Chapter 8

NO! a small, desperate voice broke her trance. Tifa, you have to fight them! You have to go back! You can't die here!

Die...? her eyes slowly opened. A sudden darkness sprawled across her vision, and in its depths, she saw three vague, wispy figures, all beconing to her. The voice came again, this time as if from above her.

Fight, Tifa! You have to fight! You have to come back!

Who...are you...?

Tifa, fight it! Come back! COME BACK!

An invisible hand grabbed her own. The shadows beneath her wailed angrily and lashed out with their own invisible claws, grabbing her legs and pulling her back down. She was being dragged toward the blackness--a deep, eerie darkness that looked like a mouth that could swallow her whole. She suddenly didn't want to go there, for more than one reason. That blond man kept coming back to haunt her vision. For some reason, she wanted to see him in person, and knew she would if she just lived past this.

That's it, Tifa! Come back. Cloud and Michael are waiting for you.

She kicked the groping arms away and let the other presence lift her back into the gentle light green current of the Lifestream. They released her when they were a safe distance up and the blackness had disappeared from view. Vaguely, a shape of a person descended in front of her eyes, and she gasped in recognition as all her memories came flooding back to her.

Gabriel!

I'm glad I could help you one last time, Tifa, he smiled faintly at her, his image already fading in the swirl of the ever-moving stream.

But...I'm so sorry, Gabe, she lowered her eyes. I'm sorry I didn't take better care of you. I'm sorry I let you die.

It wasn't your fault, Tifa, he was almost completely gone now. I thought it was my sister too, and then, she put me under a spell, and... The last thing she saw was his smile. Thank you, Tifa. Thank you for being my mother, my sister, and my friend. Tell Michael too. I love you, Tifa...

She felt the tears sliding down her cheeks again and she managed to smile at the empty stream.

Oh, Gabe. Thank you...and I'm so sorry...

Michael stared apprehensively at the golden bird as it munched on the chocobo treat Cloud had fed it. The blond turned to the little boy and lifted an eyebrow.

"What? You've never ridden a chocobo before?" he asked him. Michael shook his head and Cloud took the reigns, guiding Aurelia over to the hesitant child. "Chocobos are just big birds," he shrugged. "They don't eat humans or anything, just greens. They're gentle and they run really fast and really far. This particular chocobo can even run on water."

"Run on water?" Michael blinked. Aurelia warked and gently nipped at Michael's dirty blond hair. He laughed and touched her gold feathers timidly.

"She likes you," Cloud grinned and lifted himself up onto the animal's back. He held out a hand and Michael reached up after petting the large bird on the head. Cloud pulled him up easily and settled the boy in front of him, reaching around his shoulders and taking the reigns with both hands. "With Aurelia," he explained, "we'll make excellent time to the crater. We may even get there before Tifa, which is good. It gives us a chance to find the stream it connects to."

"I can't hear Tifa's heartbeat," Michael said in response and Cloud bit his lip slightly.

"She's just too far into the planet, that's all," he spoke aloud to assure the boy and himself. "We'll see her again on the other side."

"I hope you're not being cryptic about that," Michael said and Cloud laughed, snapping the reigns. Aurelia warked again and sped off toward the large shadow of the Northern Crater.

Tifa kept floating. She didn't know how long she had been in the Lifestream, and she didn't know when she would be able to leave it. Her eyes had been semi-closed since the close encounter and the last talk with Gabriel. She had been thinking about a lot of things, almost all of them about this situation with the Xero Faction. And Aeris. What was she going to do about Aeris? She hoped, with a little bit of sarcasm, that Aeris' spirit would make a cameo appearance so she could find out what the hell was going on. And right on cue, came Aeris' voice in her head.

All you had to do was ask.

Aeris! Tifa choked on the green mako liquid.

Hi, Tifa.

Aeris, what the hell is going on here?

It's a long story, her voice sounded beyond dejected. Tifa lost the sudden flare of animosity she had felt for the other woman since Cloud had told her what had happened in the crater.

It's not you commanding the troops, is it? Please, tell me it's not... Tifa pleaded.

It is, and it is not, Aeris' voice sighed in her head. The voice that commands the Xero Faction is indeed my own, but it is only my essence, not me myself that does it.

I don't understand, Tifa blinked.

