Town every two hours." He gave Zack some money. "This is for the boat." He glanced at his watch. "The next one is leaving in twenty minutes. Try the Shinra Bank." "Thank you. I'll pay you if I'm rich," he laughed. Elliot went to work and Zack stayed there looking at the Weapons. When the boat arrived, he paid the man and sat near the window. After about forty- five minutes the boat arrived near Rocket Town. He walked there and asked where the bank was. He followed the indication and arrived at a huge building with a sign saying 'Shinra Bank'. As he entered he couldn't help notice the red-carpeted floor, the beautiful paintings on the wall and the shining furniture. He walked to the bank clerk and explained is story (with a few modifications). "Don't worry," the bank clerk said. "At first this bank was only for Shinra workers. But now that Shinra is gone, we had to become a regular bank. But ex-Shinra employers still have some privileges. Please follow me," said the bank clerk, picking up a briefcase. Zack followed her to a small room with nothing but a small table and two chairs. She sat on the table and mentioned Zack to sit in front of her. Has he sat down he opened the briefcase turning it towards him. It was a laptop with some strange things to him. "Please put your right hand here and state your first and last name," she said. Zack put his hand on the panel she indicated. "Zack Gongaga," he stated. There were a lot of weird sounds coming from the laptop until the clerk spoke. "Very well, Mr. Gongaga. You do have an account here, with 4 million gil.
***
"4 million gil?! You're bloody rich man!" Elliot said in amazement. "I know," Zack replied, sitting in Elliot's bed at the inn. He sat up walking towards the door. "Come on. The dinner is on me. Hey, I liked the sound of that!" he grinned. "Hell, I liked the sound of that too," Elliot answered. They went down the stairs to the dining room. There were only two persons in the small room for the food was a bit expensive. So everyone just preferred to eat on the canteen. They sat at a table and motioned to the waiter. "Good evening, sirs. Would you like to see the menu?" he asked. "No, just bring us the most expensive food you've got here. And wine too," Zack grinned. The waiter walked into the kitchen to give their orders. "I see you've done your shopping already," said Elliot pointing at the huge sword strapped at Zack's back. "Yeah, it's a Buster sword. I don't know why but of all the swords at the shop, this one seemed more appropriated." After a while the waiter brought their food and the wine. After every bit of food vanished from their plates, Zack paid the man, leaving a big tip. They talked for a bit outside until the wine started having its effects on Elliot. "Damn, that food was good," he said. "I know," Zack replied. "I'm getting sleeeepy," Elliot stated. "I think I'll go to my room. Thanks for the food. See you tomorrow." " 'Night," Zack said. Elliot left for the inn and Zack sat outside in a bench watching the stars.
Chapter 4
Yuffie silently got up from the bed trying not to awake Elmyra, Tifa, and Marlene who were on the same room of the inn. She quickly got out through the window into the warm night and went to the Chocobo's pen and unleashed Vincent's golden chocobo. She mounted it and took off to Forgotten Capital. She had entered it yesterday and, while seeing the gazebo where Aeris stood when Sephiroth killed him, looked down into the water and noticed a white sphere lying there. Her eyes widened and as she was just about to jump, Cid called her back. She decided to come back later to get the Holy materia, because this was one materia she wouldn't let escape. As she was passing through Bone Village a dark haired man crossed the street. "Look out!" she yelled. The collision was unavoidable. The man fell to the ground and she flew away as well as her pouch. It opened and her materia scattered on the floor. The man stood up and ran to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that," she said. "Hey no prob'. But your materia is all over the floor," he pointed. She looked at the floor, noticing her materia. "Oh shit!" she cussed. She picked them all but one. "Oh no. Where are the Knights of the Round?" The man picked something from the floor and walked to her. "Is this it?" he asked. "Yes thank you. Cloud would have gone nuts if I lost it. Thanks." She mounted the chocobo and left very quickly. She arrived at the shell house, tied the chocobo to a tree and entered it. She couldn't help be amazed each time she entered the Capital for its light glow. She reached the gazebo, looked around and took her clothes and her backpack off. The water was a bit cold but she didn't mind. She would have one more powerful materia to guarantee Wutai future. She swam to the place she had found Holy before and grabbed the materia. As she got out from the water she noticed that Holy was glowing a very pale green. "What the hell?" She entered the gazebo and when she reached a towel from her backpack, a gentle, yet distant voice came from behind her. "Hi Yuffie." She turned around with a scream dropping the towel and saw behind her the fading image of a young woman, with green eyes and chestnut hair, and her usual smile. "Aeris?! But.how.why.it's not possible!" Her heart skipped a beat, her eyes were wide opened and the towel laid on the floor. She quickly caught the towel and covered herself. "You look fine. But I can't be here much longer and I have an important message for you." "What? Why me?" She was looking at her dead friend, on her smallest bikini, and a glowing green globe on her hand. "Why me and not Tifa or Cloud?" "It doesn't matter who the message is delivered to. But it has to be delivered now. Listen carefully. My body has been taken by nº 4. He is a Sephiroth clone made by Hojo and is trying to merge the power of his Jenova cells with my Cetra powers in order to possess Sephiroth's soul. You have to stop him." "Ok, but where is he hiding?" "Follow the flowers that grow in unusual places. They will take you to him. Now I must go back. Goodbye Yuffie." "Wait! Come back!" But all she heard was the echo of her voice. She got dressed very quickly and reached her backpack for her PHS. "Damn. I forgot it. I'll tell them when I get back." She put the towel inside her backpack as well as Holy and started running up the stairs. When she got out of the shell house she looked at the place where the chocobo should be but it was gone. After swearing for almost five minutes she decided to get going on foot since there was nothing else to do. She walked for almost two hours in the forest on a pitch-black night. A dozen of monsters had attacked her, which she easily killed with the Conformer. Only then she heard a roar right behind her. She pivoted to a fighting stance and found the silhouette of a dragon. It took a deep breath but before it could incinerate her with its breath, Yuffie threw the Conformer at its throat and followed with an attack of Ice3. But the dragon, instead of dieing rose up in its lower limbs, took a deep breath and showered her with a jet of ice. Her legs got frozen and she fell to the floor. "Shit! It's a blue dragon!" As it was dark she couldn't see the colour of the dragon, so, instead of killing the dragon she healed his wound by casting a spell of his element. She quickly reached her backpack and produced a red materia. The materia started glowing as she concentrated on its effect. "Hell Fire!" That exact moment, she disappeared. The ground shook and a hole appeared on the floor where Ifrit rose from to aid his master. Then, like the dragon did trying to kill Yuffie, Ifrit took a deep breath and hit the dragon with a flaming shockwave. It fell dead to the ground the same moment Ifrit went back to the underworld and Yuffie appeared in the same place. She cured herself with a restore materia but she knew her legs weren't the same. She was now slowed down by the numbness on her legs, but she knew she had to get going. In spite of all her efforts she had to stop many times to rest, so when she got to Bone Village it was almost noon.
***
Zack picked the red orb from the ground and gave it to the girl. "Is this it?" he asked. "Yes thank you. Cloud would have gone nuts if I lost it. Thanks." She left and Zack stood on the same place. Hidden memories aroused from their sleep. A boy with blond hair spiked like his own, looking at him with a smile. "Cloud." he muttered. He started running the way the girl had gone. He reached for his sword for protection and noticed that all his materia was gone. "Shit. She robbed me," he said. He concentrated on his Time materia on his armlet and cast Haste on himself. The trail left by the chocobo was very easy to follow and soon he arrived at a huge shell with a hole in front of a beautiful lake. The chocobo was tied to a tree and when he approached it, the chocobo warked furiously and ran away. Zack entered the shell and went down the stairs. He recognized the structures immediately, for he had spent six years locked up in one. The ninja thief emerged from a lake a lake and climbed to the gazebo. He ducked for cover and peeked. The materia on her hand was glowing and a faint image materialized behind her. An image he knew very well. The pink dress, the ribbon on her chestnut hair, the smile on her lips. The woman talked to the thief and he listened carefully. 'So Aeris is her name' he thought. When the image disappeared he ran outside the house and waited until the thief was gone. "Follow the flowers that grow in unusual places. They will take you to him." As he thought about the meaning of those words, an image came to his mind. A huge city with two stories, a decrepit church surrounded by garbage, beautiful flowers growing inside of it and a beautiful girl tending them. He knew where he had to go. Midgar.
***
The party was getting ready to leave and Barrett noticed the Turks weren't there. "The Turks are already on Costa del Sol looking for that girl," Reeve explained. "Hey Reeve!" Cid was approaching him. "You told me you were training with a special gun but I haven't seen it yet." Reeve produced a gun from his coat. "It's a Mako gun, similar to the one Palmer used, but it's more powerful. It's got the power of all the enemy skills and sense, " he smiled very proud of his gun. Then both Reeve's and Cloud's PHS rang. They answered the PHS and when they hung up the phone Cloud seemed very worried. "A man from Bone Village says that a young woman just appeared there dragging herself. She gave my name and my number and fainted. It must be Yuffie." "Who's gonna get her?" In spite of being mean to each other all the time, Barrett was still very concerned about Yuffie. "I will. You guys go to Costa del Sol find the brunette." Cloud picked up the Ultima Weapon and left to the Tiny Bronco. "Ok. Let's go guys." Everyone followed Cid and entered the Highwind. "Oh by the way, who was it on the phone, Reeve?" "Oh, yeah. Elena thinks she found the girl." "Great," Cid said lighting up a cigarette, "We'll be there in five minutes."
