Author Note: I'd like to stop briefly and thank all the readers that have left me reviews. It's your responses that keep me writing, guys! Oh, and a special thank you and shot out to Yunie Tidus, who's been with me since chapter one of Unanswered Prayers. I'm glad you like these stories, Yunie! Thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter 7

Tifa kept walking. She felt tired, but she knew she couldn't sit down and rest in this place. She had to find out what was being hidden all the way down here, then she had to go back home to Michael and Kali and protect them. Her heart ached as she thought of the child that she had recklessly given away; she hadn't checked for proof, background, nothing. And now, Gabriel was dead. It kept ringing in her head like a siren each time she thought it, and eventually, tears returned to her eyes. She hurriedly wiped them away and straightened, looking out at the trail stretched out before her. It wove in and out of the green glow from the Lifestream and reached far off into the unpierced darkness. She let out a sharp exhale of breath and slumped against the rock wall, closing her eyes. This was taking forever.

A soft, whimpering sound came from around a bend in the path. She jumped and stepped carefully out, edging toward the ledge and peering around the turn. A child sat in the darkness, hunched over and rocking slightly back and forth on the balls of their feet. Tifa gasped softly and stepped out onto the next part of the path, tiptoeing silently to where the child was huddled.

"Hey..." she called softly. "It's okay, everything's fine. I can help you out of this place." They stopped rocking. "That's it," she extended a hand slowly. "That's right, it's okay. Turn around slowly and we can get out of here together, okay?" The child hesitated, then turned their face up to hers. His eyes were glassy and glimmered bright green in the darkness, making his entire face strikingly pale. Tifa let out a cry and withdrew her hand quickly.

"What's the matter, Tifa?" Gabriel spoke in a tiny voice. "You can't bear to touch me anymore? Ever since you killed me?"

Tifa backed away. "No! No, I didn't! I didn't know--!"

"Michael warned you, didn't he? He told you they were coming for me," the figure of the eight year old stood and followed her progression backwards.

"I didn't know what he was saying!" she cried, scurrying back even further. "It was your sister! She..." He drew even closer. Tifa sobbed and nearly fell back as her heels scraped the edge of the rock path hanging over the Lifestream.

"You killed me, Tifa," Gabriel said, advancing still. "And now, I'm going to kill you."

"Gabriel, stop!" she pleaded. "This isn't you! I know it isn't! Gabriel was kind and loving and would never think of hurting anyone!"

"You're right," he stopped in front of her, looking up at her with his haunting eyes. "I'm not the Gabriel you knew. That Gabriel was alive."

And he shoved her over the side.

Cloud Strife paused, tilting his head slightly as the echo of voices floated up to them from ahead. Michael's head snapped up and he yanked his hand from the older man's dashing ahead.

"W-Wait!" Cloud started into a run after him. A woman's shriek suddenly rang out through the darkness, making the Lifestream below tremble, and he gasped--that could have only come from one person. Rounding a corner, he saw Michael kneeling at the ledge, looking down at the green river below. There was an audible splash and Michael visibly winced. Cloud threw himself on his knees beside the boy and looked over the side, leaning as far out as he possibly could.

"Was that...?" he asked, knowing what the answer would be before he opened his mouth.

Michael nodded.

Cloud stood and quickly debated whether or not he should take Michael along any further. The boy had proven useful this far, and perhaps his strange powers could be used farther along the journey. But he couldn't just dive into the Lifestream with him, it would damage him. He wanted desperately to check on Tifa and try to get her out, but he knew she could take care of herself, while this boy couldn't control his powers to save his life. Cloud sighed in frustration and turned back to Michael, who was standing beside him and watching his face closely.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. Cloud shook his head and gently ruffled the younger boy's hair, giving a reassuring smile.

"We'll go to where she is," he assured. "If I traveled here from the Northern Crater, then that must be where she's headed."

"Can we get there in time?" Michael asked weakly.

"You can't see that in the future?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"I don't see anything. Just blackness."

Cloud bit his lip and took the boy's hand, leading him back the way they came. He didn't say it out loud, and he tried not to think it clearly, but, he had the feeling that the blackness Michael saw meant the boy would not live to see the future.

