After they had returned to the cave, Cloud laid down to rest and only woke up when the sun was just beginning to set. Meanwhile, Tifa kept herself busy by tending to her own wounds, as well as occasionally examining the sleeping man that was next to her.

Once Cloud finally awoke, Tifa ordered him to lean back against the wall of the cave so that she could examine his face more thoroughly.

"That's not really necessary," Cloud began slowly.

"I just wanna make sure I didn't do anything permanent," Tifa remarked curtly. "I mean, you had it coming, but still..."

"Hn," Cloud retorted. "Now, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but if I told Vincent that I didn't want to see anyone, and I assume that he in turn told you, why did you come here?"

"Like I should explain myself to you!" Tifa huffed as she stormed to the opposite side of the cave and sat down with her arms and legs crossed.

"I'm serious," Cloud told her. "I mean, it's been so long, why come here now?"

"Isn't that reason enough?" Tifa sighed. Wearily, she balanced her head on her knees, but she kept talking. "It's been two years, Cloud- two, long tortuous years. Ever since that day you left, I kept waiting for you to come back...but you never did. Is it so odd that I would seek you out?"

"I suppose not," Cloud replied thoughtfully.

"Is that all you can say?" Tifa countered. "Don't you owe me an explanation of some sort?"

"No, I don't think so."

Tifa glanced up to look at him. She was trying very hard to hide the distressed look that must be showing on her face, but it didn't seem to be working very well. "Can't you...can't you at least pretend to be happy to see me?"

"Too much has happened since then, Tifa," Cloud explained firmly. "No matter how I may feel now, there are still too many things left undone. That's why I need to be alone. Surely you've felt it: the planet is in danger once more, but I don't know how to help."

"That's what your friends are for, Cloud! We'd all be happy to help you, and you know that! Why would you push us away so easily?"

Cloud merely shook his head in response. "You don't understand. Something so powerful is brewing that even I may not be able to survive it."

"That's a stupid thing to say," Tifa scolded. "You just beat to royal tar outta me."

"The world is constantly evolving," Cloud said lowly. "To some extent, I have been caught up in the evolution, but you seem to have been left behind. Our new enemy is stronger than anything we ever faced in the past. That's why it's better for me to try..." he trailed off.

"All alone?" Tifa finished his sentence for him. "You were our leader, but you were also our friend. You know that any of us would gladly sacrifice our lives for you, Cloud."

"That's exactly what would happen if any of you were anywhere near me," he stated. Quickly getting to his feet, he walked to the entrance of the cave so that he could look outside.

"I don't care what you think," Tifa told him brusquely, "but I'm gonna stay with you! If there's anything I can do- even if it's only something small or stupid- then I want to be there for you!"

"I don't want you to be there for me," Cloud contradicted hotly. "Our conversation is over, Tifa. If you do not leave, I will have to force you to go and...I do not want to force you."

Tifa stared coldly at his back. "Fine," she said steadfastly. "Just answer me one question: two years ago you said that you loved me. Was that all a lie, or did you really mean it?"

He wasn't quick to reply, but she saw his shoulders sag ever so slightly. "I..." he said unsteadily. "I can't answer that question right now, Tifa." Turning to look at her, he smiled gently- the first time he'd done so since she'd found him. "However, I can try to help you so that if things really do get terrible, you'll be able to withstand the onslaught."

"You might as well not even bother," Tifa said bitterly. "I've been practicing martial arts all my life, and I've reached a plateau. There's no chance I could ever be as good as you."

Cloud didn't bother replying. Instead, he walked over to where Tifa was sitting and, grabbing her hands, pulled her out to the mouth of the cave.

"What are you doing?" Tifa barked, snatching her hand away from Cloud's.

"Shh," he commanded, holding a finger up to his lips. Then, slowly, he cupped his hands together and stood still for a long moment.