As Cloud entered Bone Village a men rushed to him. "Are you Mr. Strife?" "Yes, I am. Where is my friend?" "Come with me quickly. She should be waking soon. I think she's having nightmares. She has been talking to a girl, Aeris I think, and saying something about flowers and holy." The man was leading Cloud to an Inn. They entered a room and he found Yuffie laid on a bed, soaked in sweat and saying something about Aeris. Cloud rushed to her side and kneeled on the side of her bed. "Yuffie wake up! It's me, Cloud!" Yuffie opened her eyes and stared at Cloud trying to focus his image. She jumped and hugged Cloud. "Oh, Cloud! I'm so glad you're here. You won't believe what I have to tell you." "Calm down, Yuffie. Breathe. Now, what do you have to tell me?" "Ok. When we were looking for Aeris I went to a walk in the shell house. I went to the gazebo, looked down and I saw the holy materia. You know how I am when materia's the business. But when I was gonna pick it up Cid called me. So I waited for the night, borrowed Vincent's chocobo and went there again. I tied the chocobo outside, entered the shell house and went for the materia. But when I got out of the water it started glowing." "You were praying?!" Cloud couldn't picture Yuffie praying. "No, that's the weird part. I walked to the gazebo to get dressed, and some ghostly form of Aeris appeared behind me." "Aeris? But she is dead!" "It wasn't her. It was some kind of ghost. She warned me that nº4 is trying to merge her Cetra powers and his Jenova powers to bring Sephiroth's soul into his body." At the mention of Sephiroth's name Cloud's hands curled into fists. "He again. Why can't he just rest in pieces and leave us alone? Oh, forget it. But where is nº4?" "She told me: follow the flowers the grow in unusual places. And then she vanished." "Just like that?" "Yes. So I got out of the shell house, but the freakin' chocobo was gone. So I got out on foot and a blue dragon attacked me. It froze my legs and I killed him." Cloud put his hand on her shoulder. "You did good, Yuffie. Now get dressed. We have to leave to Costa del Sol."
*** Zack got off the boat near Kalm and looked at the once greatest city of the planet. He looked at the tall building in the center that was once the headquarters of Shinra Inc. He headed for Kalm to rent a chocobo. As he was passing by a hill he had a feeling of uneasiness. He got off the chocobo and walked to the hill. He could see it better now. A sudden pain that seemed to throb in his head hit him. He fell to his knees and clutched his head. Flashes appeared on his mind. Flash. Zack climbed the stairs leading to Jenova's chamber. Sephiroth stood in front of it searching for a way to open it. He had his sword poised but Sephiroth was never caught by surprise. As soon as Zack was behind him, he unsheathed his Masamune and slashed at him in one swift motion. Zack fell in top of a chamber and Sephiroth turned to his mother's tomb again. Zack watched shocked as his body refused to move. His vision became blurred and the last thing he saw was his best friend, Cloud, picking up his sword and walking towards Sephiroth. Flash. He opened his eyes and stared at the lab\ library. 'Why is everything so green?' he thought. As he looked better he saw he was trapped in a tube filled with Mako. His body began convulsing violently attracting the attention of the scientist in front of him. 'Hojo, you son of bitch'. "Administrate serum #J0012 to the subject," he said to another man in a lab coat. The man picked up a syringe with a purple liquid inside and injected it into a tube. Zack felt the liquid entering his veins and pain spread from his arm to the rest of his body. "Sir. It is not working!" "Administrate another dose," Hojo instructed his assistant. "But it could damage his cells.," the assistant began. "DO IT!" The assistant reluctantly picked another syringe and injected it again causing the intensity of the pain to increase so much that Zack couldn't see a thing. Flash. "Halt!" Several Shinra soldiers advanced but a slash of the Buster Sword caught them immediately. Unfortunately even Zack couldn't stop the other wave and he felt again a jolt of pain as several bullets tore his skin and hit his internal organs. He had failed to protect his friend. Zack got up, clutching his chest and stared at Midgar. "I failed a friend once. I won't fail again." With that he ran towards the sleeping city.
***
Back in Costa del Sol Elena was waiting for them at the entrance. Reeve waved her. Suddenly a boy about 19 years old approached her. " Hey babe! Ya know, you're a very." "No." Elena replied without even looking at him. "What if." "No." "But." "No." She was getting tired of it but the young man gave up. He left and Barrett could see his friends pointing at him and laughing. They walked over to her, trying not to laugh. "I've spoken to the girl and she says she gave it to her boyfriend. Reno and Rude are looking for him. He's supposed to be surfing." Said Elena very quickly to avoid unnecessary comments. "Ok. Let's go to the beach." Vincent seemed like he didn't appreciated the sun very much. "Hey Red, I dunno how you handle this heat. If I had that fur I'd probably turn into roasted meat." Barrett was wiping the sweat of his brow. "Now that's a pleasant thought." Said Elena. "It's ok for me," Red replied. Although the beach was crowded spotting Reno and Rude's dark suits wasn't very hard. They were talking to three or four surfers. When they reached them Reno was very bored. "This guy won't let us have it unless we beat him in a surf contest," said Reno, obviously pissed off. He looked at Tifa with puppy eyes. "Can I kill him?" "We're not gonna kill anyone. But I don't know if anyone here knows how to surf." She looked to her team. Everyone shook their heads. "Great, what will we do next?" she thought to herself. Reeve turned to the Turks. "Hey, none of you guys know how to surf?" Surprisingly he heard Rude's voice. "Actually I can," said Rude looking down. Reno's jaw dropped right off to the floor. "How the hell did you learn how to surf in Midgar?" Reno was still stunned by Rude's statement. "Actually this is my hometown. I surfed on this beach since I was little. I stopped only at 20 to join the Turks." "So, go get changed. We need that item," said Reeve trying to picture Reeve surfing. "This is gonna cost you," said Rude at the same time he took of his jacket and handed it to Elena. She too had her jaw open and couldn't say a word. Rude walked away to get changed. When he came back everyone burst out laughing. He was wearing blue trunks with chocobo pictures in one side and moogles on the other. One of the guys gave him a surfboard and he and another guy with bleached hair went into the water. If they had their chins opened before, they all had to picked them from the floor now. As soon as Rude got on the surfboard they could see he was on his element. He was definitely better than his challenger. After about ten minutes Cloud and Yuffie appeared behind them. Seeing them all with their mouths open, Cloud momentarily forgot his rush. "What are you. looking. at?" His eyes focused on Rude and his challenger who were getting out of the water. Rude gave his surfboard to its owner. "I believe we deserve that," said Rude pointing to the gray materia. "Here it is. Hey dude, you're awesome! You gotta teach me that stuff." Rude grunted and grabbed the gray materia that shone deep blue when he touched it. "Hey Cloud! Aren't you gonna tell them?" said Yuffie behind Cloud. "Oh yeah, right." Cloud told them everything Yuffie said on Bone Village. They were stunned by these revelations, but decided to go back to Yuffie's house in Wutai, which had become their headquarters by now.
Chapter 5
The old church stood helplessly among the dirt and trash that came down on Midgar's close encounter with Meteor. The door was hidden beneath the trash so Zack was climbing it to see if he could find an entrance. He didn't remember how he had gotten there. He had just let his feet take him. As soon as he stepped inside Midgar his feet seemed to have a life of their own. When he got through the roof he saw a hole in it. He passed through it and climbed down to the backroom. He walked to the altar and saw the girl he had dreamed about lay there. He stroked her face and picked her up. "Put her down," he heard a cold voice behind him, the same voice that hunted his dreams. He put Aeris down and turned around and saw a man with a tattoo, brown hair and a long sword. "You're different," he said. "Oh, I see you knew my predecessor, but don't worry. You'll meet him soon enough." Zack unsheathed his sword. "I'm here to take Aeris and if I have to take her by force, I will," he stated. "Oh you want to play? If that's your will." In one swift motion, the clone unsheathed his sword and invested at him. Zack barely had time to dodge. He concentrated on his defense, attacking only when he had the chance. Nº 4 was on the offensive, without paying any attention to the cuts he had suffered. He tried to stab Zack but he dodge to the side. But he forgot about the benches and was thrown off balance. As he saw no chance of breaking the fall and his adversary was momentarily vulnerable to an attack, he pulled off a dagger from his ankle and stabbed the clone in the gut. However, as he fell to the floor, if he expected to hear a groan from nº4 he was wrong. He bolted to his feet and turned around to see the clone laughing. "Did you really thought you could hurt me? Poor creature. You have no idea of how great my power is. And you know what? Thanks to that little Cetra- whore of yours I'll be even more powerful. Powerful enough to bring back the soul of my master and his body! But enough games. Now, behold as the destruction of the infidels begins!" He pulled of a green orb and used a Stop spell on Zack. He picked him up and sat him on a bench, turned to the altar. He put two silver bowls in front of the altar and filled them with clean water. Then he put another bowl, this time made of pure gold an put it next to the others. He took a green dagger from his pocket. The handle had the shape of a dragon and the blade came from its mouth. "Oh Ifrit, God of war and all that it hateful. Grant me the power and knowledge of destruction so that every foe may fall to my feet." He cut his hand with the dagger and let some drops of blood fall to a silver bowl watching the water become dark as night. "Mighty Shiva, Goddess of love and peace. Grant me the light of healing and cure so that no fiend can ever defeat this servant of yours." He cut Aeris' hand and let a drop of blood fall to the other bowl. The water became golden. He then kneeled. "Bahamut, God of all Gods. I kneel before you. Grant me the spirit and the strength to contain my power, so that I can become one, with the Planet." He took the two bowls and emptied them into the golden bowl. The concoction turned green and emitted a fierce yet warm light. The clone picked up the bowl and drank the liquid. He screamed in horror and dropped to bowl. It shattered into a million pieces and the liquid evaporated as soon as it touched the ground. The clone fell to the ground and there was an explosion of light. Zack sat there, helpless, victim of the oldest trick in the book, the Stop spell. As his vision cleared he saw number four standing up, looking at him, but a different fire burned in his eyes. "Hi, Zack."