Someone with knowledge of the Lifestream's secrets has found out how to revive souls that belong to the planet, she explained. It is an ancient magic that was discarded long ago because it turned the spirits into malicious ghosts. So, when a person of the Cetra revived the spirit, it turned on them and others it had once loved. Because of their memories, they target the people close to them.

So this spell basically turns love into hate.

That's the theory.

And, someone used it on you?

And many others. It's an entire army of hate-filled ghosts. They will soon be unleashed upon the planet and everything living will soon be destroyed.

Who would want something like that? Tifa gasped.

Can you think of no one? Aeris said softly. Can't you think of anyone that hates you and Cloud so much, that they use me to command the army? That they sent the ghosts of your children's family to take them and turn them against you.

Tifa had an idea, but... I thought we...

He is alive, Tifa, Aeris confirmed. When Cloud defeated him in the Lifestream, Sephiroth got his wish and assimilated with the planet's power. Using his newfound knowlede, he extracted this spell to take revenge on you and Cloud, and even myself, even though I am already dead.

And when everyone has died? When everyone's spirit is here?

He'll rule them with the ultimate power he has obtained from the Lifestream.

What about the Promised Land? Tifa suddenly remembered. Did he find it?

Only I know where the Promised Land is, the other woman assured. But if my spirit is destroyed by Sephiroth, that knowledge will be lost and then returned to the planet, where he will obtain it at last.

So, his main goal is still the Promised Land!

I have an idea, Tifa, Aeris spoke up hesitantly. But, I'm afraid to suggest it...

I'll do it, Aeris! I'll help you! I'll do anything to stop Sephiroth again!

...Tifa, it requires that your soul is removed from your body.

And you'll take my soul's place, am I right? Tifa guessed. Since you're in a body, Sephiroth won't be able to track you.

Yes, but, if he senses you in the Lifestream instead, he'll know what we've done.

So, I just can't be here.

But spirits can survive long outside the planet's Lifestream, not even my own.

So, how much time would I have outside of the Lifestream then?

I can't guarantee it, but, approximately twelve hours.

So, we have twelve hours after this to find out a way to defeat Sephiroth again, for good.

I understand if you don't want to--

I'll do it.

Tifa...

Tifa suddenly grinned: I can protect you. I couldn't do that before, but now I can, and I will. And while you're in my body, I'll find Cloud and tell him the situation. He'll help when he finds out the truth.

Tifa... Thank you.

Just tell me what to do, Aeris.

Take my hand...

And there was a hand there, reaching out to her. Tifa squeezed her eyes shut and used every ounce of strength she possessed to lift her fingers to the other woman's. She slowly felt her arm rising reluctantly and she pushed it even harder, letting her fingertips brush against the ghost ones. Her entire body suddenly felt like it was waking up; the pins and needles feeling gushed out from the center of her chest to all points on the body and she tried squirming fruitlessly. Her skin began to burn and she opened her mouth to wail in pain, but suddenly it felt as if she were being pulled in two separate directions. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at her own face, pale and a sickly green color in the Lifestream. She saw her own eyes open, saw they were green instead of the amber she had always had. And the green-eyed Tifa winked at her. Then the eyes closed and the body let itself be pulled off in the current of the stream (because now, suddenly, Tifa could move and resist the movement of the river with ease). A voice floated back to her, but this time, it fell on her ears instead of forcing its way into her head.

Good luck, Tifa! I won't let Sephiroth touch your body as long as it is in my care, I promise!

Tifa looked down at her hands, which she lifted up to eye level slowly. She could see right through them. She blinked and looked down at her own transparent figure.

I wish Cloud could see me now, she thought, and then she was rushing up, out of the Lifestream, through the rock ground, through the layer of dirt and grass and suddenly she was up in the fields, overlooking the Northern Ocean. She knew that because the Nibel Mountain Range was at her back, and the forests and snowfields that lay to the north were evident in the early afternoon sunshine. She saw a speck of gold rushing into the water and above it, causing a small wake behind it as it shot for the Northern Continent and the crater. She hesitantly tried to move forward, and she realized that all she had to do was think of a direction and she was going. She followed after the golden blur, arching downward so she was level with the ground and the ocean. As she closed the distance between them, she realized the golden streak was a chocobo, and two people were riding it--a man and a boy. Both were blond; the man with shocking spikes and the boy with trimmed, dirty blond locks. Cloud and Michael! Now if only she could get their attention...