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.