Tifa was about to go back into the cave, but then she saw something that froze her feet to the ground: there, in the palm of Cloud's hands, began to shine a pale light that cast an eerie green shadow on everything nearby.

Tifa couldn't take her eyes away from the swirling green mass. So entranced was she by the shifting layers and wavy patters that she was barely able to find her voice. "What materia is that?" she whispered softly.

"No materia," Cloud explained just as softly. "Do you know what this is?"

Tifa shook her head, gasping slightly when the green light left his hands and floated over towards her face. The warmth that radiated from it was unlike anything she'd ever felt before- not like a fire's warmth, but more like a nurturing tenderness. "Lifestream?" Tifa said with a dreamlike voice.

"Yes," Cloud affirmed. He withdrew his hands and the light faded away as quickly as it had appeared.

"Is that how you were able to move so quickly?" Tifa asked forcefully.

Cloud nodded. "The power of the planet flows through my veins. With it, I am able to far surpass the abilities of any normal human being."

"I don't understand," Tifa shook her head. "How can any of that possibly help me?"

"The same power flows within you, Tifa," Cloud explained quietly. "That time, two years ago, you fell into the lifestream along with me. I think it probably takes awhile for the effects to surface, which would explain why they didn't show immediately afterwards."

"If that's true," Tifa said cautiously, "then how come I can't do the things you can do?"

"I wasn't able to get to this point on my own," Cloud told her. "Unlike you, I have been injected with the cells of Jenova. With the added effect of the lifestream I..."

"Yes?" Tifa pressed. "You what, Cloud?"

"I-I can't really explain it well. I can see things, Tifa," Cloud confessed to her. "I can hear things, too. The planet breathing, your heart beating...the cries of humanity..."

"You can hear people crying?!" Tifa inhaled sharply.

"Not in a physical sense!" Cloud corrected quickly. "It's more like an impression. I can feel an oppression- a malignant presence looming over them."

"Cloud, who told you all of this?" Tifa asked. Something was definitely wrong, here. Everything that Cloud was saying didn't make any sense. She didn't have superhuman powers! What a ludicrous idea!

"Aeris told me."

Tifa choked at his answer. "W-What?! Cloud, Aeris is dead!"

"I know she's dead," Cloud told her. "Didn't I say that through Jenova and the lifestream's combined power I was able to see and hear things? It was Aeris who helped me get to where I am now."

"How can that be?" Tifa rasped. Her head was swooning, and she had to sit down before her legs collapsed.

"After He killed Aeris, her body returned to the lifestream. But because Holy would only work through the intercession of a third party's prayers, she remained there until Holy had accomplished its task. However, the way she described it to me, she heard the planet's cries as it gave birth to an even greater threat than Meteor. Now that she is no longer alive, though, she needed someone to fight on the planet's behalf once again."

"And she chose you," Tifa said under her breath.

"Yes. She showed me how to use the power of the planet that lay dormant within me. She did say something rather odd, though..."

"Oh? More odd than hallucinating a dead woman?"

Cloud ignored her comment and continued. "She said that through me, she would gather the strength the planet needed in order to survive this final conflict."

"But you said that even you may not survive this battle," Tifa pointed out.

"That's why I can't understand why she'd say something like that," Cloud agreed.

Suddenly, Tifa's eyes grew wide, but she quickly hid her emotion so as not to attract Cloud's attention. Finally, she understood what had happened back in Midgar!

In the same way that Sephiroth had projected images of himself throughout their journey, Aeris used the dormant power within Cloud to project mental images of himself to her. Tifa assumed that she was also responsible for the note that Vincent found in his room, as well.

Tifa smiled inwardly. "Thank you, Aeris," she said to herself. "Thanks to you, we may just be able to pull this off." Tifa decided against telling Cloud that Aeris had summoned her here against his will- at least for now. Perhaps once he had warmed up to her a bit more she might run it by him.

"It's so ironic," Cloud chuckled dryly. "It seems that it's our destiny to fight for this planet until we die."