Tifa felt her lungs screaming for air. She had been holding her breath since she had hit the mako stream in the underground room, and her eyes were tightly squeezed shut. She didn't want it in her at all; the Lifestream would poison her like it had Cloud a year ago. She needed to get to the bottom of this before anything else. Why had she seen Gabriel? Why had he hated her? It couldn't have been her fault, could it...? She gagged and was quickly reminded that her body needed air. Tears slipped from beneath her closed eyelids and they were lost in the current of the green nothingness surrounding her. Her chest convulsed and she abruptly released her breath, trying to move her hands up to clasp over her mouth but she couldn't. Her eyes shot open as a stream of the mako filled her lungs and she cried harder. That's it. I'm done for. Then she exhaled. It was like a wave of fresh air that poured into her body. Her eyesight sharpened. She blinked and looked down at herself. She was suspended within the depths of the Lifestream, arms extended slightly, legs out behind her, her hair waving gently in the wake of the river's current. It was as if she were drifting along underwater, not in the blood of the planet. But for all that, she was frozen, all save for her eyes, which darted back and forth trying to examine everything around her. Orbs and streamers and tiny points of light all swirled and flitted past her, moving ahead in the stream, in the direction she was being carried. Where she was going to end up, Tifa had absolutely no idea. She wondered briefly why the Lifestream hadn't poisoned or killed her, and then she recalled the incident a year ago. She had actually fallen into the Lifestream with Cloud, and they had come out alive, together. Her eyes widened--that's why she could understand what that imposter woman was saying while the owner of the General Store couldn't! She had been in the Lifestream, she could understand its sounds and shrieks, so what sounded like garbled static to others sounded like words to her! Which meant that the things that were hunting Cloud and had taken Gabriel were things that came from the LIfestream. Meaning, dead things. Dead people. And that's what the Xero Faction was; nothing but spirits reanimated with the power of the Lifestream. But who, in their right minds, would meddle with the Lifestream like this?

Her thoughts suddenly turned to the story Cloud had told her the night he arrived. Last night (only?). Aeris Gainsborough, her best friend, was commanding an army of evil spirits. It didn't make sense at all, like Gabriel's ghost attacking her didn't make sense. They were malicious ghosts, with a taste for revenge. This was entirely planned by whoever was behind all this. She just had to discover who it was and free Aeris and Gabriel.

Tifa closed her eyes. Where was Cloud now? Did he know what kind of trouble she was in? Was he coming to save her? She lowered her eyes--hoping and knowing were two totally different things. She could hope all she wanted that Cloud was on his way to rescue her, but she didn't know, and that made her sad. She should have told him what she knew, what she had seen. She should have gone back for him, and now, what a fine mess she had gotten herself into.

Tifa...

She blinked. That voice...

Tifa...

Her eyes darted around for the source. She should have placed it by now...

My sweet little Tifa...

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes again: Mama?

Oh, Tifa. I'm so glad you're alright.

Mama! Mama, is that really you?

It is. I'm glad you can still remember my voice.

What's going on here, mama? Why can't I see you?

I'm just a memory, an imprint. I'm in the Lifestream, just like you are. Except you still have your physical body.

How are we talking?

Now that you are in the stream too, we are connected. I am speaking into you, as you are into me.

Is Papa here too? She suddenly got excited.

I'm right here, baby.

Tifa didn't think she could have been any happier than she was at that moment: Papa...?

You've grown up so much, Tifa, the male voice pushed into her thoughts.

I thought I'd never see you guys ever again...

We're glad we found you again, Tifa, her mother spoke up.

And as if to make everything right in the world, she heard the voice of her old master.

Tifa! My most prized and wonderful student!

M-Master Zangan!

You've blossomed into a beautiful young lady. I bet you that spikey-headed boy is positively bewitched by you.

Cloud... Tifa blinked.

We're so happy you're back with us, her mother's voice cooed. But now, she felt uneasy.

Mama, Papa, Master Zangan, it's wonderful to hear you all again, but... But I have to get back to Cloud. He doesn't know what's going on...

What is going on, dear? her mother asked. You can't tell us about it?

I... and TIfa suddenly found that she couldn't remember what she needed to talk to Cloud about. She could barely remember why she was here... where was she?

Stay with us, Tifa, her father pleaded. There's nothing left for you back there.

Back where? But, I really think I have to go do something important...

Zangan's voice came again: You're here now, Tifa. With the people you care about.

The people I care about... An image of a tall, handsome blond with piercing blue eyes flashed across her vision. She couldn't recall his name, but she had the feeling she knew him. Intimately. I...I have to go back...

Stay, Tifa... And now hands were touching her arms and legs, pulling her deeper into the Lifestream. Stay with us...

Her eyes closed and she gave in, letting them pull her farther into the depths of the planet.