Aerith knocked on the guestroom door before being permitted to enter. Cloud had just gotten up and made his bed. Nanaki was lying on his back with his forepaws close to his chest, exposing his belly and looking content in his sleep.

"Cute." Aerith snickered, visibly restraining her hand from the temptation of a furry belly. "Does he usually sleep like this?"

"Sometimes." Cloud scratched Nanaki's chin, trying to wake him up. Nanaki stretched before catching Cloud's arm in his mouth, trapping it behind his canines. The victim grinned and rubbed his captor's upper jaw.

"Breakfast is ready," Aerith informed Nanaki. "It might taste a little better than Cloud's arm."

Nanaki released the boy. "I do not doubt it. I'm not too fond of skinny bones."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Like you're any better."

"I'm heavier than you."

"Only by seven pounds."

The three went downstairs. Aerith introduced Cloud and Nanaki to her foster mother, Elmyra Gainsborough, a middle-aged woman with a stern face and a strong build. The two guests soon fell on the hearty breakfast she made and crammed it down.

After they finished breakfast, Aerith went upstairs to grab her baskets.

"Aerith told me you were also held in Shinra's lab?" Mrs. Gainsborough asked the two guests.

"Eh, yes. That was many years ago. There was an accident, so we had a chance to escape," answered Cloud.

She nodded. "My daughter doesn't have many friends of her age. I'm glad she found some people who understand her," she said with a small smile.

Aerith came down into the living room. "I'm picking herbs in the garden. Why don't you gather some flowers along the way? We can deliver them together, to cheer the kid up," she suggested, handing a basket to Cloud.

"All right. But flowers can be creepy sometimes. I almost got eaten by a giant flower in the forest," said Cloud as they went out of the house. "Though I was too big for it to digest."

Aerith chuckled. "Oh, really? I might plant one in my garden, if I could get my hands on it. Where did you find them?"

"In the Ancient Forest, right next to Cosmo Canyon," answered Cloud. "You want them to help you get rid of the stalkers, don't you?" he asked jokingly.

Aerith turned around and caught sight of a man dressed in a black suit, who quickly ducked behind a hill rock.

"He's one of the Turks. They watch me for the company," said Aerith. "But they are not all bad, just working for the wrong people I suppose."

"If they'd already found you, why haven't they taken you back?" asked Nanaki.

Aerith smiled ruefully. "They said I have to come to them willingly to make it work. And the last time they tried to bring us back by force, my mother died. They don't want to ruin their last chance to find the promised land. At least that's what they say."

"The promised land... Shinra believes it's a place with endless mako, and you can lead them to it, is that true?" asked Cloud.

Aerith shook her head. "Nope. Someday, maybe, I'll find it in me. But now? Not even if I wanted to."

After delivering the herbs and flowers to the orphanage, they took Aerith to Sector 7, climbing onto the top of the factory where their hut was located. Aerith almost fell while climbing the collapsing ladder before Cloud grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the roof.

She followed them into their tiny house. "That's a lovely bunk bed."

"We put it together on our own," Nanaki said as he sat on the floor, tail curling up next to his legs.

Cloud took out the photos they took while traveling, and they all sat on a carpet to look at them.

"Is that Icicle Inn?" asked Aerith.

"Yes, it was freezing," replied Nanaki.

"My family lived there. Before Shinra took us when I was a baby."

Cloud wanted to tell her about his birth father coming from the same area, but kept his mouth shut. He'd always claimed to not know his lineage, and there's no reason for him to disclose it now, as Aerith had no memory of the place.

Aerith looked at the photos of the underground castle with its staircases made of light. "They are marvelous. My mother used to tell me about it. How spectacular the Capital used to be. But it's more beautiful than I'd ever imagined."

"We saw you on a water screen surrounding the platform, after we touched the crystal," said Cloud pointing at another picture with a giant crystal on a platform.

"It must be important if it activated for you. Hm... I'll have to ask the planet," replied Aerith.