He certainly had a point. "I kinda thought that once he'd died it would all be over," Tifa admitted.

"Hardly," Cloud snorted. "I was injected with Jenova's cells the same as Him- as long as I am alive, Jenova is alive as well. Any one person who carries her cells is His progeny. No doubt He'll use that influence to bend others to His will."

"Then even in death he haunts us," Tifa commented mostly to herself.

Cloud nodded slowly. "Go rest, Tifa," he said quietly. "In the morning I'll do what I can to make you stronger. Once we've finished, though, you must promise me that you will leave."

Tifa would rather bite off her tongue and swallow it than promise such a thing! Still, it seemed that this was the only way she would be able to stay with him, at least for the time being. "I promise," she said firmly.

Sensing that their conversation had thus ended, Tifa retreated to the inner cavern and all but collapsed onto the blankets. Whatever it was Cloud had in store for her, it sounded like it would be difficult. She wasn't nearly as fast or powerful as he was, and yet he expected her to be able to reasonably defend herself against someone like him? Hell, she couldn't even see him move- much less defend herself against him!

Rolling onto her side, Tifa slowly fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, she awoke bright and early although she didn't feel very rested. As she'd expected, Cloud was sitting with his back against the wall near the cave's mouth. She slowly tiptoed over to him and poked his shoulder.

No response.

Resting her palm against his upper arm, Tifa gave him a hefty shove that sent him rolling to the side.

"W-Whoa!" he gasped as his eyes darted open and he extended his arms in an effort to catch himself. He shot Tifa a vicious glance, but she merely smiled.

"You didn't really think I was gonna let you sleep in, did you?" Tifa chuckled.

"There are more considerate ways of waking a person up," Cloud retorted as he stood and brushed off his outfit. "I guess it's good you got me up early, though. The sooner we get finished with this, the better."

"Soo..." Tifa mused as she followed Cloud out of the cave and towards the mountain's peak. "What exactly are we gonna do?"

"First things first," Cloud said firmly. "You have to be able to manipulate the energy inside of you. It's actually quite easy once you get the hang of it."

"Somehow I doubt t-that," Tifa stammered as she stumbled over a loose rock.

"No, it really is. You already know how to use materia, don't you?"

"Of course! I know it's been a while since you last saw me, but you don't really think I'd forget something like that do you?"

"All right, all right, calm down. I didn't mean it as an insult. Sheesh," Cloud sighed. "Well, when you use a materia, you're drawing on the power and knowledge of the Ancients, right?"

"What of it?"

"Quite simply, you have that power within yourself now, so all you need to do is channel it without the aid of a materia crystal."

Tifa blinked. "Wait a minute...that's it?"

"Yeah."

"That's all you have to do to be able to do the things you did last night?"

"...yup."

"But!" Tifa protested. "No materia gives a person the speed and agility (or strength for that matter) you had!"

"Normal materia can't, you're absolutely right," Cloud agreed. "The source you're pulling the energy from is simply too small. However, the concentrated effect of the lifestream inside your body is ten- no, maybe fifty times stronger than any normal materia."

Now Tifa was starting to get interested. The fighting spirit inside of her was all too eager to learn how to exploit this energy to make her even stronger. "So tell me," she said quickly, "what do I have to do to use the lifestream?"

"Hold on a minute," Cloud said as he stepped up onto the summit of the mountain range and sat down on its surface. "Now then, sit down here," he instructed.

"Yes, sir," Tifa remarked acrimoniously as she took a seat across from Cloud.

"Good. Now, rest your elbows at your side, but extend your arms towards me."

Tifa did as she was told and waited for him to give her his next command.

Cloud moved his arm so that the palm of his left hand was touching the back of Tifa's; however, his right hand he set in the opposite position: the back of his hand resting in Tifa's palm.

Tifa couldn't help but laugh at the situation she was now in. "Cloud, you're joking, right? This is a game I used to play as a little girl."