***
When they got there they told Elmyra and Shera what happened. When Elmyra heard about Aeris appearance, she started crying and Barrett comforted her. They were all thinking about Aeris message and what type of flowers grew on unusual places, but they weren't going anywhere. So, it was about dusk and they have gotten nowhere. Marlene was playing with Aeris, her pet chocobo. But when Marlene turned to talk to Elmyra, Aeris ran through the door (it was a hot day so the door was open). When Aeris came back, she had a flower on her beak. "Look Elmyra. Aeris brought a flower to you." Elmyra was about to thank her but Tifa's scream interrupted her. "That's it," she said pointing at the chocobo. "Aeris flowers. The flowers on Aeris church. It's impossible for flowers to grow in the slums but those flowers did." "Tifa's right!" said Red jumping from his place. "The absence on sunlight makes the slums a sterile environment." "So let's go to Midgar!" said Cloud. And so they started to get their gear together. Reeve was touching in a panel in Cait's back. "What are you doing Reeve?" Yuffie asked at the same time she stuffed her backpack with materia. "I'm installing a program that can give AI to Cait." He finished, close the panel and Cait's eyes opened. "Hello Yuffie," he said in his usual voice. "Hello Cait." "It's not perfect yet. I still need Cid's help." Cait got up and went to say hello to every member of the Avalanche. Barrett was equipping a ribbon that Marlene gave him on his gun-arm. "Hello, Barrett." Said Cait. Barrett turned to Reeve just about to ask him if this was the time to be playing with Cait, but Reeve was putting his Mako gun in his pants. "He-hello Cait," he said very shocked. They finished packing and said goodbye to Godo, Elmyra and Shera. They boarded the Highwind and everyone took their place. The Turks split up. Rude was talking to Red, Elena was talking to Reeve, who was next to Cait and Reno was meddling with Yuffie. They landed near the entrance to sector five, which wasn't much damaged. Cloud was up front, the Ultima Sword in his hands, and Red was on his side. Next to him were Barret and Rude. Rude had his gun drew and Barrett was holding his gun arm with his good arm. Yuffie followed them with her Conformer and Cid was holding his Venus Gospel like a javelin. "Hey watch that thing. You almost impaled me twice." Reno had his nightstick out and was right behind Cid. "Shush," said Tifa. She was next to Reno and had her fists up. Reeve and Cait were behind them with a Mako gun and a megaphone. Vincent and Elena were closing the line, each with their weapons ready. They were walking for about five minutes and the only thing they saw was destruction. As they were approaching Aeris church, a dozen wolf-like creatures suddenly attacked them from the flanks. Barrett, Rude, Vincent and Elena opened with fire immediately. Cloud jumped and started slashing viciously at every creature that walked past him. Tifa dodged an attack from a creature and kicked it in the head. Yuffie held her Conformer in front of her head and concentrated on a yellow materia inserted on her weapon. She felt the power of the materia and when it was ready she threw her weapon that hit every opponent. Reeve used his weapon to sense their weakness and then attacked with Flame Thrower. Red lunged at one's throat and the last creature was killed by Cait who struck it in the head. Cloud looked at his party but the only damage the creatures had caused them was some scratches and bruises. They kept going but when they reached Aeris' church they found the entrance blocked by rubble that had fell from the upper plate. "Well, looks like the entrance I made previously will prove itself useful this time." Said Cloud remembering the day he fell through the roof of this church. Everyone looked at him blankly. "Follow me," he said and started climbing the debris. Everyone climbed it easily except for Cait who had to jump all the way through. When they reached the hole in the roof they stepped through it and made their way down to the back room of the church. "Ok, everyone. This is it. We'll beat the crap out of the clone and then we'll revive Aeris." Everyone nodded at Cloud's command. They entered the main room. Aeris was laying on her back on the flower bed. Her hands rested on her chest that showed no movement. Seeing her like that made his anger grow. Suddenly a man he hadn't noticed before got up from a bench. "Finally! I must say I expected more from the man who killed me." The resemblance was amazing. He looked exactly like Sephiroth. His cold eyes, his evil voice. The only difference was that his hair was brown. His sword wasn't that long too. Cloud's grip over his sword tightened. Then he noticed something bright on the other side of the altar. It seemed like a cage of lifestream. And inside it was. "Zack?" Cloud asked incredulous. "Yes, you're right," Sephiroth said. "Our little friend wasn't dead. Looks like the Reunion finally happened. He came here to take the Cetra with him and just as before, he failed. But you're also too late. The powers of the last, remaining Cetra flows through my veins now. And with the powers from both guardian species I can twist reality and control the lifestream. And now I shall show you my endless power." He pointed his hands to the tiny space between the two rows of benches and it suddenly got larger like a soccer field. He raised his hands. "JENOVA MULTIPLY," he screamed while blue beams shot from his hands into the sky and then turned around and hit the ground in three different places. From the impact points, three creatures emerged. They recognized them as some creatures they have seen on their journey but they were different, mutated. One was a taller and thinner version of Tonberry, the other looked like a hybrid between Materia Keeper and a dragon. The last one seemed like the woman who was guarding Alexander but she was brown with tentacles protruding from everywhere. "Split up!" Cloud ordered. "Leave him to me!" and he ran to nº4. "We'll take the brown hag!" said Elena running towards the brown woman. Reno and Rude followed. Cid, Red and Yuffie ran to the dragon\ Materia Keeper and Cait, Reeve and Vincent turned to the Tonberry.
The Turks lined up in their usual formation. Rude opened fire right away but she seemed to have Wall so he wasn't doing much damage. Reno was attacking with his nightstick using Grand Spark and Pyramid and Elena had already cast Wall and Regen and was attacking when she could. But the woman was no easy target. It dodged most of their attacks and was shooting acid from her tentacles and using Pandora's Box. It hit them and then all tentacles pointed to Reno and starting shooting acid like a machine gun. Elena used Cure 3 on them but the woman wasn't going to rest. She used Trine on them. "Bitch!" Elena produced a red materia, concentrated and yelled: "JUDGEMENT BOLT!" As they disappeared, the ground shook and rose up on a tower. At the end an old men with long beard lifted a rod and several lightning bolts hit the woman. Ramuh disappeared and on his place appeared the Turks. The woman wasn't dead and didn't seem to have suffered great damage. But before having time to react she was hit by a blast of Fire 3 and Ice 3. The woman screamed in agony and then opened her mouth. She seemed like she was going to throw up. Then she spit three little creatures that looked like goblins. These creatures ran in inhuman speed using Flame Thrower around them. When the attack was over the goblins jumped and grabbed them. Their heads started to glow and then exploded. Reno was the only one who was standing. He used Phoenix Down and Hi-Potions on them. Elena stood up and picked a grenade. "Eat this, freak!" she threw the grenade and it exploded. But the woman was still standing. She spoke for the first time in a cold guttural voice. "So you don't like my appearance. That can be changed." And she took a deep breath and released a scream so sharp that Elena thought her head was about to explode. But it wasn't because of the scream. The woman seemed to be wandering through her memories in search for something. She kneeled on the floor and managed to open her eyes a bit and noticed that the woman was shining silver. Slowly her shape began to change and the pain ceased. When the transformation was over it wasn't a brown, ugly woman that stood right in front of her. It was Tseng. He still had the tentacles and seemed to be in great pain. He spoke in his usual voice but seemed to be pleading. "Elena, please help me." He reached a hand for her. "I love you so much. Please help me Elena." Tseng? Could it be that her long lost love was back from the dead and was proclaiming his love for her? She slowly walked toward him ignoring her pain caused by the burns and the explosion, completely ignoring Reno and Rude's warnings. She was only looking at his eyes that showed nothing but pain When she was about two feet away from him, his tentacles suddenly lunged toward her wrapping her and bringing her to him. "Ha! Try to hit me now!" he spoke with his cold voice again. He was holding her right in front of him leaving no chance to strike. Elena was feeling the grip of tentacles tightening around her hands and neck. Reno and Rude looked at each other, nodded and each grabbed one materia. Rude's was green and Reno's was red. Rude concentrated on its effect and Elena got suddenly enveloped in smoke. She felt the grip of the tentacles loosen and she fell to the ground. She knew that Rude had used Mini on her and ran quickly to him, avoiding the mutilated bodies scattered across the ground. Reno's materia got brighter and he summoned Alexander. When the attack was over Tseng still lived, but it wasn't for much. Rude used Esuna on Elena and she got taller again. "How can you mess with peoples feelings like that?" Elena's face was Red with anger. She knew what was going to happen and so did her opponent. She was going to use her ultimate limit. "TURK EMOTIONS!" she yelled as light flashed around her. Suddenly all sounds from the other battles faded and the only thing the Turks could hear was the beating of Elena's heart. Elena's eyes turned pink and a tiara with a single diamond on the center appeared on her head. Her gun turned into a scepter incrusted with various gems. Butterfly wings grew on her back and she flew into the air. Suddenly she came into a halt. She pointed her scepter to her opponent and it transformed into a giant bazooka. She put it on her shoulder and shot ten times before coming to the ground. When she became normal again and the smoke cleared, nothing but mutilated limbs remained there. "Split up! Let's help the others."