There were quite a few pictures showing paintings on the castle walls. Some were trees with roots growing in all directions deep in the soil. Others included circles with colored shapes inside them, which they couldn't understand. And new buds and other symbols that probably represented organic life.

"Do you know the language carved on the stone?" asked Nanaki.

"No, I don't. My mother did, but I didn't get to spend much time with her. They used to take her away every morning...for the experiments," said Aerith sadly, lowering her head.

Cloud's PHS rang. He pulled it out, it was a message from Jessie, telling him that she'd found someone who had water filters up for sale in Sector 6.

"Then let's go," Aerith said as she stood up. "I should go to the church to talk to the planet."

"We will accompany you there first," replied Cloud.

Aerith shook her head. "Just walk me to the park. There's a tunnel to Sector 5 there. I use it all the time."

On their way to the park, Cloud couldn't help asking a question that had been nagging at the back of his mind. "Why is it that no one is born with any memories of prior lives when we all come from the lifestream?"

"That's an interesting question," said Aerith. "I remember...mother said people used to retain memories of their past lives, in the ancient times. But she did not know for certain."

She turned to them once they were near the tunnel. "Thank you for seeing me off. Come to find me at the church when you feel like it."

"Sure, see you tomorrow," said Cloud.

Cloud was a little tired after they returned with the water filter later in the evening, but he couldn't sleep. He sat up on the lower bunk, feeling cold and groggy.

Cloud. His foster mother's voice called out to him. Slowly getting out of the bed, he dressed on automatic pilot and put on a hat before quietly closing the door behind him, not wanting to wake his friend on the top bunk.

Please, Cloud, I need your help. There was a pain in her voice. He moved faster.

Where are you? What's wrong? He thought back.

I'm frozen in limbo. I can not enter the lifestream with my spirit sealed within this body. Only you can save me.

It sounded like a terrible existence to be stuck somewhere between life and death.

How can I help you? Cloud asked, trembling a little bit. Was it winter already? It's chilling. I need to go back and grab my coat.

You do not have time for that. Hurry up.

Her presence in his mind felt oddly intrusive and demanding, making him a bit uncomfortable. Had she changed over the years when she was trapped?

Follow my voice. You'll understand when we meet.

Cloud ran towards Sector 6 as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. He didn't bother to wave back at a monster who sat in a drunkard's trousers pocket. Pulling himself up the wire and crawling into the plate, he resurfaced in the upper city not long after. The voice was coming from the tallest building in the center of the circular structure. A gigantic monster was standing on top of the construction, looming over the city like a dark shadow. Its long legs standing on the ground surrounded the towers like railings.

What the hell is that thing?! He'd never seen a monster close in size to it. But in the blink of an eye, it was gone. He shrugged and quickened his pace.

Take the stairs at the back. You don't want to raise suspicion. The voice said once he was near the construction.

After he headed up to the 59th floor, she helped him navigate the enormous building. Cloud sneaked into several offices to steal some keycards, using them to open the elevators to the upper floors. His mother pointed out the locations of cameras he would encounter in advance, so he could stop them from functioning before they captured him. The machines weren't too hard to deal with, having no lives of their own. His only obstacle was something that kept trying to bump into him after he left the stairwell, whose attacks he had tried to dodge to the best of his ability. He couldn't catch sight of it even after it tore apart the edges of his shirt in the elevators. After being tripped several times and almost getting knocked out, he finally managed to throw the thing across the corridor before walking to the door.

He opened it with the code she provided him before stepping into a large square room. There was a woman with a stark white face and long silver hair lying under thick layers of ice, a pair of transparent wings on her back. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of magenta irises glowing brightly.

You are not my mother. Who are you? Her face did look somewhat familiar. Where had Cloud seen her?

Oh, my dearest son, you don't remember me? I used to talk to you when we were in Nibelheim. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face.

Can't recall. I'm outta here. He turned around and tried to get away with a sense of urgency he couldn't comprehend. Before he could leave the room, his head suddenly felt like it was going to explode from the images and sounds flooding into him.