"No, I'm being perfectly serious. I know it may look stupid, but I think it may be the fastest way to learn. Concentrate on your movements and try to increase your own speed as if you had used a haste materia. Now, try to slap my hand."

"All right," Tifa sighed, not all too enthused about the idea of playing kiddy games on a mountaintop.

"Wait."

Tifa looked up at him expectantly.

"Every time you miss, you have to do twenty pushups," Cloud grinned fiendishly at her.

"Whatever," Tifa waved his comment away. "I'll get this down by my sixth try! You wait and see!"

Ten tries later, and Tifa's arms were beginning to get tired from doing all the pushups.

"Dammit!" she wheezed, "what am I doing wrong?!" Whenever she tried to make a move it was like Cloud's hand phased out of sight completely before instantaneously appearing near his side- all while her eyes were wide open!

"You aren't concentrating hard enough," Cloud told her. "You still think it's too easy. You need to take it more seriously if you ever want to do it."

"I am concentrating!" Tifa whined.

Thinking he was off guard, she quickly made another attempt at hitting Cloud's hands, but to no avail.

She looked at him wearily, but Cloud merely smiled and pointed to the area where she had been doing pushups the entire morning. Groaning, Tifa slowly made her way over and began counting aloud.

"You can't think of it as just a mental trigger," Cloud explained. "Even with a materia, you have to focus your energy into it and will it to activate. If you can just try to imagine your body as one, big, giant materia then you'll make it a lot easier on yourself."

"Oh...yeah?" Tifa huffed. "How long...did it take you...to get this?"

"About a week," came his swift reply.

"A week?!" It had hardly been half a day and already she was so fatigued she could barely move.

"Don't worry," Cloud assured her. "I have food and water. There's a waterfall near the eastern ridge that you can bathe in...without too much loss of privacy, anyway."

"Hmph," Tifa grunted. If he was trying to scare her away, it wasn't going to work. Having finished her 'punishment', Tifa made her way back to Cloud and extended her hands once more.

"Uh, you sure you don't wanna take a break or something?" Cloud asked lightly. "You look like you're about to collapse."

"I can keep going!" Tifa replied hotly. "I'm not that weak!"

"Whatever," Cloud shrugged. "You still have to do pushups if you miss."

Tifa ignored his comment and looked down at their hands. Imagine her body as a huge materia? That was a dumb parallelism. Still, everything she'd tried up to this point hadn't worked at all, so maybe...

"Okay, Tifa, just do what you do when you're using materia," she told herself firmly. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to imagine that there was a materia inside of her body that she was trying to activate. That made sense, didn't it? The thing she was going for here was speed, so maybe a haste spell...

Letting out a heavy sigh, Tifa opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. She didn't feel any different. Dammit, this was all bunk! She would never get the hang of this.

Out of spite, she made one last effort for Cloud's hand, but she nearly fell over when her vision became blurry and convoluted. Leaning forward on her hands, Tifa heaved until the momentary sickness passed.

"God...dammit," she murmured under her breath. She'd missed again and now she was starting to get dizzy spells from sitting under this hot sun for the whole freakin' day!

Looking up at Cloud, she saw that he was looking down at her firmly.

"What? Yeah, I missed, so what?" she spat as she returned to sitting on her knees. "Nobody's perfect!"

"Tifa-"

"No, just don't say anything, Cloud! This is stupid! I'm never going to be able to get the hang of this!"

"No, but listen-"

"No, you listen, Cloud!" Tifa countered childishly.

"...you almost got me..."

"It's impossible for me to d-wh-what did you just say...?"

Cloud let out a small chuckle. "I said you almost got me. I didn't think you'd do it this soon, so I wasn't ready."

Tifa furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait a minute, you're not kidding?"

Cloud shook his head.

"Then what was that double-vision thing?" Tifa asked. "I thought I was gonna die for a second! That was the worst feeling in the world!"

