Tifa Lockheart stared up at the black sky above her, blinking slowly.
"What happened?"
A huge red and gold bird suddenly streaked through the air above her. She sat up and stared at it, making out the fiery wings and rainbow tail.
"The Phoenix?"
"That's right; it is the Phoenix."
Tifa turned to the voice: "Who's there?"
Aeris Gainsborough smiled at her. She scrambled to her feet and stood face to face with the spirit of the other girl.
"Aeris! Where am I! What are you doing here!"
"You're in the Promise Land, Tifa."
Tifa blinked and looked around. "This...? This is the Promise Land!"
"Yes," Aeris nodded. "You are here because you have died."
Tifa was a little shocked to hear it, but at the same time knew it was true.
"So, what happens now?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"You are now part of the planet–you cannot return to the world of the living."
The young women stared at one another for a few tense moments. Tifa shuddered and looked back up, where she now saw NeoBahamut and BahamutZERO chasing after the Phoenix across the dark sky.
"Why are the summoning creatures here?"
"Summons, like you might have guessed, come from the planet. There is a very long story behind them which concerns the Cetra."
"What is it?" Tifa sat in the cool grass again. Aeris swirled her skirt and knelt before her, smoothing out the wrinkles and brushing her hair back from her face. Tifa suddenly leaned over and touched Aeris's hand.
"Yes, I am actually here–this isn't a dream," Aeris smiled.
"Then how do you know what I'm about to ask you?" Tifa did not return the gesture.
"We are one now that we are both within the planet," the brown-haired girl explained. Tifa shook her head, sighing deeply.
"Maybe you should just tell me the story."
"Very well," Aeris nodded. "Long ago, when Gaia was still very young, the Cetra discovered a passageway into the Promise Land from the City of the Ancients. They called it the Gateway, and labeled each realm Inner and Outer World: Inner, being the Promise Land. Here is where the Entities of Time–the summons– roamed freely, protecting the world from any evil which threatened the people of Gaia. At one time, a great battle took place; so fierce that the planet shook itself apart. In order to save the crumbling world, the Entities encircled it with bands of their own life force. They flew around the planet faster and faster, until the mere speed of the forces themselves drew the planet back together and created the Lifestream.
"Since that time, the Ancients have always worshiped those gods whom sacrificed themselves to save our world. Each individual river of the Lifestream represents one of those gods–the Phoenix, Bahamut, Shiva, Ifrit...all of them. The Cetra harnessed the power from each 'stream' and created special red spheres which contained the life essence of each creature."
"Materia?" Tifa blinked.
"Correct," Aeris nodded. "As more people discovered the Ancient's technology, they mimicked the idea of containing magical abilities into orbs, which people later donned 'materias'. Because they began to see the wrongdoings of draining the blood–or mako energy–from the planet, the Cetra tried to put a stop to the makings of materia. They sealed off the entrance to the Inner Realm and hid their city behind spells and enchantments. However, the Ancients were slowly dying out. Soon there was only one left–my mother."
"Aeris..."
"So, that is the summarized tale of the gods and the Promise Land. That is why you are here–to help rejuvenate Gaia."
Tifa thought for a moment, then stood and stretched her back, her joints snapping loudly. Aeris watched her with her piercing, green-eyed gaze. Tifa rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck, popped her fingers, shook her hair out, then looked down at Aeris.
"I don't believe that."
"What?" the other girl tilted her head.
"That I'm stuck here–I don't believe it."
"Why not? You can't go back, can you?"
"That's what I have to find out."
Aeris's figure got to her feet: "You cannot go."
"Sorry, but I am going."
Tifa started in the opposite direction. There was a rushing sound behind her and she felt the thin edge of a long sword press against her back.
"You are going nowhere, Tifa."
She whirled back around to face the new person:
"Sephiroth!"
The man with the long silver hair laughed and pulled back the blade of his weapon, the Masamune.
"That's right. Now, is my opportunity to reveal the true power of the Promise Land to you."
She stepped back, clenching her fists. "I fought you once and I'll fight you again!"
Sephiroth laughed and she shuddered, but held up her fists and moved her feet into fighting position. He turned from her instead and lifted his arms toward the dark sky. A purple-rimmed hole appeared before them, and an image of Cloud Strife came into focus.
"Look at him running–running from his destiny," Sephiroth grinned darkly. "He still hides in his doubt, refusing to accept the truth."