He found himself looking at Gaia in a spaceship, a beautiful planet surrounded by a layer of air, untainted by the parasite. The continents were entirely unrecognizable to him. He looked down at himself, his hair was silver, and impossibly long. Is this...a memory of the woman's? She bid farewell to her companions and landed on the planet. The Cetras, who were the ancestors of humans, lived in harmony with nature on the surface of Gaia. They welcomed her warmly, and not long after landing, she began to form strong bonds with some people and animals she'd met on this young planet.

The peaceful life didn't last long. Several meteors fell from the sky. Some landed in the mountains, and ocean water poured through the gaps. As the lifestream gathered to heal the wounds, temperatures dipped. Ice walls formed and connected with the glaciers, surrounding the continents, separating them from the rest of the planet. The landscape wasn't the only thing that changed after the meteors fell. A parasite started to spread, and it twisted people's minds. The once peaceful Cetras manufactured weapons and waged wars against each other, fighting for dominance over other tribes. More and more people began to blame her for bringing the virus onto their planet, calling her the Calamity that fell from the sky. They caught her for experiments, claiming that they could find a cure to the virus influencing their minds by studying her.

During the time she was trapped in their laboratory as a test subject, the parasite morphed her, changing her from within, and wings and tentacles burst out of her flesh. When her captors were momentarily distracted, she tore through her confinement and escaped, only to find that the people and animals she loved were already ripped to pieces in wars. She killed off tribes after tribes in a matter of days before they sealed her away in a last-ditch effort, leaving her frozen forever.

Her burning desire for revenge against the descendants of those who killed her beloved and gave her the parasite overwhelmed Cloud, threatening to break through a dam in his mind. Anxiety mixed with excitement made him feel giddy and light-headed. "Mo...ther..." he breathed out as he closed their distance.

Good boy, now take my hand. We shall become one and never part again.

The cold surface cracked as Cloud's hand made contact with it. He reached down deeper into the ice.

Arghhh! She screamed when he touched her hand. What's that on your neck?

Nanaki ran at full speed, tracing the smell of his friend. Something didn't feel right. Although he wasn't happy having his sleep interrupted and wanted to go back to sleep, he instinctively knew he couldn't let Cloud go alone.

Cloud was only several floors above him after he ran up countless stairs in Shinra Headquarters. Still, Cloud didn't respond no matter how loudly Nanaki shouted his name. He was still two storeys away from his friend when he heard Cloud leave the stairwell.

Not missing a beat, Nanaki followed him into the building. Cloud seemed completely lost in his own world with his eyes glazed over. Not even biting into his clothes in the elevator got a rise out of him. But there were times that he jumped aside rapidly before Nanaki could grab him or knock him out from behind. He followed Cloud into a secluded area after failing to stop him for the umpteenth time. Standing up in the alcove he was thrown into, he rushed into the room just before the door slid shut. Cloud was standing in front of a large tube, looking like he was shaking off the tremors from a lightning spell.

"Nanaki! I didn't realize you followed me... Why do you look so green?" His eyes were a little unfocused but not as dull as they were a minute ago. "Never mind," said Cloud, "let's leave-"

His friend suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground, gripping his head. Nanaki ran towards him but was hit by something mid-run. He deftly jumped sideways to avoid being hurt, but failed to see what had just blocked him.

Nanaki's ears perked up, there was something in this room that was moving very fast, he just couldn't see it. It didn't help that his delusional friend had started convulsing on the ground.

He didn't hear it before it was too late. Narrowly missing being pierced in the head, his right eye was damaged. Hot liquid fell from his eye, mixing with the blood dripping from the long gash on his forehead. The impact left him staggered and dizzy. He'd forgotten to bring a restore materia in his hurry, and that was a grave mistake. They had very little time to leave the building before the crew would come to capture them again, and the invisible foe was preventing him from getting to his friend. Luckily, the thing didn't immediately make a follow-up attack, so he had seconds to observe the situation. Keeping his injured eye shut, he surveyed the room with his left eye. The room was cramped with machines and benches, with a tall ceiling and a large tube containing a humanoid monster in stasis. Numerous wires and pipes connected the tank in the center to various other apparatus.

