Disclaimer- I do not own FF7 or anything or anyone that has to do with it, Squaresoft does.

Chapter One: The Cetra and The Seraph

"Come to me, Aeris. Come to Crater. Come release me from this crystallized prison, wake me to life and all that you search for will be yours."

Aeris slowly awoke from a most hauntingly beautiful dream. She saw the world from space, the way her ancestors must have seen the planet centuries ago, a lifeless, empty void. The oceans were completely depleted, in place of the grasslands were bare, craggy rocks. The only thing that hadn't changed was the mountains. They ranged as far as the horizon stretched. As the dream went on, she found herself staring down over a tall cliff. Standing at the bottom was a small village, made completely of fossilized sea shells, glass, and steel. And there were so many people... This was the home of the Cetra, she somehow knew.

As she started to venture down, to explore what felt like home, she was wisked away by the wind, and into another piece of uncivilized earth. This land was high up, almost like living perched on top of a pedestal. From this land, you could see the entire planet's mapping. She felt sick here, she knew this was where the virus started. The Geostigma lives deep under this land, she knew. She noticed the small town, laying at the edge of this mountain, lay almost deserted. The few survivors left, sat suffering from their long, laborious journey. A small child with long silver hair and a long sword with a bloody tip stood staring at her, upright and unemotional. She saw herself from above, smiling as the child rushed at her, plunging his sword deep into her and giggling wildly.

She knew not of what to think of this vision, nor the distinctive male voice that had beckoned her to come. This would come in time, she figured. She stood up and looked around. She needed to find Crater, she knew that much. She had a bad feeling about searching out this man, but it was something she felt she had to do. If this dream was an omen...

Aeris left Avalanche's encampment in Gongaga, determined to search out Crater, and the voice. Sneaking out, she noticed the Turks standing in front of their helicopter. "This may be a bad idea," she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and walked over to Tseng, and gently tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, didn't I already kidnap you once this month," he asked. Aeris blushed. "No," she innocently replied. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor..." Reno turned around and grinned, revealing a side of him she never wanted to know. "Yeah, so what do you want," he asked, coughing a bit. Aeris winced. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind giving me a lift in your helicopter," she asked, and Reno laughed, "My bird? You better cough up a lot of gil if you want to..." Tseng smacked him upside the head. "Anything for a friend. When do you need to leave," Tseng asked. Aeris flashed him a shy smile. "Right now?" "Then let's move," Tseng said, smacking Reno upside the head again, just for good measure, and corralled the younger two Turks into the helicopter's back seat. Rude helped Aeris get into the front, and he piloted the way.

The flight was long and boring, but they got her to where she felt she needed to go. Aeris thanked Tseng, and gave him a friendly hug as he helped her out. "Are you sure you don't want one of us to go with you," he asked as he let her go. "I'll be fine," she replied, "After all you put me through, you should know better than anyone else." Tseng winked and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

Aeris turned away and started making her trek down, leaving the Turks to take themselves away. When she was halfway down the mountainside, she lay down in the dirt. "I know you are here somewhere, but where are you," she whispered. She could feel his presence, dark and overshadowing, suffocating the very goodness in her. "Deep, deep inside I lay, Aeris, waiting for you. I need you. HELP ME!" Aeris writhed on the ground, his thoughts infesting her mind, swarming through her very essence like a disease. "I won't," she weakly whispered, but yet she got up and, grabbing her staff from the holster on her back, started walking again.

The wind pushed her to go faster than she would have liked, down, down the spiraling crags of rocks. Aeris looked around carefully, almost enchanted as she lowered each level of long forgotten stairs. This was the place she had envisioned, the home of the virus. His people. She could feel him leading the way, pulling her towards him as she effortlessly found her way through the mazes of abandoned caves and crevasses, long ago left to crumble and rot by his people, the Legion of the Seraph.

Her mother had told her stories of them, when she was but a child, but Aeris had never believed that such a people had existed. The Seraphs were supposed to have descended from their place in the heavens, sent by the One, to keep watch and till over what was to become the Promised Land. Four of them were sent, three of them returned. The one who refused to return to the One strayed. He traveled the solar system, searching for something he could not have as a higher being- life. Upon his searching, he enslaved beings along the way, forcing them to travel with him, forming a legion of weary, bleak-hearted peoples. The One punished him for his rebel, grasping him and tearing his six wings from his being, and hurling him to the ground he was to tend. For reasons unknown, the andromorph plunged himself into one of the many beings, forcing his soul deep into one unlucky young girl's body. For ages after, the people suffered greatly under the fallen one, the young woman who they came to know as Jenova.

Aeris wasn't sure how to take that information then, as a young child, but seeing this desolate place, walking the layers of earth, she felt them around her, staring down at her... There was an odd and welcoming presence here.

It wasn't long before Aeris found the most dazzling room. It was encased by what appeared to be ice on three sides, and suspended high above was roots of an unseen tree. Aeris smiled, as she traced a finger down the side of one of the cavern's walls. "Nobody must have seen this in ages," she mused. Running slowly through the western side of the room was lifestream. She noticed, with a great interest, that on the other side of the streaming mako, was what appeared at first to be a large piece of ice.

As she carefully jumped over the stream, she realized as she came closer that it wasn't ice at all, it was a large piece of crystallized Materia... All, if she was right. And there was something inside... or more like, someone. "What in the name of Shiva," she whispered out loud, as she inspected it curiously. She felt a shiver of cold run down her spine as it all came crashing together.

"This must be him... ...The great Sephiroth."