"It's just a side effect," Cloud remarked with a smirk. "Your eyes aren't used to you moving that quickly with a haste spell, so your brain couldn't register the movement."

"So...I actually moved kinda fast?" Tifa asked hopefully.

"No," Cloud returned flatly. "But you're getting the hang of it, and that's a start."

"Oh," Tifa said dejectedly as she hung her head. "So is it like that for you, too, then?"

"Since I'm used to it I can see normally whenever I'm moving that fast," Cloud told her. "Once you can sustain that speed, you'll get used to it very...very fast, believe me."

The motion sickness had now completely passed, so now Tifa was eager to try again. She held her arms out and waited patiently for Cloud, but he merely shook his head.

"What?"

He pointed to that damnable place on the rock and said: "You owe me twenty pushups."

Tifa gave him a look that could've melted steel, but she complied. "Don't think I'll forget this when I'm as strong and fast as you!" she said venomously.

"I'll be looking forward to the challenge," Cloud replied easily.

Near the end of the day, Tifa had gotten over the sickness that usually accompanied her increased speed, and yet it still wasn't nearly fast enough to win Cloud's game. Her arms and just about every other part of her body ached. When it had gotten to the point where she could no longer move her arms to do pushups, Cloud had switched it to sit-ups; then, leg lifts. Needless to say, Tifa was now thoroughly drenched in sweat and all too eager to end the training session.

"One more time," Cloud said jovially, "and then we can stop. I won't even make you do an exercise."

Tifa groaned. The strain of constantly using up her mental stamina was taking its toll as well. Figuring one more try wouldn't do any harm, Tifa held out her arms and- concentrating once more- attempted to slap Cloud's hand, but to no avail.

"Don't worry about it," Cloud said after a long moment of silence. "You may not be able to tell, but you're getting much faster. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised you even got this far on your first day."

"Can...can I go to sleep, now?" Tifa said groggily. Her eyelids were so heavy that she could barely keep them lifted.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You wanna sleep up here on top of the mountain?"

"Who cares?" Tifa yawned as she leaned back and tried to go to sleep where she was sitting. "I can't...get down the cliff like this."

"Fine," Cloud chuckled. Getting to his feet, he leaned over Tifa and lifted her up, cradling her in his arms.

Tifa would have protested, but she was simply too tired. That, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity for a free ride back down to her bed. She may have been too tired to move, but she knew that sleeping on the rock face wouldn't be any fun at all.

"What's that noise?" Tifa asked softly.

Cloud listened intently for a few moments before he spoke. "Oh, that's just some stupid animal that lives up here."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Well," Cloud replied, "it tried to attack me when I first came here, but...well, let's just say I decided to leave it alive to keep other people away. It stopped bothering me all together after that first night."

"Charming," Tifa said dryly. "You sure have a way with words, Cloud."

"Still, it's kinda funny that it's moving about this early. Usually it only comes out at night."

"And that's supposed to mean what? That it's stalking somebody?"

Cloud noticed the death glare she was giving him, so he sighed, "All right, all right, fine! We'll go and check it out. You have to walk on your own, though."

"Deal," Tifa agreed as Cloud set her down onto her feet. Though it was only for a short while, the time she spent off of her feet helped replenish a bit of her energy- enough to move around, at least.

She hadn't gone farther than two steps, though, before she heard a muffled thump. Glancing over to see where it was, she let out a quick gasp and took a step backwards.

"What?" Cloud asked, looking behind him. Following Tifa's gaze, his eyes hardened at the sight that lay before him.

There, on the ground, was the head of a large rapps. Its jaws were open wide and the nostrils still flared slightly for a few moments before the beasts eyes grew dim as it passed away.

Cloud turned around and looked up to see a lone figure sitting on the rock face, staring directly back at him. Covered in blood that was not his own, the lone man looked down with a serene grin plastered on his face.

"It seems the poor creature didn't like strangers," he spoke melodically.