Reeve knew what type of attacks Tonberry used so he immediately cast Big Guard and Death Force on them all. Unfortunately he couldn't sense it so he used Magic Breath and Aqualung. Cait was beating him with his megaphone but didn't seem to be doing much damage. Vincent was shooting with his Death Penalty, but Tonberry deflected most shots with his knife. So Vincent turned into the Chaos beast and started attacking much more effectively. But Tonberry knew some new moves. He made a circle with his flashlight and a circle of light was drawn in the air. He pointed to Reeve and the circle flew to him and grabbed him in the waist. His left hand got stuck and so he couldn't use any items. Cait rushed to his master but he couldn't release him. "No! Attack him!" said Reeve, obviously in great pain. Cait turned to Tonberry and started attacking. Vincent was attacking with Chaos Sabre, but Tonberry threw his knife into the air. He cast a beam of light to it and dozens of knifes fell upon them. Reeve was badly hurt but used Angel Whisper on them. Feeling reinvigorate he used Laser on Tonberry but it wasn't enough. Cait used Slot and Reeve threw his gun to the floor (he couldn't use his left hand) and produced a materia. He concentrated and then, "DESINTEGRATION!" Tonberry was hit by Typoon and seemed like he was going to die. But he reached his pocket and used an X-Potion. The Chaos beast had already turned into Vincent who was using Titan and Shiva. Tonberry concentrated and touched his flashlight with his knife. The knife began shining and shot a beam of light that hit Vincent in the chest and Cait in the head. Cait fell to the ground lifeless. He used his Circle of light again and Vincent got his legs stuck. Reeve knew he only had one chance. He forced his left arm to move and grabbed a red materia and with the right hand grabbed another one. He concentrated and used his limit. "POWER FUSION!" The materia began to shine and fused with Reeve. He roared and began growing. The ring of light vanished and Reeve turned into a knight mounted in a three-headed dog. He ran to Tonberry and slashed him with his sword fifteen times while the dogs expelled smoke from their mouths. When Reeve became normal again a mixture between Hades and Odin had hit Tonberry causing Stop, Poison, Sadness and Frog. He was still alive but barely. He only ceased to exist when Vincent cast Comet 2, followed by several gunshots from Elena's gun. Elena grinned and used Elixirs on them. They split up to help the others.
Their enemy may be big, but that also made him slower. Cid and Red ran to the dragon while Yuffie stayed behind healing them and attacking when possible. She immediately cast Big Guard on them and Freeze on the dragon. Red was attacking him but his spider claws were giving him a hard time. As they weren't going anywhere Cid and Yuffie tried a different approach. "DIAMOND DUST!" Cid called. "TIDAL WAVE!" Yuffie shouted. The dragon\ Materia Keeper caught himself suddenly enveloped in an explosion of water and ice as Shiva and Leviathan unleashed their elemental powers against their foe. The dragon roared and discharged a jet of flames directed to Cid who managed to avoid a direct hit being burned only on a leg. "Shit! Take this you bitch!" "HIGHWIND!" The airship responded to his master command and attacked his opponent doing a hole in the roof of the church. The dragon lost two claws but managed to stay up. He pointed one claw to Yuffie and fired spider webs keeping her constrained and unable to use her Conformer or materia. It then fired flames against her at the same time poison flowed throw the webs poisoning her. Cid cut the webs with the Venus Gospel, concentrated on a yellow materia and used White Wind on her. The dragon closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating. He was completely ignoring the fact that Red's fangs were ripping his flesh, or that Cid's spear was impaling his enormous body and even having a Conformer trying to rip off his legs didn't seem to bother him. Then his body seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. They only realized it until it was too late. "He's gonna blow!" they all screamed. The dragon exploded and green mucus showered them burning at the simplest touch. Yuffie got up, her flesh burned, gave the spider legs a sour look and used Cure 3 on them. "Yuffie, look out!" Warned by Cid's scream she turned and saw that the spider legs still lived and were running towards her. She was paralyzed from shock. She realized it was too late and that she could do nothing about it. She closed her eyes waiting to feel a claw impaling her but instead she felt someone colliding into her left side. She fell to the ground, opened her eyes and saw Reno on top of her grinning. He bent down and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes widened in shock and she brought her knee up. She got up while Reno squirmed in the floor. "I'll deal with you later," she said. She picked her Conformer from the floor, kicked Reno and saw the spider running to her again. But this time she was ready for it. "BLOODFEST!" she yelled while running to her enemy and slashing viciously at it. The spider fell to the ground, a few legs missing.
Cloud ran to Sephiroth, Barrett and Tifa not far behind, but before he could reach him spikes came out of the floor encircling them. "Ha, ha, ha! You are nothing against my power. But let's play a little," he said grinning evilly. He raised one hand and green mist surrounded them. They felt strange, aerial. "Hey, what the hell just ha." Tifa began talking but stopped when she heard her voice. It was strange. It sounded just like Barrett's. She looked to her left and saw Cloud looking to his hands. He seemed short. She brought her right arm to her head and fell to the ground like something had hit her head. "Ouch!" She looked at herself. Big feet, strong legs, huge muscles instead of her breasts, a gun-arm attached to her strong right arm. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" she screamed realizing that was not her body. "What's this shit?" She looked at her right and saw Cloud running towards her. "Who're you and what are you doin' with my body?" yelled Cloud. "This isn't your body! This is Barrett's," she replied. "Are you Tifa?" Cloud frowned. "Yes I am. So you must be Barrett." she said as they both turned around to see a Tifa very absorbed into looking at her breasts. "CLOUD!! Stop looking at my breasts," she said in a hoarse voice. Cloud jumped and turned to them. He looked at them with an eyebrow up. "Tifa is that you?!" He grinned at the sight of Barrett with his hands on his hips. "Yes. Don't do that anymore!" They hadn't been paying attention to what was happening around them and didn't noticed Sephiroth bringing down the spike wall that was surrounding them. "Well, I'm sure you'll all have time to get to know each other in the afterlife," grinned Sephiroth whilst unsheathing his sword. They all turned to him. Cloud had had martial arts lessons while in Soldier training, but he wasn't nearly as good as Tifa. So he ran to Barrett and snatched his sword from his hands. He found the sword a bit heavy but started slashing at Sephiroth. Barrett, as he didn't have any weapons started attacking with materia. He cast Wall on them as well as Regen. He produced a red materia and focused. "ULTIMATE END," he shouted. Then the Knights of the Round appeared and slashed the clone, each one with a different element. Sephiroth was visibly weaker but he was grinning. He cast Super Nova and Shadow Flare on them and Cure 3 on himself. "Did you think those pathetic attacks can harm me?" said Sephiroth with a smirk. Tifa looked at her gun-arm helplessly. "How the hell do I use this thing?" she asked. "Try to find the mechanism!" said Barrett whist casting Fire3, Bolt3 and Ice3 on quick succession. She fumbled in the gun-arm and jumped when it started firing and almost hitting Cloud. This permitted the clone to break through Cloud's defense and cut his arm. Cloud felt his anger building up inside him. He knew he couldn't use his limit in Tifa's body so he tried something different. He used the increase of his strength and instead of using combos like Tifa did he delivered a very powerful blow with his sword. He hit Sephiroth in the chest and send his sword flying to his side. "Ha, ha. Very funny!" He grinned. He reached a hand to his sword and it came flying to him. He concentrated on his sword that was glowing light blue. Tifa had been continuously firing at him but he had been protected by Wall, so only a few bullets could break the barrier. But now the glow of his sword seemed to protect him completely, not only from Cloud's slashes and Tifa's bullets, but also from Barrett's Tornado and Flare. He grinned at Barrett and sliced the air sending a beam of light that send Barrett flying through the air, landing near Zack's cage. He couldn't get up but Cid gave him an Elixir. "Come on Cloud!" Cid said, giving him a hand. "I'm not Cloud, I'm Barrett." Barrett replied, taking Cid's help. Cid looked at him blankly. "I'll explain later. Come on!" He shouted while running to his friends. 'I think that blow caused more damage than what I thought,' Cid said to himself whilst following his friend. Neither one noticed the small gray orb rolling from Barrett's pocket. When they got near Sephiroth, his friends had come to their aid. Red was already trying to tear Sephiroth apart, Yuffie was casting Leviathan, Rude was attacking with his gun and Elena, Vincent and Reeve were running to their side as well. They were all surprised when they saw Tifa using Ultima Weapon, Barrett missing most of the shots he fired and Cloud using only materia. Reeve attacked with Shadow Flare, Vincent turned into Chaos Beast, and Elena was using Quake3 and Bio3. Sephiroth\Nº4 looked at them and produced a red materia. They were all hit by Hades' powerful attack and everybody was down with Bio, Toad, Slow, Silence, Confusion, Darkness and Paralyze, all mixed up. Only Tifa stood up realizing that Barrett's ribbon had protected her. She tried to use a Megalixir on them but Sephiroth was faster and cast Shadow Flare and Supernova. Tifa felt her strengths abandoning her, her vision blurring and prayed for a miracle. Then she felt a refreshing breeze flowing through her. 'If this is death than it isn't so bad after all,' she thought to herself. Then she noticed that her vision was focusing and saw her friends getting up in apparently good condition. The only one who didn't seem good at all was Sephiroth, who was looking at something behind her. She got up, turned around and nearly fell to the ground when she noticed who was behind her. Aeris stood behind them grinning, with Princess Guard on her hands and next to her stood Zack. Sephiroth seemed stunned by Zack's escape and Aeris' revival. "Hi Sephiroth! How are you? Have you burn any town today?" said Aeris looking at the clone, who was grinning. "The day's not over yet," he replied. "How nice to see you alive. You'll be one more to return to the planet." He had his sword poised and was about to use his Sword Beam again but was interrupted by Aeris. "Not so fast," she grinned. She concentrated and used Fury Brand and everyone felt their Limit building up inside. Sephiroth's eyes widened as Chaos Sabre, Cosmo Memory, All Creation, Turk Emotions, Power Fusion and Highwind suddenly hit him. When the attack wave was finished Sephiroth\Nº4 was on his knees, blood dripped from his brow and chest. He got up, his face twisted with anger. "Enough playing. Now I shall get my body back and then I'll be unstoppable." He closed his eyes and the air in front of him seemed to be twisting until a black hole appeared. He jumped into the hole and disappeared the darkness. Cloud didn't even think about the consequences. He only knew that he had to be stopped and that he had to have his body back. So he ran and jumped to the hole as well. Tifa saw him and ran to the hole jumping as well. Barrett looked at her and ran as fast as he could. "Come back with my booodddyyy!!!!!" he said disappearing into the darkness. Their friends looked at each other very nervous. Zack turned to them as he ran to the black hole. "Follow them!" he screamed. Aeris was next, followed by everyone. "Geronimo!!" yelled Reno, closing his eyes. Then there was darkness.