Nanaki felt a searing pain in his right eye, but he gritted his teeth and stayed alert. The thing seemed to realize his condition as well and chose to attack him from his right side. He managed to dodge it this time by rolling backward, already getting more familiar with the whispering wind before an assault, but some of his manes were still cut off.

It was probably the worst-case scenario, being trapped in the lab of a company that wouldn't hesitate to torture him to death, and fighting alone against an invisible enemy when he was wounded. But he needed to stay strong for him and Cloud both. He had trained for years to become a warrior of this planet just like his parents, and this was not the time to back down.

He looked upward, there was a moving shadow...on the ceiling? And another silhouette on the wall to his left, moving in coordination with the first one.

So the creature wasn't completely invisible. He crouched, gauging its speed and direction from the shadows before he jumped, pouncing on the thing, which struggled violently under his front paws. Before he could deal the final blow, a few drops of Nanaki's blood dripped down onto it, and it sizzled before abruptly drawing back with great strength, almost knocking Nanaki over. It left some drops of black liquid on the floor.

Blood... the thing was hurt by my blood, it suddenly dawned on Nanaki. He must have missed the sound of it being injured when his eye was damaged, so that's why it waited before attacking again. It seemed that the flowers in the church weren't talking nonsense after all.

Renewed courage fueled him. He wiped some blood from his bleeding wound over his claws and teeth before following the doubled...no, tripled shadows, chasing after the thing by running on the walls before jumping onto the top of the tube. His balance was a bit off with only one eye, but he managed to catch the thing in his paws and bite into it as hard as he could. It twitched in his mouth, slippery and ice-cold. He almost threw it when it melted inside his mouth, but didn't let go.

Nanaki began to see its fuzzy image flickering in and out of existence. The thing had a polyhedron-shaped head and tentacles around its neck, a long and thin spine connecting the neck to its insectoid legs. Nanaki jumped off the tall tube and rolled around in midair, breaking it in the spine when he knocked its legs into a large machine. A couple of nearby wires were ripped out before they hit the ground. As the last drops of Nanaki's blood burned into the thing, it crumbled into a puddle of black goo before starting to dissipate into the air.

Like being poured with cold water, Cloud gradually came to. There was a strange tingling sensation all over his body, and he felt like he'd just woke up from a nightmare. He looked around and saw...a large room with a tube in its center, inside which floated...Jenova's corpse. He tried to remember how he ended up here, but couldn't recall doing anything after going to bed that night. His head was a complete mess. Some memories that didn't feel like his own were reordering themselves as he prodded at them.

"How are you feeling?" Nanaki asked, his fiery presence was just behind Cloud.

The warmth brought comfort to him in the cold room. He turned and was horrified to find a long gash across his buddy's right eye, looking as if it had just stopped bleeding. "Gaia! What happened!? Try not to roll it or... Oh, someone's coming."

The only exit was already blocked by a group of people, and there was no window in the room. Like all the dreams he'd woken from, the images and feelings from the nightmare were quickly fading away in the back of his mind. He desperately latched onto a memory before it disappeared, one of traveling to a previous position in an instant. Ignoring the impending headache and taking a deep breath, he tried to replicate the feeling of teleportation. He needed to reach the person who could help his injured companion before it was too late.

Veld had been removed from his sleep at five in the morning to deal with the function failure of the surveillance system in the upper levels, before the science department called for immediate assistance from his department. It seemed that someone had methodically shut down all the cameras along the way to some secret labs in the science department. As the head of the Turks, it fell to him to investigate into the more sensitive affairs of the company. In the meantime, his co-workers would look into the malfunctioning monitor system.

"Guard the door and don't go inside until we call you, Soldiers," Hojo instructed Second Class Kunsel and an exuberant young Soldier who stood in front of several infantrymen, before walking down a corridor with Veld, leading him into the rooms to search for possible intruders.

