As Cloud woke he looked around the room to see almost all of his comrades, with the obvious exception of Tifa, sitting around the room. "Wh-what's going on?" he asked. "They are planning to execute us…" Vincent informed him. "What about the glass, Barret can you blast through it?" Cloud asked. "Bullet proof, man…" Barret replied sadly, "I jus' wish I could see Marlene one last time…" "I'd be happy to see that dead-beat father of mine one last time…" Yuffie admits. "Grandpa…" Red mutters. "Unfortunately for me I have no one to say good-bye to…" Vincent admits sadly. "I just hope Shera'll be ok…" Cid mutters under his breath. "Mom…" Aeris thought out loud, "Uh, don't worry Barret I'm sure mom will take care of Marlene!" "I still think my mother is alive, through all the visions I had I never saw anything that confirmed otherwise…" Cloud told them all. "You got any plans to get us outta' here spikey?" Barret asked. "Not really, but I have been thinking while all of you have been reminiscing about your loved ones… I really think we can escape I haven't come up with much of a plan yet though…" Cloud told them. "What do you have so far?" Vincent asked. "Well, we'll sit tight and be good little boys and girls until the time comes that they decide to execute us, then we'll struggle like mad until we're free and run like crazy…"
Suddenly noises came from outside the cell and the door opened. There standing in the doorway was 'Ninja'. "'Ninja'!" Cloud called. He took a look at AVALANCHE and without saying a word vanished. "Le's not stick around long enough to ask no questions le's jus' leave!" Barret suggested. "Right, if you see any Shinra guards fight 'em!" Cloud said running out of the prison and grabbing his Buster Sword off of a table. "We can steal back my Highwind!" Cid cheered. As the group made their way to the airport Shinra seemed to be letting them go.
In the meantime, Reeve was sitting in the office of Junon's mayor watching AVALANCHE escape. "I have done as you paid me to…" a voice behind him said. "Good your payment is on the desk. But before you leave, I have another job for you…" Reeve responded. "Name it…" the voice told him. "Find out what Sephiroth and Ms. Lockhart are doing and if they're in trouble help them…" Reeve answered. "What's the payment?" the voice asked. "I can't offer you anymore payment than a piece of mastered 'Fire' material," Reeve offered. "I'll accept this mission…" the voice told him. "Why may I ask?" Reeve replied. "I want to help my friends…" the voice responded. "Wait Zack, when are you going to tell them the truth?" Reeve asked. The person revealed himself to be 'Ninja'. He removed his helmet and a face that looked much like Cloud's with shinning green eyes instead of blue and black hair (that had been recently cut) instead of blonde. "Soon enough… Right now, I don't think Aeris would be able to take it if she were to find out I'm alive…" Zack responded placing his helmet back on his head.
Back to AVALANCHE, they had just captured the Highwind and escaped. Something was wrong in Cloud's mind, Aeris was excited when she first saw the enormous airship but now she was so quiet. He approached her. "What's wrong?" he asked. "It's nothing! I-I'm fine…" she stammered. "Yeah right…" he told her skeptically. "Alright, it's that guy 'Ninja', I can't figure it out. I feel like I know him from somewhere but I just can't remember… You recognize him too, don't you Cloud?" she retorted. "I think, maybe, I don't know… There is one thing I'm still curious about though…" he responded. "What's that?" she asked. "Can we trust Sephiroth?" he asked seriously. "Yeah, you're right to wonder something like that… There are too many questions we don't know the answers to, right now…" she agreed. "Right, for now all we know is that for some odd reason Sephiroth and this 'Ninja' guy, whoever he is, are helping us. We don't know for how long these alliances are going to last though…" Cloud sighed. "Hey y'know what?" she asked a bit more cheerily. "What?" he asked. "You kept your promise!" she smiled. "Promise?" he wondered. "Yeah, you said that you'd bring me on this ship one day!" she reminded him. Thinking for a minute Cloud responded, "Yeah, I did promise that didn't I?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into an embrace. Although surprised by her kiss, he eventually began to return it.
Moments of blissful passion ended as Barret walked in on them. "Ooh, sorry didn't realize ya'll wanted some alone time!" Barret apologized. "No, it's alright we were just finishing up…" Cloud told him. Aeris took on a disappointed look. "Cid wan's ta' know where we goin'…" Barret explained. "This is something I have to take care of…" Cloud replied walking towards the bridge. "Yo, you awright Aeris?" Barret asked. "Yes, I'm fine Barret thanks for asking… Just a little worried…" she replied. "'Bout what?" he asked. "Tifa…" Aeris replied. "I think 'dat Sephiroth is messin' wid' our heads, y'know? I don' think he really did what he said he did for Tifa… I mean why would someone like him worry about Tifa?" Barret asked. "You make a very good point, Barret. At this point according to the deal we made with him we should be meeting up with him in a little while you could try asking him then…" Aeris replied. "C'mon, Cloud's gonna' start worrin' 'bout us, mebbe' even get jealous knowin' him…" Barret laughed. "Jealous of what, I would like to think he trusts me!" Aeris replied.