Chapter 6
Cloud opened his eyes and saw with very discomfort that he was still on Tifa's body. He looked around and recognized the place he was as Nibelheim. He was laid on his back near the well where he had made the promise to Tifa. The town was different but it was still recognizable. The old truck and the well still remained there, but the houses seemed a little improved. The most noticeable change was the Shinra Mansion that seemed to be replaced by a hospital. It was around noon and the sky was exactly like he remembered. Next to him was a tall, black man with a gun-arm. "Tifa, is that you?" he whispered poking the man in the shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked at the sky. "Yes. Oh I still don't have my body back," she whined. "Hey, where are we?" "Don't you see? It's Nibelheim," he replied. "This is soooo creepy," Tifa said. "What?" "Looking at you. or me. I don't even know how to express myself." She stopped, looking at something behind Cloud. "Hey, look. Isn't that." she was pointing to a little boy with blonde spiky hair that had just left what was supposed to be Cloud's old house. "That's me." Cloud whispered as they hide behind the old truck at the entrance of the town. "I'm going there," he said, not taking his eyes from the boy, who seemed to be waiting someone. "I'll go too." They approached the young boy, who seemed not to be older than ten or eleven. He didn't saw them coming and jumped as he felt someone touching his shoulder. "Excuse me, but is your name Cloud?" Cloud asked. The boy looked at the young woman and the enormous man behind her. "Of course I am. Don't you recognize me mom?" the little boy asked suspiciously. Cloud stood there speechless and Tifa seemed to be gasping for air. "Are you ok, uncle Barrett? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Midgar with Marlene?" the boy asked raising an eyebrow. "Yes, uh, I only came her because, uh, I, uh, missed you." Cloud lied. "Mom, you only left yesterday. And what's with the outfit uncle Barrett? Did you leave the orphanage?" Tifa choked but was interrupted by a young girl, also blonde but with a remarkable resemblance to Tifa. She ran to Cloud and jumped to his neck kissing his cheek. "Hi mom!" she said. Cloud and Tifa were amazed. This couldn't be happening. This had to be some kind of strange dream. An old woman who was approaching them interrupted their thoughts. "Cloud, Aeris. What are you doing here? I told you to go direct to your friend's house." As she got closer Cloud felt tears running down his cheeks. He ran to the woman and gave her a bear hug. "Mom, you're alive!" he cried hugging the perplexed old lady. "Of course I'm alive, dear. And what made you call me mom?" "That doesn't matter now." He said without releasing the old woman and wiping his tears. "Mrs. Strife, do you mind telling us where the other members of Avalanche are?" Tifa asked, hoping the woman knew what Avalanche was. "Of course. Let me see; Aeris is in Midgar with her husband, Cid's in space, and Cloud is currently on a mission, God knows where. Why do you ask? Are you ok? You seem worried about something." she asked a bit worried about her daughter-in-law. "Yes he is." Said Cloud, hoping Barrett wasn't doing anything stupid with his body. "Let's get inside. Kids, go to your friend's house now." As they got inside, she turned to them with a frown. "Ok. I may be old but I'm not stupid. Now tell me what's going on." She demanded with her hands on her hips. "This is a long story but here it goes."
***
Barrett opened his eyes and saw four Soldiers looking at him. He was laid on bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. It had only one window on the side of his bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. "Captain, are you alright?" asked one Soldier. "Oh, shit!" said Barrett looking at his two good, white hands. A doctor entered the room with papers on his hand. "Where the hell am I?" he asked. "You're in Corel hospital, Capt. Strife." The doctor answered. "Corel?!" He got up, looked at the window and saw an incredible city that looked more like Midgar or Junon than with Corel. He saw restaurants, hotels, bars, theaters, a gym and a church. He couldn't believe in his eyes. What had happened? His hometown, once completely destroyed, was more developed than he could ever imagine. "This can't be." he said, gazing through the window. "But it is. And all thanks to Father Barrett and President Sephiroth," the doctor replied. "WHAT?! Father Barrett? President Sephiroth? Isn't that bastard supposed to be dead?" He was completely lost. "I'm sorry sir, I thought you two were friends. After all he was your best man at your wedding." "My best man? My wedding? And what about father Barrett?" "Oh yes. Father Barrett has been a great help for our city. Since president Shinra was deposed ten years ago and president Sephiroth took charge Father Barrett has been negotiating the rebuilding of Corel. If it wasn't his love for the children he could even become Mayor." The doctor was looking at Barrett a little confused. "Are you ok, sir? I mean physically you're fine, you seem ten years younger but." "Is father Barret at. priest?" He was having trouble swallowing this story. "Oh no. Everybody calls him father Barrett since he opened his orphanage." "Where is he?" he asked. "He is in the orphanage here in Corel," the doctor answered. "Take me there." "Yes, sir!" The four Soldiers answered.
***
Aeris opened her eyes a bit and saw two green eyes looking at her. "Are you Aeris?" a sweet, feminine voice asked. She opened her eyes and saw one face she knew very well. Green eyes, big smile and chestnut hair. Her face. "Ahhhh!" she yelled as she got up looking at a not much older version of herself. "But you're me!" "No shit," the other woman replied, rather sarcastically. She was dressed in blue jeans and a rather small white top and had her hair tied up. She had a silver necklace with a small white orb on it. It was Holy. Aeris looked around and saw she was in a very beautiful wood church. It looked like her church. This one had small, white flowers on the walls and the benches, an old organ and only had a couple of statues. Only then she noticed a flower bed in front of the altar. It was her church. "Your name is Aeris isn't it?" the other woman asked. "Yes I am. And you are." Aeris was feeling a bit confused. "My name is Aeris Gainsborough. I am the daughter of Ifalna and Prof. Gast, being adopted by Elmyra when I became an orphan. I am a member of the original Avalanche. Sounds familiar?" Aeris head was spinning. That woman had just described her. "Yes. But that's me. How can there be two Aeris?" "Let me explain. The planet told me that a group of people traveled here from another dimension. That dimension had a delay of ten years in relation to this one. It also told me that among those peoples there was a Cetra named Aeris. Each of these people would be transported to a very important place. So I came her to see you." "But how can that be? This church is supposed to be destroyed. In fact, this whole city is supposed to be destroyed," Aeris said looking at what she would be like, ten years from now. "But why would it be destroyed?" said her older self, looking at her blankly. "It was destroyed by Sephiroth. He summoned Meteor to destroy all life and become one with the planet," Aeris replied. "Shut up! You don't know anything about Sephiroth. My Seph would never do that! He's a sweet, loving man that cares about this planet as much as I do," the old Aeris seemed to be offended by those words. "I'm sorry, I must have wax on my ears. I thought you said your Sephiroth," said Aeris, her eyes widened. "I did. Sephiroth is my husband," she said with a smile. "We have a five year old son named Alexander." "What?!" Aeris screamed trying to control herself. "Do you know what that. that thing did to me? Do you? He killed me! There I was, praying quietly to Holy, trying to save the planet from total annihilation and he jumps behind me and pierces me with that wicked looking sword of his. I'm only here because Zack brought me to life. And you marry him?!" "Hey, just because your Sephiroth is evil that doesn't mean my has to be evil too. He was a great help when we overthrew pres. Shinra and founded Avalanche Corp." "I'm sorry. I overreacted. But didn't he freak out when he found out he had Jenova's cells inside him?" "No. He was very depressed and I helped him through that." Aeris then remembered why she was here, on another dimension, having this discussion. "Oh my god! I must find the others quickly." She explained her older version the reasons of their travel. The woman got hysterical. Sephiroth, her husband, was on a business trip to Costa del Sol. She tried to contact him but his PHS was turned off. "Call Cid. Tell him to pick us up on the Highwind!" said Aeris, trying to reassure the older woman. "Cid's in outer space!" "What about Shera? Can she pick us up?" Aeris asked. The older Aeris called Shera and asked her to come pick them up. "Shera said that your Cid's already there. They'll be here in about ten minutes," the woman sobbed.
***
Mrs. Strife looked at her daughter-in-law with a look of disbelief. "Tifa, honey, are you on drugs?" she said with a frown. "No, and for the last time I am not Tifa. I am Cloud. Look mum, if you don't believe me, call Tifa." Mrs. Strife reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Hello, Seventh heaven?" she asked. "Yes, who is it?" Mrs. Strife's eyes widened in shock and her jaw opened. "Tifa, is that you?" she asked while Cloud said 'I told you so'. "Oh, it's you Mrs. Strife. How are you? Are the kids ok?" said the voice from the other side of the line. "Yes, everything's ok. But I think you should come here as fast as you could," the old lady explained. "But why?" Tifa asked a bit confused. "Just come as fast as you can," she said, hanging off the phone. Cloud and Tifa hadn't noticed they were holding each other hands, splitting up quickly when they noticed realizing it was very strange. Cloud felt like he was holding hands with Barrett and Tifa felt like she was holding hands with herself. A bang on the door cut off their thoughts. Cloud opened and saw Zack leaning against the doorpost. "Hi there Cloud. Can I come in?" he asked with a grin. "Sure," he said. The fact that his best friend was still alive was disturbing here. Zack came in and Cloud's mother asked him to sit down. She was tempted to ask who he was, but she felt like she had already listened to enough stories so she excused herself and went to her bedroom. Cloud was staring at Zack. "I'm sorry, not that I'm complaining, but aren't you supposedly dead?" he asked. Zack rolled his eyes at his friend's stupid question. "Duh! Usually when a person is standing up, talking to you, usually that person is alive," he said sarcastically. Cloud narrowed his eyes. 'My supposedly dead friend comes back from the dead and the first words that come out of his mouth are sarcastic replies. I should have known. If it wasn't some smart-ass replies it was some pick- up line to the first female he saw,' he thought to himself. "So, care to explain your miracle resuscitation?" Tifa asked, cutting off his thoughts. "I think we should wait for Aeris. What I have to say is for her interest as well," he replied. "So Cloud, what do you think about women now that you have a first person view in the subject?" he grinned at his friends. "I can't believe you! All these years I thought you were dead and now you appear in perfect health and don't even care about giving an explanation," Cloud snapped at his friend, angry at his attitude. "Sorry mom!" he grinned, unable to stop his sarcastic reflexes. "But I said I'll explain everything when Aeris comes."