"Did the cameras here break down also?" asked Veld as the science department's surveillance system was not under the control of his own department.

"This section has no cameras," answered the scientist.

They surveyed the last room. Several broken wires sparked above their heads. Something on the floor caught Hojo's attention, and he knelt to observe it. "This looks fresh. The culprit can't have gone far. I'm going to collect the blood samples. Veld, tell your Turks to cover the exits of the building. I want these saboteurs found."

"Could it be a monster that broke out and caused this?" asked Veld.

"I highly doubt it would have the intelligence to shut down all the cameras beforehand and then disappear without a trace. This is a planned invasion with information provided by insiders."

As Veld was leaving the inner lab to make a phone call to Tseng, he heard Hojo mumbling to himself, "I wonder if Hollander has a hand in this? He does seem quite restless lately..."

The sun had just started to rise when the two materialized in the church. Cloud nearly fell over when the floor suddenly reappeared under his feet.

"What was that Cloud?" Nanaki looked around at the dome and the wood floor. The sudden relief of being out of the Shinra building made his legs a little weak.

"Cloud? Nanaki! I knew you'd come."

Nanaki turned around, Aerith had just stood up from the front pew and was running towards them. She looked at his wounded eye with concern.

"Aerith! How are you up so early?" Nanaki asked Aerith questioningly.

"We can talk about it after I look at your eye." He already knew it was bad, and wondered if he would lose sight in his right eye if his cornea were broken.

Aerith cradled his head in both hands. From where her hands touched his head, something that felt like tendrils of energy gently spread into his skin. And gradually, the burning pain in his eyeball lessened. When she put her hands away, he opened his right eye carefully, and realized with gratification that he could still see with it, though the eye itched and its sight was blurred.

"How do you feel?" asked Aerith.

"Much better. I may not lose my sight after all. Thank you so much for healing me."

Aerith heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. It's still swollen. You need a doctor to look at it properly." Preparing to leave the church, she looked around for Cloud but found him passed out on the floor. "Cloud?! Cloud, can you hear me?"

Their friend's face was ashen. Nanaki checked his breath and pulse. They were fast but still normal. Then he spotted black goo at the back of his head.

"I was attacked by a monster formed from the same black liquid back there," said Nanaki. They pulled Cloud to lie on his side and found the goo slowly oozing out from the back of his neck. Aerith lifted his eyelid. The pupil had lost its round shape and was shifting back and forth between slit and ellipse.

"His pupils are constricting," Aerith observed worriedly as Cloud's pale face distorted in anguish.

"Looks like he's having trouble fighting it. What can we do?"

"I might have an idea," said Aerith.

A cold consciousness permeated Cloud's entire being, trying to take him over by attacking his energy core and erasing what made him the person he was. He felt that he was forgetting important things and being implanted with forged memories. She tried to sink her tentacles deeper into his heart. Give in and there will be no more pain. Her words echoed in his skull, sometimes pretending to be his own voice talking sense to himself. He was fighting a losing battle. As another wave of pain broke over him, he felt someone take his wrist and cast a spell on him.

Another presence surrounded him, but unlike the first consciousness, this one was warm, enveloping, and unconditionally loving. No words were spoken, but he could understand its intention perfectly. It was defending his spirit. The excruciating pain faded to a dull throbbing, and the constant voice in his head lowered to a whisper, but his body was still tautened. The invasion of the demanding consciousness had been temporarily halted. Was it the spell?

"It's a manifestation of Holy protecting your mind from the intruder," a woman answered.

"Who are you?" he asked with his eyelids shut, they were just too heavy to open.

"I am Aerith's mother, Ifalna. She used the white materia to cast Holy on you. Although it can protect you from being taken over by another mind, it wouldn't last forever. You need to deplete the parasite's energy on your own."

"How?"

"I'm going to teach you the method, but it's up to you whether or not it will work. Have faith, children usually have a much better chance of succeeding than adults. Now, relax your..."

As Cloud adjusted his breathing and shifted his attention as instructed, his active mind slowly retreated and all thinking with words died down.

