Chapter 3: Survivors

In the darkness something stirs. In this blackness a small glimmer of hope disturbs the total silence and creates chaos. A wish had been answered.

'Cloud . . . Cloud wake up!'

"This is no time for games, Cloud wake up!" Squall screamed into his counterpart's ear. Cloud raised his head sat up with a jolt.

"Was it a dream?" Cloud replied as he rubbed his ear. His head was still ringing from his friend's powerful bellow.

"I'm afraid not," Squall said, "Look ahead of you." Cloud slowly turned his head to match Squall's view. It took him a while, but soon his eyes adjusted to the blinding whiteness of their surroundings.

"You didn't have to yell you know. A simple nudge would have done the job," Cloud complained to Squall as he continued to blink his eyes, "What is it that I'm looking at?"

"Look closer. From here it looks like stairs," Squall surmised, "God . . . this is so messed up. What the hell is going to happen to us?" He was noticeably beginning to lose his composure.

Cloud shrugged, finally seeing what Squall saw. " I don't know, but I guess our only choice is up. There is nothing else here for us but those."

Cloud hadn't noticed before, but now that his eyes had fully adjusted, he tried to take in what was worrying Squall so much. Somehow, both of them were standing on a solid surface but yet there was no definition as to where the ground started and where it ended. They existed, but without an environment that acknowledged they did. There was no wind to speak of, no sun, and no colors of any sort. You could say the place wasn't white at all, but the fighters brain's couldn't discern one thing from the next and had to create something for them to see and this was what it came up with. It was dead, but at the same time breathing life all around them.

It was a complex paradox to Cloud and he didn't want to think about it now. They could look around, trying to find clues about where they were, but neither wanted to wander around aimlessly. It was disquieting to Cloud and Squall, but they couldn't stand around forever so their only choice was to trek up the stairs.

A few minutes had passed since Cloud had regained consciousness, but it was enough time to think. Who knew how long they had been out? Without giving it much thought other than to break the ice, Cloud blurted out, "This is Heaven right?"

"I'm pretty sure it's not. Heaven is supposed to have angels and pearly gates. If this was Heaven, I sure wouldn't want to be here for all eternity with you." Squall barely knew this person he had fought alongside with. This Cloud character was just another stranger to him. They had both just been flung into the fray against Sephiroth without much knowledge of what was going on. The maniac had just begun killing their friends and they had no choice but to fight back with what they had, "Doesn't Alexander the holy summon greet those when they arrive to pass Final Judgment on their souls? Don't get me wrong though, it's not Hell either, for obvious reasons." Squall coldly answered, "Cloud . . . I think we're in some sort of purgatory."

Cloud didn't want to agree with him, he didn't want to be here, but he nodded in agreement and they continued to trudge up the stairway. Step after step, minute after minute they walked for what seemed like an eternity. They didn't know if it would ever end, and it showed no sign of topping out. Cloud didn't want to walk forever next to a cold, self loathing person he barely knew, so he tried to start a conversation to get to know his new friend better. Cloud had always been a bit awkward when it came to personal feelings though and the topic he chose was inappropriate after what they had just gone through.

"Squall, how did you feel when Rinoa was killed by Sephiroth?" Cloud asked casually.

Squall glared at Cloud disgustedly. A fire burned in his eyes and his blood temperature rose, "How dare you talk about that. You don't even deserve to say her name" Squall was deeply injured by this sudden inquiry, and he could feel a phantom pain from where he had been stabbed. He looked down and saw it completely healed, gone without a trace. The two just stood motionless, staring at each other. Squall showed his contempt for the ignorant man, but Cloud was hurt too by the events that had preceded this long walk. Squall saw the deeply sympathetic look of Cloud and decided to lighten up a little, "I don't let people know about my personal life," he replied emotionlessly. It was so fresh in his mind though that it was hard for him to hold back a tear. The thought of seeing Rinoa again, dying in his arms and not being able to do anything for her tore him apart. He shook his head and turned away from Cloud. He couldn't show him any weakness. It wasn't in his character to do so. They both stopped for a moment and sat on the stairs. Cloud moved in to pat him on the back as a friendly gesture but Squall swatted his arm away, "Get away from me. I don't need any consolation from a dead guy," Squall snapped.

He looked over at Cloud and saw the same compassionate look in his eyes. He hadn't given any thought to what Cloud had gone through before he had arrived, so maybe he should give him a chance. He was dead anyways so it didn't matter what people thought of him now. Squall collected himself and started to explain everything to this stranger that actually cared.