***
"Well, this is the orphanage, sir," one soldier replied, as he opened the door of the limousine for Barrett. Barrett got out of the car and looked at the enormous building before him. He entered through the gates, avoiding the children as they ran from side to side. A girl, about seventeen, approached him. Her short hair was black, with blue nuances. She wore a sleeveless black top that showed the piercing on her navel and a scorpion tattoo on her shoulder, a leather skirt way above her knees and black high-heeled boots. She also had several earrings and wore too much make-up. "Hi Uncle Cloud ! How ya doin'?," she asked. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" he thought her face was familiar but he couldn't quite remember. "It's me, your favorite niece, Marlene. Don'tcha remember me?" she asked. "Uh, uncle Cloud? Are you breathing? You're getting white. DAD!" she yelled. A familiar figure came running down the stairs from inside the house. His clothes were different and he didn't have his gun-arm anymore. It was replaced by an arm. It was strange though, Barrett thought, seeing him from this point of view. As soon as the man saw who it was he smiled and gave him his characteristic bear hug. "Cloud, you bastard, how ya' doin'?" Barrett got free of the hug and looked at the imposing figure before him. "Well, I'm not sure how will I put this. Do you like surprises?
***
"What the hell is wrong with you Barrett? And who is she?" Tifa asked. It was all a bit too much for her head. First, her mother-in-law calls her and tells her to go there as soon as possible, and then she sees a woman that looks just like her and says she is Cloud. And on top of that, Barrett, who is like a father to her, says he is Tifa. Also, there is one stranger that looks like Cloud. "I think I can explain that," someone said behind her. She turned around and blinked hard to see if she was not having visions. At the door was her husband, two Aeris, another Barrett and Cid. "That's it," she said. "Who are you people?" One of the Aeris and the Barrett that had just come in approached her. "We are the ones you know," Barrett said. "The others are real too. But they came from another dimension." "What?" "Let us explain. I'll begin," the older Aeris said. "There are several planes of existence that are similar to each other. Similar, not equal. While the differences may be little from one plane to another, they may also be huge. What we didn't know was that one could travel to another plane. On their plane, when Sephiroth discovered he was a Jenova, he went nuts, summoned a huge meteor to destroy the planet and. killed their Aeris. Well, making a long story short, a madman with the power to control the lifestream has gain power of their Sephiroth's soul and came to claim our Sephiroth's body. They followed him to stop him," she finished. Tifa looked at her in disbelief. "Ok, let's say I believe in that load of crap. What about those three weirdo's?" she said, pointing at Cloud, Tifa and Barrett. "He exchanged their souls. As the lifestream is made of souls, he can control them. He switched them. So that's what happened to them. Cloud's in Tifa's body, Tifa's in Barrett's and Barrett's in Cloud's." The older Tifa narrowed her eyes and looked at them suspiciously. "So we just have to stop the madman, rescue our Sephiroth and send you back to your home," she said. "Yes," the younger Aeris said, "we just have to do that." "Ok, "Tifa said, "Are you missing someone?" Cloud looked at his group examining it. "We're missing Yuffie, that should be in Wutai, Vincent, probably in the waterfall, Nanaki should be in Cosmo Canyon, Reeve and the Turks, somewhere on this goddamn planet," he said. "The Turks?" the older Tifa asked rolling her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Ok, our Turks are dead and I don't know who Vincent, Nanaki and Yuffie are. I suppose your Reeve is an architect?" a quick nod from the newcomers answered her question. "He is alive but I don't think he'll be of much help. So, I guess that's it. We should start looking for your partners." Cloud stepped forward. "Wasn't there an old mansion there instead of an hospital?" "Yes, but it was demolished to built the hospital," the older Tifa answered. "So your Vincent is dead," Aeris said. "Hey isn't that a chopper?" They all stepped outside and saw a chopper landing in front of the house. The Turks, Reeve, Nanaki, Vincent and Yuffie came out of it. Elena looked at the unusual group in front of her. "Freak show," she whispered to Yuffie. Yuffie giggled and the older Tifa glared at them. She turned to her younger version. "You gotta be kidding me! A vampire, a ninja brat and a.something are your companions?" "Not only my companions, they are my friends whom I trust with my life. And for you information, they're not so helpless as you may think. Vincent could shoot you in the head before you could even raise your hands, Nanaki can tore you apart in no time at all and Yuffie could. snap your neck with her hands tied. So in the future I'd restrain myself from those kind of remarks." The older Tifa raised her head and walked into the house followed by her friends, leaving the younger party outside. "Yuffie could snap your neck with her hands tied?" Reno asked. Everyone, except Yuffie, burst out laughing. "Hey, don't laugh!" said Elena. "She may not be able to snap your head but she can certainly rob you dead." Everyone burst out laughing again. "Hey, that's not funny," Yuffie whined. "What about him?" she asked nodding towards Zack, "Shouldn't he be dead?" "Ok, now that everyone's here I suppose I can tell you now."
Chapter 7
Sephiroth impatiently pressed the intercom. "Janet, could you bring me those papers? I can't wait all day!" He dropped the report he was reading and leaned back in the chair, massaging his temples. He looked to a picture of himself, with his wife and their kid. How he longed to be with them. He spun around so that he was facing the window behind him. His reflection greeted him. He studied his features noticing how his face betrayed his fatigue. He made a mental note to remind him to take his wife and kid somewhere special to compensate them for his tardiness on this trip. The sound of the door being opened made him turn around. "Finally Janet." he trailed off as he saw a man walking into the room. The man was exactly like him, except for the hair color, which was brown. He had a bloody sword that reminded Masamune and through the door, he could see Janet's decapitated body sprawled on top of her desk. Even with the fact that he hadn't had a real fight for along time, he wasn't helpless. He still trained every week and always brought his sword along. He graciously leaped from the chair and grabbed his Masamune. The stranger smirked and poised his sword. Sephiroth, analyzing the situation, realized that he had no choice inside the tiny room, so he jumped through the window onto the street. He urged the people on the streets to go away and tossed his PHS to the owner of a bar, who he knew very well. The phone never got near the man, for a lightning spell hit it pretty bad. Seph turned around to face his foe. He clearly noticed that he was in disadvantage because the only materia he had was an Enemy Skill that his wife made him use in an armlet. His opponent grinned and tossed his jacket aside. Sephiroth, realizing that fighting with a suit would be pretty hard, took of his jacket, his shirt and his shoes. They stood still on the street, poised for action, each one expecting the other to make the first move. Finally, the stranger bolted forward and his sword met Masamune. Seph took every chance he had to cast spells but his opponent seemed to have some kind of barrier so he changed tactics. The next opportunity he cast Big Guard on himself, thus gaining advantage of the situation. He decided to give it a try and lunged for his foe. The brown haired man smiled and tossed his sword aside. "Enough games," he said. Sephiroth ran to his foe and pierced Masamune through his enemy's abdomen. He laughed and a green mist surrounded them. Sephiroth felt a consciousness forcing the entrance into his mind but his resistance was futile. It gained entrance and Sephiroth's mind subsided to a corner. The clone looked at his body and at the sword still stuck in his abdomen. "Master, you left me here. Please don't let me die." he begged. "You have served your purpose: to get my soul back from the Lifestream. Now I don't need you anymore." The now evil Sephiroth pushed Masamune deeper into the clone's body before removing it, licking the blood from the sword. By the time the battle was over, everyone had run away. Sephiroth took the Materia from the corpse and something ran through his mind. Five presences. Two Jenova, two Cetra. They were here.