"What truth!" she yelled, stomping her foot. Sephiroth turned back to her, but sheathed his blade.
"That he was chosen eons ago to go about the work of one the mightiest entity, BahamutZERO."
Tifa blinked. "Why BahamutZERO? And what do you mean Cloud was chosen–?"
"As all the Entities of Time were reincarnated, so was the one evil being they had defeated. Attributes of each summon were passed on to people, so none could completely forget the true power of the battle that had taken place."
Tifa blinked and stared at Cloud's image.
"You're telling me that Cloud is the reincarnation of the evil which almost destroyed the planet!"
"Yes," the man in the black armor grinned, waving his arm and shattering the picture of the mercenary. "And that is why Hojo created the clones–so he could bring out the hidden powers within Cloud and yourself."
"Myself!"
"Why do you think only your two clones were developed differently?"
She snarled loudly at him, turning and starting to run away. "I won't believe it!"
"But you have to. It is indeed the truth."
Tifa turned quickly, striking another fighting stance, then almost screamed.
"Bugenhagen!"
The old man in the purple robe smiled and bowed to her.
"Yes, it is me."
"Bugenhagen, this can't be true! Cloud's not...I'm not–!"
"Evil?"
"Exactly!"
"My dear, there is not much difference between evil and good."
Confused, Tifa watched him float around her in his naturally mysterious way, then look up at the black sky.
"How can you say that!" she yelped.
"Tell me, what do you fight for?"
"Well, for myself...and to avenge the deaths of those I have lost–"
"Now, tell me what Sephiroth's motives were."
"To destroy the planet–"
"What for?"
"To create a perfect world for...himself." She understood. But it was so strange and surreal that she had to ask again: "But if good and evil are the same, why do they conflict?"
"Ah, very good question," the old man smiled. "And to answer, I shall use Cloud as the example."
"Was what Sephiroth said really true?"
He nodded: "The dragon god gave that boy an awesome power...as the Phoenix God's powers reside in you."

Tifa looked down at her hands, which were trembling.
"I'm...a reincarnation of the Phoenix?"
"Now, to answer your question: is Cloud evil?"
"No!" she cried. "No! He's kind and sweet and brave and...and I love him. I can't love someone who's evil!"
"So what do you think about the good and evil system now?"
"...were the other summons evil when they were Gods?"
Bugenhagen shook his head.
"For the most part, all of the Gods were righteous and noble. There were the exceptions of course, like Bahamut and its first offspring, NeoBahamut, and Hades...but they all had immense power–that I can assure you of."
"So then why did they all fight against BahamutZERO?" Tifa knelt in the grass before Nanaki's grandfather.
"Because they all believed in the same thing...Gaia and its people should live."
She thought hard as Bugenhagen floated past her and toward what seemed to be a small lake that had appeared before them. Tears fell rapidly down her flushed cheeks and she wiped them aside hastily. Her chest hitched once or twice, but she finally conjured the strength to look up. Bugenhagen had vanished.
Tifa gasped and got one foot under her, then her eyes were suddenly drawn toward the lake–as if they had been pulled. She crawled over to its edge instead and hesitantly peered down over the side. The water in the ground was a deep red; thick and dark like blood. Tifa slowly touched a finger to it and pulled away making a sound of disgust–it was blood! Shuddering in revulsion, she turned from the lake and sat beside it, clenching her fists in the cold dirt. Blades of grass tore from the ground and fell from her hands as she clenched and unclenched them, shaking and crying. Very faintly, she suddenly heard someone calling her name.
With a shriek she clamped her hands over her ears and curled her body inward:
"No! No, I can't take it any longer! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The calling continued. Tifa grabbed her ears and twisted them, trying pain to block out the sounds. She was sobbing uncontrollably, tears pouring from her eyes; still, the voice went on:
"Tifa..."
"NO!"
"Why did this have to happen..?"
"Leave me alone!"
"This can't be true..."
"Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!"
"I just wanted to tell you one thing.."
"NO MORE!"
"..for so long.."
She regressed to senseless mumbling, grasping her knees tightly and rocking back and forth.
"..and I can't now."
Tifa moaned and shook her head, biting convulsively on her bottom lip. Tiny beads of blood slid down her; there was silence. She stole a glance into the field, strands of her hair which had fallen loose shielding her face. The Phoenix sat before her some thirty yards away. She stared at the burning figure of the large firebird as it turned its narrow face to her. She gasped and shrunk away, but a thought suddenly struck her.