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Dun-dun-dun…what will happen next? Cloud could just ram his sword into the white materia and blow the whole of the Final Dungeon sky high, or he could try (key word try) to use the mini-white materia that once belonged to Aerieth and try to purify the white materia. But will it work? Well, let's see what's behind door number 18!

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Sephiroth. I had once revered him as a powerful leader…and then I had despised him for what I found out he really was. Now his name brought feelings of contempt and awe. I hated him…and yet somehow I still revered him. Deep down, I still admired him.

But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't ram my sword into his gut. He's done too much evil. He's hurt too many people.

I stood there and felt the power of the corrupted white materia vibrate through my body. It suddenly felt like deja-vu…like I had experienced this before somewhere, but I know for a fact I haven't.

I looked at the white materia in my hands. This miniature white materia had once been the very white materia that Aerieth had once had in her hair, her beautiful flowing brown hair. And when she had finally found out what it did, she was rewarded with a sword in her back. I clenched my fist in anger at this thought.

I snapped myself back to reality and to the task at hand. I had to figure out a way to purify the white materia. My first thought was to maybe use one of my materia to try and drive out the corruption surrounding the white materia, but then I realized that materia don't work on other materia. They only work on living things. So I began to think.

Red XIII said that I had to use my spirit to drive it out. He had also said the other day, that in order to control the white materia you needed concentration, will, and above all, power. Real, sheer, power. That's what it must take to purify it.

But did I have the power?

I began to focus and to try and call on the materia in my hand, just as I had always done with any other materia. I noticed that the white materia began to glow…

…but that's all it did.

I tried it again. The white materia glowed again, but once again, it didn't do anything else, and eventually it faded back to the dark red color it had just been.

I tried to think a little more. Red XIII had said that in order to use the Knights of the Round, I had to focus all my strength and concentration on summoning it. He also said that the white materia was several times stronger then Knights of the Round, so I must therefore need every fiber of my being bent on purifying the white materia.

He also said that in order to use the white materia, you needed sheer power, and he had assumed that because I had beaten Jenova so many times before, that I would also be able to call upon it.

Unfortunately, it was not me who beat Jenova this time around…it was Vincent. So logically I turned around and started to head up the path to the surface to go get him. But I stopped myself after a few steps. Vincent had been in his new "Chaos" form when he had beaten Jenova. And it's likely that because he had just been in this Chaos form less then a half an hour ago, that he wouldn't have the energy required to re-transform. Red XIII had also said specifically, "You are the only one strong in spirit enough to pull this off…"

Maybe that was the clue. I had to use my spirit, not just my will.

I focused on my life. My past, my present, my future. I focused on my heart…felt its rhythm…I tried in every way I knew how, mind, body, and spirit, to find and focus on my very life-force. Suddenly I felt my life draining, seeping into something outside myself.

I fell to the floor. My heart beat slowed…my mind began to blank…and all the while I felt my essence declining.

I blacked out.

I woke up some time later. How long I don't know. I felt exhausted. Utterly exhausted. I didn't know what had happened. I sat up and felt dizzy. I waited a moment until blood was flowing back into my mind. I looked around me through hazy eyes.

I saw a white light, and green liquid dancing around me.

I think I knew what this meant. I looked at the miniature white materia in my hand. Sure enough, it was no longer the corrupted, dark red materia it had been earlier. It was now the pale white materia that I remembered.

So that was the trick. You had to use the very energy your body uses to live, in order to access the white materia. It makes sense now that I think about it. The white materia is the embodiment of life, and to access life, you need to be willing to give it.

My strength returning, I stood up slowly. I felt like some movie star, crawling out of the rubble of a giant building that had collapsed upon him and was supposed to have killed him. I felt strong, and unequaled in every way. My eyes clearing, I looked at the giant white materia before me, and saw that it too, was no longer red. But more importantly, Sephiroth's unfinished body that had once lain inside…was completely gone. It had vanished along with all the darkness that had consumed the white materia. I had purified the white materia. I felt superb. I felt triumphant.

I knew what I had to do next. I walked up to the giant white materia in front of me. It pulsed rhythmically. It sounded like heart beat. I put my hand on it and suddenly felt energized. My mind was clear, and ready.

"Aerieth….Aerieth….where are you?" I said to the white materia, half expecting an answer. "It's time to come back to us. It's time for Sephiroth's sin to be atoned…"

I imagined her body coming together piece by piece. Her hands, her body, her neck, her face…all were appearing in my mind in its perfect form. I tried to use my energy, my life force like I just had moments before, to bring Aerieth back to life.

I opened my eyes, trying to see if my efforts were amounting to anything.

I saw a face…a dull face…It had long hair. Long flowing hair. And bright eyes.

I drew away in terror.

The next thing I knew, I was on my knees. My mind suddenly exploded with a piercing, overwhelming sound. It was a sound I knew, and dreaded.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!

"It's….not possible…."

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!

"I…killed you! How are…you back?"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!

I was losing my mind. I felt my mind drift, and my feeble struggle to hold onto my physical body was in vain. My spirit separated, and I was launched into a long, spiraling tunnel. It was the same tunnel I had traveled once before. It was the same tunnel that I had traveled down just before I met…

"Sephiroth…"