***
"So you mean there are other Cetra around?" Aeris asked a bit incredulous. Zack nodded. "And they've kept you locked all this time?" He nodded again. Aeris was shocked. "I can't believe this. They locked you up without giving you a reason to explain yourself! They're supposed to be good, protectors of the planet!" Nanaki approached her and touched her leg with his nose. "I'm sorry Aeris, I know you should feel betrayed but I think we should leave this for later. The other party said they've already gathered their gear. We should leave." "You're right," she said looking at nothingness. Red noticed that she had a cold stare, one that he thought he would never see on her face. As they followed the other party to the Highwind, a soft murmur escaped Aeris' lips without being heard. "I'll get them later." They entered the Highwind and they scattered around the ship. Only Aeris was outside leaning over the edge, with her eyes closed, trying to hear the Planet searching for an answer to her troubles. Zack climbed the stairs and looked at her, her pink dress waving. He admired her feminine silhouette and the way her hair swayed with the wind without losing its beauty. "You know, they weren't all that bad," he said. She had probably already noticed his presence, for his interruption did nothing to her. "That doesn't change anything. It wasn't supposed to be this way," she said, turning around to face him. "You told me that they reproved Jenova for wanting to take over their planet. And are they doing? Imprisoning people just because they are different, without even a fair trial? If you ask me Jenova doesn't stand too much below them." Brown eyes stared at Mako ones for an awkward moment as both remembered those past times, when Zack passed everyday by Aeris, always buying large quantities of flowers, and asked her out every time. Of course she always gave him her cold shoulder. But, with time, his persistence had its results and she finally said yes. Aeris saw those intense Mako eyes approaching as Zack closed the space between them and held her in a tight embrace. "Gods, Aeris. I missed you so much. I never want to lose you again. You were the only thing that kept me going all these years," he whispered. She nuzzled her cheek on his shoulder, their embrace exactly like she remembered. The way his calloused hands caressed her back and her waist and his exquisite scent. "I missed you too, but so much has changed since those times." she trailed off as they heard a young girl clearing her throat behind them. "Yes Yuffie?" she asked. "Well, I thought that errr. you could possibly. errr. need. something." she stuttered. "Get it over with, girl. Hey, you're the one that stole my materia," Zack retorted, his arm still on Aeris' shoulders. "Here, take it," she said, taking his materia from her backpack. "And stay outta this, it's difficult for me," she said taking something from her pocket. "Here," she whimpered. She shoved something into Aeris' hands and as soon as the orb touched her hands, she knew what it was. "Holy!" she exclaimed. "But how?" "Well, to tell you the truth, I was gonna keep it but since you're back. Just don't tell the others, you know I have a reputation to keep." "Thank you Yuffie, I know it was hard for you, but you did a good thing," Aeris said watching the young girl as she left them alone. She unfastened her ponytail to put the materia as she always did. "Why do you keep the materia on your hair?" Zack asked. Aeris shrugged. "My mother used to carry it like this also. Oh! It's falling!" Aeris bend over the handrail, trying to grab the falling materia, but failed miserably. But then she noticed that the materia wasn't falling. It was standing in midair. She then noticed that Zack had his eyes closed, his right arm extended with the palm of his hand facing the materia and his face was the perfect mask of concentration. The materia came flying through the air directly into Zack's left hand. "How did you do that?" Aeris asked astonished. Zack grinned sheepishly. "Remember what I told you about both Cetra and Jenova having powers? Well, I can use mine like you use yours. And I am also a wind element like you," he explained. Aeris' face lit up with a grin. "Zack my dear, you gave me an excellent idea. Sephiroth used both his Jenova powers with my Cetra powers to switch Cloud, Tifa and Barret's soul, right? So why don't we try to do the same? Perhaps if we combine our powers we can put the back to normal." "We can try," he said. "Worst scenario, we make complete fools of ourselves in front of three people, right?" "Yeah, nothing you're not used to," she grinned, as she walked inside the Highwind to call her friends. 'I just hope this works,' Zack thought. Aeris arrived soon with Barrett / Cloud, Cloud / Tifa and Tifa / Barrett. "Ok, you guys just. stay there in a line and we'll do our best," Aeris explained. "Aeris, I think we should take it slowly and do two at a time," Zack explained. "Ladies first," Tifa / Barrett said, grabbing Cloud / Tifa's hand. Zack chuckled as he heard that remark coming from a big, muscled, grown man. Aeris grabbed Zack's hand and they both bowed their heads concentrating. The other two felt the green mist surrounding them again, and again they felt strange, floating. As Aeris fearfully opened one eye, Tifa was looking at her own hands. "Yeah, I'm back," she grinned, doing a somersault. "And I'm in Barrett's body," Cloud sighed. "Just get this over with."
***
As they landed in Costa del Sol only destruction greeted them. Cars burning, the corpses of many policemen and a few townspeople lying around were the only thing they saw in the beautiful coastal village. A gust of the hot wind that usually carried the salty scent of the sea brought the disgusting stench of burnt flesh to their noses. The heat twisted their sight as they walked under the burning sun, trying not to stumble on the scattered limbs that littered the ground. "So you finally came," a cold voice said. They stopped as Sephiroth appeared from behind a burning car. The vision of the silver haired man walking through the flames brought the unpleasant memory of his mother's already blackened corpse. His anger grew as well as the fire in his eyes. Without a second thought, he grabbed his sword and lunged at his enemy. Sephiroth wasn't expecting this impulsive action but that didn't faze him. He easily avoided the attack by taking a side step. "Well I see you've put your minds back were they belonged. So the bitch and the puppet finally learned how to harness their powers. Pathetic. You should know by now that nothing you can do will stop me! SUPER NOVA!" This attack did severe damage to the group as no one was protected. They were all scattered on the ground. Cloud got up and searched the area for Cid and Zack. "Cid, Zack, help me take him. The rest of you cover us." Cid got out of the hood of the car he had been thrown and quickly ran towards Sephiroth while Zack spit the sand from his mouth. Sephiroth grinned and picked the sword nº 4 had been using from the ground. "Not so fast," he said as Cloud, Zack and Cid approached him. "You have company." He pointed behind them and, as reluctant as they were, they couldn't help looking when the earth began to shake. Hundreds of monsters were charging towards them. By ground and by air, they were gaining speed and no rock, tree or car seemed to stop them. "Zack help me!" the younger Aeris shrieked. "Let's create a barrier." Cloud nodded to Zack and he quickly ran to Aeris. With his left hand he embraced her waist and pointed his right palm to the incoming wave of monsters as she pointed her left palm. They closed their eyes in concentration and almost fell down when the monsters collapsed against the invisible wall. After the first wave they kept slamming against the barrier attempting to break it. "Help!" Zack screamed, trying not to break his concentration. Yuffie ran towards them. "Go help Cloud. I'll stay with them," she said. She started by casting elemental magic but they weren't very effective. So she picked her Enemy Skill and cast Magic Breath and Pandora's Box. But they kept coming. "Try a summon," Aeris called. Yuffie picked her favorite red orb and prayed to Leviathan. She felt the power grow within her as well as the air around her changing. The heat from the materia spread through her arms to the rest of her body while the breeze around her seemed to get colder. "What is she doing?" Zack asked. "Why hasn't she cast the spell?" "She's charging the attack. That's a technique very ancient used by the old ninjas. But I didn't know she could do it." She explained. 'Just a little longer Yuffie, you can do it' Yuffie thought. Suddenly the heat coming from the materia was gone as well as the cold breeze. She opened her eyes and instead of seeing the once beautiful town turned into a battlefield she saw black. The sounds of fighting abandoned her, leaving only a sound that resembled an annoying leaking tap. "Where am I?" she asked turning around in search of something. A blinding flash lit the area as two yellow eyes came to be in front of her. The gentle glow emanated by those eyes seemed to embrace her like a mother would embrace her just born son. "You are a chosen one." In spite of the whole situation she felt all her fears abandon her as the warm voice filled the strange place. "Release the spell now!" As the voice left her ears she was back at the battlefield holding the materia and did as she was told. "TIDAL WAVE" An immensely huge serpent appeared and its tidal wave swept all the monsters away drowning them. She grinned and looked at Aeris who shot her a horrifying glare. "Yuffie behind you! Look out!"
***
"Help!" Zack screamed, trying not to break his concentration. Yuffie ran towards them. "Go help Cloud. I'll stay with them," she said. They all turned to Sephiroth who had assumed his combat stance. Cid and Cloud ran towards their foe slashing away like madmen. Sephiroth blocked every blow easily with both of his swords. The Turks, Reeve and Vincent were firing at him but with little effect. So they switched to materia while Vincent turned into Chaos. Aeris was concentrating on healing magic and both Tifa's ignored their orders and ran to Sephiroth as well as Red. Now with six people directly attacking him Sephiroth began to worry. So he concentrated all his powers and send them all flying backwards. In quick succession he cast Shadow Flare, Pandora's Box, Magic Breath and Super Nova. Almost everyone had fell unconscious at this point. "Prepare to die," he grinned. Cloud stood up in his shaky legs with the help of his sword. "None of them will die if I'm still alive," Cloud said. "Oh yeah, let's see about that," he grinned. Sephiroth looked at Masamune and at his other sword thoughtfully. "I guess I won't be needing two swords since you're the only one standing," he grinned. He held the sword like a spear and threw it directly at. "Yuffie behind you! Look out!" Aeris' scream made her turn back but it was too late. Yuffie felt the sword piercing her fragile body without being able to stop it. The quickness of the vile act made it painless. She dropped to her knees and watched as the world around her seemed to be in slow motion. Cloud ran to Sephiroth and used Omnislash on him. Now that was a pretty thing to see in slow motion. The few times Cloud did it he was so fast she couldn't see where he was. At least her last vision was a good thing: Seph getting his ass kicked. Her head rolled back and she saw the reason why she hadn't fell down yet. Zack and Aeris were holding her, trying to talk to her. She smiled to them and held Aeris' hand as she felt the Lifestream escaping from her body. Zack ran to Sephiroth quickly casting White Wind on Cloud and Aeris distributed Phoenix Down's among her teammates bringing everyone back to their senses. A Healing Wind later, everyone was up and before the sight of an impaled Yuffie, Sephiroth was hit by almost every Limit Break known to men. Yet, he was still standing. Then. "You shall return to the planet," a ghostlike voice between them said. They saw Sephiroth's eyes glowing with something that seemed like a mix of fear and surprise. They all turned back and saw a young girl, with short hair, wearing slightly unbuttoned green shorts, a pair of baggy yellow sneakers and a black top. Her bandana swayed with the wind and her arm protection was forgotten on the floor next to her Conformer. The wicked sword was still lodged on her chest. And her left hand locked something the could not see. But the strangest things were her eyes: bloodshot red on her expressionless face. "Yuffie?!" Her walk was strange, like she was about to fall at every step. She walked past everyone of them, straight towards Sephiroth. "This can't be. You're dead," he replied. As she got near him, he lunged at her, piercing Masamune on her stomach. Then, after looking down at her pierced abdomen, she tilted her head to the side and looked at Sephiroth. And in her eyes he saw nothing. Not anger, not hatred, not pain and not fear; only two pools of red liquid. Sephiroth released his grip on the sword and stumbled backwards. Yuffie grabbed both swords with her hands and pulled them out of her body. They fell to the ground, not tarnished with blood, but trickling crystal clear water. The same water was also leaking from her wounds, but instead of falling the ground, it enveloped her, until all they saw was her water- body. Then, it compressed into a sphere and stretched until it got the shape of a serpent. They were all amazed as they saw Yuffie turning into Leviathan before their eyes. The serpent moved smoothly until its head was inches apart from Sephiroth's. Paralyzed by those eyes he felt the serpent wrapping around his body. "Now! Act now!" it screamed in its spectral voice. Zack and Aeris held their hands and concentrated. Green mist enveloped Sephiroth and with a loud roar the mist vanished into thin air.
