It would take several hours to get to the Gold Saucer and there was very little to do on the ship. So the team assembled in the briefing room, with their new recruit, and each one described their life since they had met last. Cloud started. He stood at the foot of the vast wooden table, dressed in a black, zip-up sweater and jeans. On his left shoulder was a metal protector, and grafted onto his left wrist was a gold, mechanical hand. His hair was an untamable riot of yellow spikes. Everyone listened, fixated, as he spoke, "Well, after the battle in the crater with Sephiroth, I ran away. I desperately wanted to settle down and start a new life after what we had been through, so I went to Nibelheim, where I became something of a celebrity. You may have seen some of my interviews on TV. Later on, I was given a knighthood. So much for the quiet life. Then one day, Red tracked me down and reminded me that it was nearly the anniversary of Aeris' death. And so, the two of us set off on my bike, which ran out of gas by the time we reached the next town. But the next town happened to be Rocket Town. So we found Cid and hitched a ride on this ship. We met Barret, Tifa, Marlene and Cait Sith in the forest, and that's about it. Who's next?"

Red called out,"You choose."

"Okay, you."

Marlene was tugging on Barret's arm and saying desperately,"Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom."

Yuffie stood up and said,"I'll take her. I'm feeling a little airsick, I need to stretch my legs. Or maybe I can go there and throw up. Come on sweetie."

She took Marlene by the hand and headed towards the door. Cid said,"The toilets are on the other side of the ship, it'll take you a while, what about your story?"

She stopped and said,"I'm pretty sure Vincent can tell my story." She winked flirtaciously at Vincent, who smiled back at her. Everyone stared at him, astonished and confused. Cloud said simply,"Explain."

Vincent replied,"I'll explain later, but right now, Red has a story to tell."

Red sat on the end of the table and said,"Thank you Vincent. With Sephiroth supposedly dead and Meteor destroyed, I returned to Cosmo Canyon, a hero. There was a little surprise waiting for me. For a long time it was believed that I was the last in my species, but apparently, there was a group of my kind hiding out in Midgar. When Midgar was layed to ruin by near-impact with Meteor, they came to Cosmo Canyon. Before too long I was married to one of the females, Yoko. And we now have two children, Seto, after my father, and Aeris. One day I saw Cloud on the cover of a magazine and decided to visit him, and you know the rest. Now after that little display from Vincent, I vote he speaks next."

Vincent chuckled and walked towards the foot of the table, Red stole his seat. He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt, from the end of the left sleeve poked a bronze, claw-like hand, a souvenir of the anatomy-altering experiments carried out on him. He also wore a pair of baggy, black trousers over a pair of brown boots. "Well, after the battle in the North Crater, I had nowhere to go. I waited on the ship as Cid dropped everyone off at their home-towns until eventually, only me and Yuffie were left. She realised that I had no home and invited me to come and live with her in Wutai. We were the talk of the town, the heroes who had aided the defeat of Sephiroth and the destruction of Meteor. 6 months later, we were married." He held up his organic hand which, surely enough, had a gold ring on it.

Barret sat up in his seat and barked,"Aren't you eleven years older than her? How'd you get away with something like that?"

He replied, "In Wutai it's tradition for a girl to marry an older man. Plus, her parents begged me to. A while later, we entered the Ehrgeiz tournament."

Cloud chuckled and said,"I hope you did better than me."

Tifa stuck her arm in the air and said,"And me."

Sephiroth said smoothly,"And me."

Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth had all joined the tournament with hope of obtaining the mystical weapon, but never faced each other. They had all been defeated by the Ehrgeiz's monstrous guardian.

Vincent continued,"Yeah, she did very well. She walked away with the Ehrgeiz."

Cloud sat up suddenly in disbelief,"What?! She defeated the guardian and got the Ehrgeiz?!"

"Yep, that's my girl. Now, for the next speaker, I choose... Sephiroth."

Sephiroth stood up and trudged towards the front of the room. He was covered in tight, black leather. He sighed and spoke softly,"Mako energy is the life force of the planet. It can be used for many things, from generating electricity to crystalising into materia, the source of magic. When the planet becomes wounded, it gathers mako energy at the source in order to heal itself. The bigger the wound, the more mako is required. I obtained the black materia and summoned Meteor to create a wound so large that it would require a colossal amount of mako to heal it. At the centre of the wound, would be me. I planned to absorb the mako and turn myself into the ultimate being. I never would have planned this had I not been driven insane by the discovery that I was just an experiment. Anyway, my plan failed, courtesy of you all. When I realised this, I trained my powers in the bottom of the North Crater, readying myself for a counter-attack. But my powers slowly deteriorated as I regained my sanity. After a while, I was my old self again, I sought you out to apologise, but i don't know how I could possibly create an apology proportionate to my actions. I'll start by saying this: I'm sorry. Now, next up I choose the gentleman with the gun-arm."

"The name's Barret!", he growled, still quite angry at the fact that they had agreed to take Sephiroth in. He stomped to the end of the table, staring at Sephiroth with malice. Sephiroth hastily sat down, intimidated by Barret. Barret was a huge man, extremely tall and extremely muscley. It was extremely odd to see a once fearless and evil man so scared of anything. Barret stood tall, wearing an open, short-sleeved shirt over an incredible array of muscles, khaki pants, and large brown boots.

"After the battle, I went home to Corel, where I was acknowledged as a hero. I invested a lot of money in the restoration of our town, but it was worth it. I may be flat broke, but the town is fully restored. One day, Tifa came knockin' at our door. She stayed with us for a while, then the three of us decided to take a trip to the Gold Saucer, where we found Cait Sith. From there, we set off to visit Aeris grave. That's about it. Next speaker, Cait Sith."

Cait Sith hopped off the head of his seated mog doll and waddled onto the centre of the table. "Well, as most of you know, I'm a droid, created by Shinra to spy on you. When the Shinra headquarters were destroyed by Diamond Weapon, I was given a will of my own. So I returned to the gold saucer and resumed my job as a fortune teller. That's where I've been ever since. Tifa, you next."

He returned to the head of his mog, who was still lying immobile in his chair. Tifa walked to the front, trailing her shimmering, black hair.

She wore tight leather pants with flared bottoms, a white crop-top and a pair of fighting gauntlets.

"Well, there's really not much to tell. I couldn't return to my bar in Midgar after it had been destroyed, so I moved to Kalm instead. When I got there, I set up an entire nightclub with my earnings. Before too long, I started to miss my friends, so I travelled far and wide, searching for any of you. Eventually, I came to Corel, where I found Barret and Marlene. I stayed with them for a while and the rest you already know. Cid, let's hear your story."

Cid didn't bother going to the end of the table and just stayed stood by the doorway, smoking a cigarette in his oil-stained, white shirt and baggy, blue pants. He blew a cloud of smoke into the air, thoughtfully and said,"I always thought that after the raid on the North Crater, that would be the end of my flying career. So I returned to Rocket town and got married to Shera. But I missed flying too much, so I set to work building this ship. Just as I finished, Cloud and Red appeared at my doorstep, giving me the ideal opportunity for a test flight. I got knocked unconscious by Tifa in the forest and next thing I knew, Sephiroth and Aeris were both back. I'm still a little confused."

He stared at his friends and smiled broadly. It was good to be together again.