A sense of wonder bloomed in his heart, permeating him with peaceful joy. His awareness began to expand, brushing past leaves rustling in the wind, fish swimming in the river, children laughing in the park, and birds singing in the clouds. All were impossibly vivid and entrancing. The blissful feeling gradually faded away. He wondered if that timeless sensation was close to what Aerith experienced when she communed with the flowers.

"It seems that you have grasped it. Congratulations. When in that altered state of consciousness, the parasite within you couldn't tap into your energy, so your body had a chance to repair the distortion the virus had caused."

"So I'll be fine afterward?"

"No. You will still be attacked by the remaining parasitic energy, albeit to a lesser degree. This method cannot purge it all at once, but it will move forward the purification process each time you use it."

"I see. I'll keep at it."

"Do not apply the method when you don't have Holy for protection. The lifestream in our atmosphere is also polluted by the parasite. Opening yourself up like that could lead to it easily taking control of you. You should borrow the white materia for a while. Return it after you are properly healed."

"But... I'm not a descendant of Cetras. Can I even use it?"

"Look into your family tree, you'd be surprised. It's unlikely you'll be able to use it to its full potential like Aerith will, but it'll be enough to protect yourself. For now, though, you need to leave Midgar to keep away from the direct influence of the virus."

"Thank you. I know that materia is important to you both."

"Take care of Aerith when you meet her again in the future. She has a hard road ahead of her..."

Her voice faded, and sleepiness came. Cloud was distantly aware that he was carried up from the floor and put onto something warm and furry. Recognizing it was probably Nanaki, he put his arms around his friend's chest and buried the side of his face in the neck before falling into a dreamless sleep.

After Nanaki's wound was treated by the doctor Aerith knew, he and Cloud went to her house and took turns washing away the dirt and grime on their skins. Cloud helped Nanaki dry his fur with a hairdryer afterward. It was near sunset when they went to the park. They climbed onto the slide and sat on its top. Cloud thanked Aerith profusely and told her about hearing her mother after she used the white materia to help him.

"I don't see her very often these days. She said the war against the parasite had heightened within the lifestream. I'm so glad she could help you," replied Aerith. She untied the bow, letting her long hair fly over her shoulders. Taking out the white materia, she handed it to Cloud, who took it with both hands.

Cloud inspected the materia, it did react a bit when he put his mind to call it. "Thank you. I know how much it means to you. I'll keep it safe at all cost."

Aerith nodded and tied her hair back. "A useful materia, and rare. Who'd have thought? Maybe I'll rent it out when you're done with it, at a high price," she joked.

"It's priceless, I'm forever grateful to have it. How did you heal Nanaki's eye? Not even a materia can do that," asked Cloud.

"I don't know. I just...used the currents in my body to connect with those of Nanaki's. When I touched his face, I realized the currents in his body wanted to be restored to their previous state, so I helped them complete the picture, by linking up the broken strands. There are certain courses and...vibrations the currents thrive on."

"That's it? You ever learned anatomy?"

"Nope. I guess it could help, but I haven't had a chance. I wonder what difference that would make..."

Cloud sighed wearily, placing his hands down on the slide. He may never understand how she could heal so efficiently without understanding the mechanism behind it. "I was useless. I couldn't help anyone, not even myself. If not for you two, I'd be a puppet by now," he said dejectedly.

Nanaki put a paw on his hand. "You got me out of the lab again, and I'm grateful for that."

"I got you there in the first place," Cloud pointed out with remorse. "Nanaki, I'm so sorry."

"I don't blame you, Cloud. But I do want to know what had happened that prompted you to go there," inquired Nanaki.

"I don't remember much. I went to sleep in our house and woke up in that lab with a headache, and there were some weird memories in my head, probably implanted by Jenova. Then I saw her and Nanaki in the room. We had to leave before they found us."

Nanaki said, "I saw the thing that attacked me in the laboratory before it melted into black goo. I think it was attacking you from within."

"What did it look like?" asked Cloud.