Chapter 8
"Ouch, my head hurts," a voice coming from the bed said. "Easy there," a warm voice said as a damp towel was set on her forehead. She tried to open her eyes but all he saw was a blur. Her head seemed to be about to explode but surprisingly her body seemed to be perfectly fine. Not a single ache. She shifted beneath the velvet sheet facing the direction of the voice. "Where am I?" she asked, trying to open her eyes again. She tried to recall her last memory from the depths of oblivion. Aeris' tear streaked face came to her mind and in a flash, everything before that passed through her mind. She sat up abruptly expecting to see Masamune poised above her, and an evil set of jade eyes behind it. A sudden pain coursed through her head as she opened her eyes. But instead of feeling a sword tearing her apart, she felt two comforting arms expecting her. And the second she buried her head on the chestnut hair and felt the fresh scent of morning dew, she knew exactly who it was. "Only God knows how I missed your hugs Aeris," she said holding her friend close. "I missed you too Yuffie," she replied. "Don't worry, you're safe now. It's all over." "But how am I." "Later. Now rest," Aeris' gentle, yet firm voice told her. Yuffie tried to protest but the heavy sensation of a Sleepel spell flowing inside her mind convinced her not to.
***
"So you mean it wasn't just a dream?" The only answers to Yuffie's question were a few nods. The whole group sat on the tiny room in Wutai trying to answer all the girl's questions. "I actually died?" she asked incredulous. "That's not the weirdest part of all, really," Tifa replied nervously. "So? Tell me!" "After you were. after it happened you, er. got up and you. turned into something else." In those milliseconds after Tifa's statement, Yuffie's mind sorted through a million things she could have possibly turned into. "What?" she fearfully asked. Everyone in the room traded nervous glances, well, except Vincent of course. "Oh, for the love of Shiva. Yuffie, to make it short, you basically turned into water, then transformed into Leviathan and scared the living shit outta Seph." As soon as Reno's words left his mouth he was surrounded by angry glares from everyone (yes, even Vincent's). "What? She would have to know sooner or later," he said rapidly. Yuffie looked into their eyes and saw nothing but truth and shock looking at her. But still it wasn't easy to believe. Silence filled the big room once again. The girls sat on the sides of the bed, as well as Elmyra who sat right next to Aeris, as if to make sure her daughter wouldn't disappear again. Zack stood next to the bed, not very far to Aeris as well. Cloud sat on a chair next to the bed, holding Tifa's hand, though he didn't seem to realize he was doing it. Red sat on the floor near the couch, where Cid, Barrett and Reno (as far away as they could) slouched. Vincent and Rude were standing near the wall, very straight. Godo stood on the doorpost, as if afraid of invading her daughter's territory. She barely slept in this room at all, but he always hoped she would come back home one day. "Th-that's impossible," she said. Aeris took something from her pocket and gave it to her. "You were holding this," she said. Yuffie held the small orb and raised it to her eye level. "So, this is just a crystal ball." "No, that's not. That's Leviathan." Then "You were holding it while. it happened." "This can't be," she said turning her head to face Elena, as if looking for an answer in her best friend's face. A tear walked its way down Elena's cheek and she took Yuffie's arms and showed her her wrists. Then she pulled her jacket sleeves up and showed her her own wrists. "See?" she asked. While Yuffie's wrists had nothing at all, Elena's had two scars marking her two wrists for eternity. Those were made trying to escape from Corneo's grasp when they were his captives. Only one thing was wrong. Yuffie used to have them also. Yuffie stroked her wrists and noted they'd never felt so smooth before. Then she raised the covers to look at her knees and shins and noticed that all of her scars were gone. "So it's true." "Yes." "Could you just, let me be alone for a moment?" As everyone file out of the room, she put the covers over her head and cried. And prayed.
***
Yuffie eventually got out of the shock. And they never talked about it again. But the changes in Yuffie had become more than evident. Her magic skills became better; all her senses seemed improved, as well as her strength, agility and reflexes. But that wasn't all. And they all noticed that she gained a certain affinity with water. She swam for one hour every morning. Her physical aspect also changed. Her skin was softer, her hair shinier, and her eyes became even bluer. And everyone saw it. Specially Reno. He seemed to be picking more on her lately. Not that he'd admit it of course. Well, things went on pretty calm until the wedding came. Cid had chosen Cloud to be his best man and Tifa was to be Shera's maid of honor. So Aeris went with Zack, Barrett with Elmyra, Elena with Rude and Yuffie went with Reno. Only Nanaki, Reeve and Vincent went alone. The wedding itself went well, although Cid seemed to be having a nervous breakdown. It took place on a small church in Rocket town at 10 am. The party was held in a large hall. A band was singing on one side of room. They had been hired because one of them was a nephew of Cid's head engineer. In front of the stage was an empty space designated as a "dance floor". The whole "self service tables" were against the wall and on the other side of the room were the lunch tables. Near noon a waiter told Cid the preparations for the lunch were ready. And so Cid, Shera, Nanaki Cloud and Tifa sat at their table waiting for everyone to follow their example. Yuffie and Godo sat at their table with the Turks, Barrett was with Marlene, Elmyra, Aeris and Zack and finally Vincent and Reeve sat at one table with some cousins of Shera. They ate their lunch and after the dessert the band came to the stage and asked Cid, Shera, Cloud and Tifa to go to the "dance floor". Cid took Shera's hand and, grumbling all the way against the #%$&=$% traditions, led her from the table and Cloud did the same with Tifa, without the grumbling part, of course. Both men were wearing tuxedos and Shera's dress was very simple. A few pearls adorned her chest, its tail wasn't so long and her hair was held with a flower wreath. Tifa was wearing a black v-neck dress that showed her outline, diverging many eyes from the bride and groom. They walked to the dance floor and Cloud put his arms on Tifa's waist, while she put hers on his neck. She smiled and let him led her while the band started singing.
Sometimes it's wrong to walk away
Don't you think it's over
Knowing there's so much more to say
"Tifa I think we need to talk," Cloud said as they were dancing. Tifa looked up to meet Cloud's shining blue eyes. "I've been thinking a lot on our relationship lately," he said.
Suddenly the moment's gone
And though your dreams are upside down
And you just want to change the way the world goes round
"I like being your friend but." he trailed off. Their faces were only inches apart and Cloud could actually feel the heat emanating from Tifa's body. Her eyes were half closed and she was looking at him through her eyelashes which was distracting him immensely. "What I'm trying to say is.."
Tell me
Have you ever loved and lost somebody
Wish there was a chance to say I'm sorry
Can't you see
That's the way I feel about you and me baby
"This is what I'm trying to tell you. I don't want to lose you," he finally admitted, though the fear from her reaction had increased a thousand fold.
Have you ever felt your heart was breaking
Looking down the road you should be taking
I should know
Cause I loved and lost the day I let you go
"Are you saying that you. love me?" she was speaking right to his face and he felt her breath on his mouth. Her lips brushed against his and she slowly kissed him. When at first he was too stunned to respond to her sweet kiss, he quickly regained control of his actions and kissed her back. It wasn't the hard, wet, passionate kiss he always imagined but it felt exquisite to him. The ambrosia of the Gods couldn't taste better than her lips on his. Their kiss was interrupted by sounds of clapping, cheering and howling. They opened their eyes and saw the whole Avalanche group and some other familiar faces cheering for them, and saw, with some surprise, that Reno was the one howling. Well, maybe it wasn't so surprising. They smiled and kissed again, dancing to the music.
***
At night the party still resisted. After a very blushed Elena caught the bouquet and the 3 floor chocolate cake (with a bride and an astronaut on top of it) was cut people were starting to get tired. Yuffie and Reno were sitting on a table alone, talking quietly to each other (probably planning to steal the silverware). Vincent sat on another table accompanied with one of Shera's cousins. She didn't seem annoyed by his bloodshot eyes and, truth be told, he didn't look bad in a tux and with his hair well groomed. "So, what do you do when you're not saving the world?" she asked him resting her elbow on the table and her head on her hand. "Besides transforming into one of the four beasts that inhabit my mind as a punishment for my uncaring deeds when you weren't even born? Nothing really," he said. The girl looked at him horrified and quickly excused herself from the table. "Vincent, Vincent, Vincent. Were you just being sarcastic?" Reeve sat beside Vincent grinning at him. "Seems to me that you are regressing to your older self. Good for you. I know it's none of my business but what happened to that 'I must atone for my sins in order to attain peace' attitude? You met someone?" he grinned. "You're right," Vincent replied. "It's none of your business." The bride and groom were doing their usual tour around the tables and the rest of the gang were sitting somewhere or dancing. Only four people weren't there. Cloud and Tifa had retreated to somewhere with a little more privacy and Aeris and Zack sat on a bench outside looking at the moon and at Cid's new rocket called Tiamat. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Zack felt Aeris shivering when she talked to him so he offered her his coat. She turned to him and smiled. "Are you sure you're not the one causing the wind so you can look good by giving me your jacket?" He smiled back. "Are you sure you're not the one causing the wind so you can see me without my jacket?" She giggled and held the coat tighter. "Aeris, I need to know where we stand right now," he blurted. "What?" "You and me. Our relationship, if there is one at all." "I don't know. When you disappeared I thought you had left me. My heart was broken. I thought you were the one I'd spend my whole life with." "But." "But now I'm not sure." "It's Cloud isn't it?" he asked. ". Yes," she admitted. "At first I only liked him because he reminded me of you. But now I'm not so sure. Could you give me sometime to sort this out?" "Aeris, in all these years you were the only thing that kept me going. I think I can wait a bit longer." She leaned against him and he held her. "Well, we're together again. Not in the way I wanted but it's good enough. For now."
The end