Tifa made her way to Yuffie's birthday party, cursing her decision to wear heels. She had delayed leaving because of her favourite television show, and by the time she realised that she would be late, she already was. Still, she hurried as fast as she could in the cursed heels, hoping that she wouldn't be the last to arrive. Yuffie only lived a few minutes walk away, after all. However, the combination of the fact that she was already twenty minutes late and not able to walk as fast as she usually did meant that she didn't arrive until quarter past seven – half an hour after her designated time.
Yuffie opened the door to her happily, scolding her only slightly for being late. She adored her present – a beautifully made gold watch – and took Tifa through to the dining room. Tifa was embarrassed to see that everyone else was already there, seated and waiting for her, but she overcame it quickly and joined in the conversation.
Barret greeted her with a handshake, as did Cloud, Vincent and Reeve. Red XIII sat in the only place that didn't have cutlery, with Cid and Shera to his left. Lord Godo sat next to his daughter, who had seated Tifa between herself and Vincent. Yuffie urged them through their meal, obviously impatient to tell them something.
"Well, now that you've finally finished eating," she said with a smile to Shera, who'd been the last to finish her meal, "I have an announcement to make."
"Get on with it then, Yuffie!" Tifa laughed.
"I know of a way to get Aeris back."
The effect of this upon all those at the table was electrifying. Shera was the least effected, probably because she had never known the girl. Vincent and Red XIII remained calmly composed, appearing only interested and perhaps slightly surprised. If Tifa had been holding anything she would have dropped it instantly, as would Cloud. His eyes had widened in shock, along with Barret's. The first thing that Cid did was yell "HOLY FUCK!" and reach for a cigarette. Shera was too slow to reprimand him. Barret reacted much the same but drained his wineglass instead.
Eventually Vincent asked the obvious question. "How?"
"With a time machine, of course," Yuffie smirked. "It's so simple that I'm surprised none of you thought of it before."
"I don't think that you fully grasp what you are suggesting we mess with, Yuffie," Red XIII advised. "If we start playing around with the parameters of the time-space continuum the ramifications could be potentially disastrous."
"But it was such a good idea," Yuffie complained. "I even had the time machine built."
"You… built a time machine?" Red XIII questioned, clearly surprised.
"Of course. Otherwise I couldn't use it, could I?" Yuffie seemed intent on sulking, robbed of her chance for glory. Finally Cloud spoke up.
"Let's do it!"
Tifa rolled her eyes at the statement. She missed Aeris as much as everyone else did, but Cloud took it to extremes sometimes. He was clearly blinded by her beauty. Tifa sighed. She'd given up on Cloud long ago, but still harboured small feelings for him. Most of the time she was content with his friendship, but it was times like these she wished it could be otherwise. She hated being reminded of her old 'rival'.
Cloud had grabbed her and Yuffie, seemingly intent on taking apart the house until he found the time machine. Yuffie eventually dragged him to the right place and he jumped in. She set the coordinates and soon they were whizzing through time and space to the place where Aeris had met her end.
"Stay here!" Tifa warned the other two. "If you see yourselves, you'll go crazy. Or they will. Either way, you can't risk it."
"Enough talking!" Cloud snapped. "Go!"
He pushed her out and she ran until she thought her lungs would burst, arriving to see Sephiroth descending from the skies. All coherent thought left her and she heard a voice shout. "Aeris! Move!"
Aeris had met Cloud's eyes in that moment, but she instinctively dodged and Sephiroth's blade bounced off the marble. Tifa signalled Aeris to her as Sephiroth wavered and disappeared, leaving the others to fight off JENOVA. They ran to the time machine together, Aeris looking thoroughly confused.
When they jumped inside the machine, Aeris demanded an explanation. "What is this? And what are you two doing here? I just saw you round there…"
"We've come from the future to save you. Except that we need to go somewhere else first," Tifa explained. Cloud looked at her, now also confused.
"What are you talking about, Tifa?" Yuffie also seemed rather confused.
"She needs to use the Lifestream and Holy to fight off Meteor, doesn't she?"
"Oh, right, I forgot about that." Cloud turned to Yuffie. "Set the coordinates for Meteor's arrival."
She did so and they watched Meteor descend on Midgar. Tifa glimpsed the Highwind and saw the streams of Holy failing to fight off Meteor. The Materia in Aeris's hair was glowing and Aeris knew automatically what she had to do. She began glowing green and they backed away from her. Her eyes closed and she floated in the air, arms outstretched and then brought together as she bowed her head on to them. She lifted her head, eyes now open, and smiled. She came down lightly, and then turned to the others.
"It is done. Can we go now?" Her tone was a trifle plaintive, especially since she'd just saved the world. Yuffie broke the atmosphere with a laugh of relief, and soon they were all laughing.
This was how they arrived home, laughing somewhat hysterically. The others stared at them in shock, until Barret leapt up and enfolded Aeris in a large bear hug. Tifa stepped out of the way; glad that Aeris was receiving the welcome she deserved after the years they'd been convinced they'd never see her again. Aeris stepped backwards out of Barret's enthusiastic greeting, turning to give Cloud a proper hug. Suddenly there was a flash and the three were gone, replaced by three very strangely dressed people.
"I knew messing with the time-space continuum would have bizarre repercussions," Red XIII stated, "but they didn't listen to me."