"...I guess it looked like a virus, a magnified one. But I only saw its form after I caught it in my mouth. It was invisible before that," answered Nanaki. "Seemed like my blood did some damage to the thing. It drew back after getting splashed with my blood."

"Oh, so that's what the flowers were saying," said Aerith. "Nanaki here has magical blood." she giggled.

"I am a guardian of this planet," Nanaki stated matter-of-factly. He looked at Cloud and said, "You look better, but the corruption still needs to be healed. You should stay away from the headquarters, Cloud. I can sense that you are still in a precarious situation."

"I know. I can't stay in Midgar with the Calamity in the city."

"At least I have the photos you gave me to prove you aren't just my imagination," Aerith said.

"We will meet again. I have to return the white materia to you anyway. And call us if you ever feel like going on a tour to the outside world," replied Cloud. "In case I came to Midgar but you've already left, this is our PHS number." He passed a note to the girl before fishing for a key in his pocket. "This is the key to our house. I don't think we'll need it from now on, at least for a few years. You may do whatever you want with the hut."

"I'll keep your key, you'll need a place to stay when you're back," Aerith said as she hung the key around her neck.

"How's your amulet?" Nanaki asked Cloud.

Cloud looked down at the necklace made of wooden beads. It was becoming fragmented into tiny bits of ash. "I think it's dying."

"Your first dead talisman," Nanaki confirmed. "Glad you made it out relatively unharmed."

"Did your amulets ever meet the same fate?" asked Aerith, indicating his headdresses.

"No, the malicious spirits fear us, not the other way around. The headdresses I wear add status effects, they are useful for fighting monsters."

Cloud reflected on Nanaki's words. How had Seto known Cloud would need the protection? He himself had completed forgotten about the potential danger of Jenova, and he didn't have an amulet to rely on from now on. Clenching his hands into fists, he said, "Hojo was nearby before we left. I'll get rid of him and the Calamity both next time I come to Midgar. Can't let Shinra spread the disease even more."

"We will," Nanaki corrected him.

"Count me in," said Aerith.

"The corruption is happening in its lifestream, too. We need to help heal the planet as well," Nanaki said.

"Would it get better at fighting off the parasite if we dismantled the reactors?" Cloud asked Aerith.

"It probably would, but the company is not the main reason the planet is dying... The lifestream is supposed to change course to avoid being exploited, but the parasite is preventing it from doing that," explained Aerith. "I'll keep looking for a way to help it evade the reactors."

"We need to leave. A Turk is going to show up," said Cloud.

"And I may have left some biological samples in that place," Nanaki added. He'd left some blood there, and probably paw prints on the wall as well. Hopefully his footprints were incomplete and not easily recognizable.

Aerith nodded. "Your injury and the blood you left behind might lead to the Turks connecting the dots."

"So... I guess it's goodbye then," Cloud replied reluctantly.

"Take care, we'll be back," Nanaki said to Aerith.

Aerith smiled sadly and hugged them each in turn. "Until next time."

"You didn't come back home after that?" asked Nanaki's mother. It seemed like a risky venture, traveling across the Eastern continent after leaving behind identifiable marks in enemy territory.

"No. We finished our tour around the planet. And Cloud found a place he'd like to stay for further study en route. He's gonna leave the Canyon for Mideel next month. I'm staying here to research the Ancient writing and symbols we found in the Capital with grandfather. Cloud and I will meet again in the future to compare what we'd each learned and come up with a plan."

"Oh, Nanaki, you've grown into a true warrior. I'm so proud of you," said his mother as she tried to lick his head.

"Please stop, mother. I'm 41, and perfectly capable of grooming myself." He sat at the highest plateau, overlooking the town in the spring fair. His vision in both eyes was perfect as ever, but his right eye still bore the scar. He would grow stronger and gather more knowledge to guard the planet and its inhabitants in the years to come.

Unbeknownst to them, a couple of months later, an eco-terrorist cell started to brew among travelers who frequented the discussing sessions around the Cosmo Candle.

AN: Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or leave criticism!