"I . . . I felt dead," He chuckled, trying to play off his real feelings, "I still do. She took all the love, all the happiness away with from me when she stopped breathing. You can't begin to feel the way I do now. It's unbearable. I've lost her before, but not like this. In the end we always got back together. This . . . this just isn't fair. I feel sad, but it's an emotion deeper than sadness. Anger and loneliness are all I have left in my soul. My heart is as empty as this white Hell we are in." Squall said, despising his current position.

"I can relate, " Cloud revealed solemnly to Squall, "I've had something happen to someone meaningful too. Something does die in you. You think that everything in the world has been taken from you, but you are always left with their memory. Even if you don't want to, you always think about them. It only serves to drive the pain deeper into your soul. It pushes everything else out of you, and after a while you are left with endless emptiness, an emptiness that begs to be filled. But you don't fill it with their joy of life of how they happy they lived while you were together . . . oh no, you fill your heart with sorrow and hate because they had to leave you."

Cloud couldn't believe what he had just said. He didn't mess it up, he didn't underplay the situation, and he sounded as though he had finally come to cope with Aeris' death. It had only been a few weeks ago and getting back into a normal routine had proven to be tough. Had it been that easy all this time? Did he just need address how he felt about it? After Cloud said this they both became quiet and dwelled on their thoughts.

With a clear mind, Cloud's thoughts shifted to Tifa. Was she alright? During the intense battle, everything that happened seemed to be a blur. He didn't know if she had survived the initial attack, but he was sure that the shockwave had got her. He could only pray that she would meet up with him again in eternity. Squall didn't have the luxury of wishful thinking. He had to watch as his comrades were picked off one by one. He knew of their fate and wanted to feel for them, but the Rinoa issue seemed to be much more important to him than anything else. Squall was in a dreamlike trance when he heard her voice.

'Don't give up . . .'

At the same time, a second voice echoed inside Cloud's mind.

'There is always hope. Don't forget that . . .'

Squall's head jerked up, "Did you say something?" Squall asked, "It sounded like Rinoa's voice. You better not be messing around with me or so help . . ."

"Whoa, WHOA! I heard something too. But I heard Tifa's voice," Cloud contested, pleading his innocence.

"We're not alone here then," Squall informed Cloud as he took a harder look around where they were.

The silence was broken by a commanding yet soft voice that surrounded them from all sides, "Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart," it said.

"Yes that's us," Cloud anxiously replied. He was both bewildered and amazed, jerking his head around trying to find where the voice came from.

"You both fought bravely to save your own worlds when their fates were placed in your hands. You succeeded, but nothing could have prepared for what was to happen next. I'm sorry that it had to happen, and that it cost you your lives when you tried to save the planet," the voice empathized.

"Hold on," Cloud interrupted, "What do you mean by worlds?"

"Cloud, you fought on an infused world," it explained, "It was both your world and Squall's at the same time. It's hard to explain with mere words, so please, come towards my voice and let me show you two what happened."

They moved towards the angelic voice and two clouds of mist hovered in front of the heroes. Pieces of the clouds broke off and trailed separately over the mist, shaping and solidifying each one until they formed lifeless spheres resembling planets. There was a cracking in the surface of these planets and a few seconds they witnessed the birth of mountains rising and falling into majestic landscapes. Not too soon after, vast oceans and their great tributaries were filled to the brim with water. Endless green forests came next, springing up through the ground first as sapling and then growing into proud and mighty trees. As the sea of green kept covering each globe, the sign of the first cities emerged.

One showed a mighty city built on futuristic technology and surrounded by a shield, while the other showcased a huge city bordering an ocean and a destroyed megalopolis. At the end of the formation it was clear to both of the men that one world was Cloud's and the other Squall's, "The first is your world Cloud," the voice continued, "You are seeing it just as Holy and the Lifestream shattered and destroyed the last threat of the Meteor. You've probably guessed that the other world is Squall's, and you are right. It is hard to notice any change at this point, but this is the planet right after Ultimecia's death. She had managed to pass her powers onto Edea and Time compression should have never took place. Or so it seemed. Look closer at the areas where each event took place. Instead of opening a portal in time, it opened a dimensional rip. Some incredible force that not even I can comprehend at this time pulled your two worlds together. It compressed your worlds into one, and in doing so it also revived your enemies."

"Wow" Cloud uttered in disbelief, placing his hand behind his head, "This really is too much."

Squall didn't like what he saw, "How could we have possibly stopped it?" he said, challenging this fate that was given to him.

"You couldn't . . . at the time," the voice answered.

"So there is a way to stop it then?" Squall concluded.

He felt someone's warm breath flow over the back of his neck and then a familiar reassuring "Sure is" comforted Squall's right ear.