A/N:I know I didn't reach my goal of 125 reviews, but since there seemed to be a lot of people still interested in at least a sequel, I decided to at least post the AE. This will most likely be common in all my novel-length stories. As for this story, this ending is much darker, much more thought-provoking than the simple, short and sweet ending I gave you last time. As a notice: I MAY take up a sequel, and I will title it 'Bloom of the White Rose' and may make one "Bloom of the Black Rose' off the alternative ending (but that's a lot farther down the road). Anyhow, just keep an eye out for now; thanks to everyone that left constructive and wonderful reviews!

Alternative Ending

Deus watched as the nothingness around him suddenly blended into the gray and green mixture of the Lifestream.

"You fool!" Gast cried, breaking from Deus's grip. He spun about, his wings beating to keep him aloft. "Now we are trapped here for infinite once more! I'll destroy you!"

He dashed forward, swinging his sword up. Deus raised the Cerberus, but Gast was much too close. He spun his sword around on the back of his hand, knocking Deus's weapon up. All he saw was the demonic grin before he slashed through him.

Deus felt Cerberus fall from his hand as he fell backwards into a seemingly never-ending darkness. However, he suddenly felt a new power, a stronger power rush through his veins.

Gast watched as Deus snarled, his teeth becoming fangs and his wings turning a tainted black. He stood dumbfounded, his sword dropping from his hands. Deus's body twisted and contorted, and his scream pierced Gast's ears. He closed his eyes, willing the noise to cease when suddenly it did.

Hesitantly, he opened his eyes.

And found himself staring into the blood red orbs of Vincent's new form.

"Wha…what are you?" stuttered Gast, feeling the wave of power this new demon's aura resonated.

Vincent looked at his new talons, then studied his darkened body. When he looked at Gast again, he wore a large sneer, showing off his fangs. "I am Deus, still yet, lowly demon. But now…" Vincent clenched his fists tightly. "There's no morality or ethics to hold me back!"

Gast screamed as the talons ripped his flesh, the new form of Chaos and Deus feasting upon him. When Vincent looked back down upon him, he felt a cold feeling sweep over him.

What did I just do? he asked himself, watching as Gast's unmoving form slowly dissolved back into the Lifestream. He gazed down at his claws. What am I?

You've lost control, Vincent, chided Chaos, sniggering in the back of his mind. After all these years, you've finally lost control. You see, now I am part of Deus, too. You know, the whole balance between Light and Dark thing.

What are you saying, Chaos? asked Vincent hesitantly, believing he knew the answer.

I'm stronger, Chaos replied simply. I'm strong enough to finally take over this body!

Vincent felt a wrenching pain in his stomach. He kneeled over, holding himself as cold sweat ran down his pale face. He could feel Chaos's greed taking over, as the other demons fought him for control too.

"I will not," whispered Vincent through strained teeth. "Become a mere vessel for you demons like Gast had become. I…will…not!" Vincent shouted the last word and threw his head up, feeling a burst of energy rush through him. He lost his sight, he felt his body fade away into the nothingness and the everything of the Lifestream around him.

So this is the end, he thought, a small smile on his lips as he gazed upwards. This is how it is to be. To amend for my sins, this is how it ends.

Vincent threw his head up and screamed.

xxxxXxxxx

"Tifa, we've gotta move!" cried Cloud, rushing forward and grabbing her arm. She struggled feebly to stay there, watching the huge eruption of light in front of her, but she felt the ground suddenly shake, and the nothingness around them suddenly became a cave.

Stalactites came crashing down, burying Barret's unmoving body. Tifa cried out in shock when one crashed down where she had been second before if Cloud had not dragged her back.

"Let's move!" commanded Cloud, taking her hand and running out of the cave.

Tifa felt tears run down her cheeks. "Vincent!"

xxxxXxxxx

"What…is that?" gasped Red in awe, from the safety of the Highwind. The other living Avalanche members, safe in the cockpit of the ship as well, were dumbfounded.

A pillar of tainted light, a mix of pure, divine light coated by a warped and tainted darkness, shot from the middle of the Crater, reaching past the Highwind, farther into the sky and space.

Everyone from around the world stopped, staring at the beam that shot upwards toward the moon. The Turks, Elymra, Dio, Godo, even the former president Rufus watched the colossal ray of energy, dumbstruck as they felt a wave of its power brush through the lands.

xxxxXxxxx

Am I…dead?

Absolute silence.

Chaos? Deus?

No one answered him.

I am…alone. Finally, free…

Vincent opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see the rays of a holy and divine presence splash his face, of the treacherous flames of Hell lick his face, but all his saw was darkness. Vincent blew a strand of hair from his eye.

This is quite interesting. I thought death would be more…colorful.

Vincent tried to sit up, only to feel the top of his head press against the cold wood of his coffin.

So I still am alive? he thought, wanting to feel amazed but only feeling emptiness; a sudden void he wished to quench. How is this possible? What happened?

He slid the coffin cover to the side, letting it thud against the hard ground before slowly sitting up. He saw the familiar walls of the Shinra Mansion basement around him. However, something was missing.

There was a casket, he thought, staring at a barren wall. A coffin, right there. Where is it?

It happened in an instant; Vincent's mind seemed to expand, and take everything in around him. He saw things he couldn't see; the birds outside, dinner being set in a neighbors house, a single gravestone outside the mansion.

Vincent was suddenly up, his feet taking him somewhere he didn't know but somehow understood he needed to go there. His feet fell silent against the ground, not even the cracking of gravel hit his acute hearing.

He was suddenly outside, staring at the headstone, silently taking in the name written upon it:

Here rests Tifa Lockheart.

May her soul rest in peace.

Vincent wanted to feel sadness, hatred, sorrow for her lose. But all he felt was the void grow larger.

How much time has passed? he thought, looking around. The town seemed wasted; wearing away from its once fine glory. It was fast resembling a slum, a wasteland where the poor hardly survived. Over a hundred years…

Vincent couldn't understand how he knew, but he just did. Something was different about him. He gazed down upon his metallic claw, and grimaced when the hideous contraption gleamed in the sparse moonlight.

"This arm is useless to me," he whispered, surprised how his voice came out. It was dark; seemingly demonic. Yet there was a suppressed tone of power and confidence in there, only caught by the most observant of people.

He watched in surprise as his gauntlet slowly faded away, seeming to melt by his will. He watched in disgust as it slowly revealed his mutilated arm, no longer whole, merely a bone with clumps of molten flesh clinging desperately to it.

He, however, felt no pain. He simply narrowed his eyes, watching the skin and muscle on his arm grow again. He experimented his fingers, clenching them into a tight fist, smiling slightly in satisfactory when he felt his nails dig into his skin.

"So, they all destroyed each other," he whispered to himself, still enjoying his new voice. "And in the end, I wound up with their powers." Vincent smiled at the irony.

"Perhaps, I shall pay a visit to Nanaki," he thought aloud again, grinning demonically. "Perhaps, just to say hello."

He walked off into the night, his blood red cape soaring behind him, slowly fading away on the dark, cold mountain trail.