The flower girl giggled. "Well, you weren't expecting to see someone alive here, were you?"
"We don't even know where here is," Vincent told her.
"The Lifestream. And the five of you are the only living beings here."
"How?" Chaos asked her. "I very clearly recall being knocked out of the sky and crushed." The demon's wings twitched uncomfortably. "Not the most pleasant experience I've ever had."
"You're still alive, because you weren't quite dead when you fell into the Lifestream. But you needed serious healing. So much so, that the Planet decided that it was better to dissolve you old body and give you a new one. Imagine its surprise when it found not one, but five beings inside."
"But why? Why would the Planet do such a thing?" Vincent was having trouble processing the concept that he'd been killed and resurrected, basically.
"Because it knows who helped save it. Some reward had to be given.
"And because I asked it to. You all meant so much to me, that I couldn't bear it if one of us was suffering because you'd died."
"You mean Yuffie," the gunslinger stated.
Aeris nodded. "She's come so far, and endured so much. After everything, she deserves some happiness. And so do you."
"Aeris, I don't know how to—"
"Don't thank me yet, Vincent. You've still got to get back to her. And that's going to be a dangerous trip without your weapons or armor."
"No it won't," Chaos interjected. "Not with the Beast and I here to guard him."
"You would do that for him?"
"Of course. We're friends. And I like him too much to just let him die, even if we weren't."
"All right. Then there's just one thing left."
"What's that?" Vincent wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Don't worry. Its nothing dire." The flower girl smiled brightly, picking up on Vincent's tension. "There has to be some kind of decision, though. About the others."
"I don't understand."
"Only because you don't want to, Valentine," Chaos told him. "And I'm getting tired of saying that to you."
The demon turned to look at the Ancient. "Can they be absorbed into the Lifestream?"
"Returned to the Planet?" Aeris nodded. "They can be. Is that what you want?"
"It is." Chaos' tone left no room for argument from Vincent.
Not that I would have argued the point. I very much like the idea of them having some sort of peace finally.
"Very well. Hellmasker and Death Gigas will be returned to the Planet. And the three of you can go home." Aeris pulled Vincent into a hug. "Lucy says to tell you that she loves you, and that she's glad you found someone else who could make you happier than she did."
Vincent was a little surprised, both by the Cetra's actions, and her words. Lucy? No one called her that but Professor Gast and I. I'm glad she approves. For the first time, Vincent missed having Chaos' thoughts in his head; he would have liked to know what the demon thought of that.
Chaos was turning to Vincent when Aeris surprised them both by giving the demon a hug as well. "Thank you for trying to save me," she told him. "And thank you for promising to protect Yuffie."
Man and demon both wondered how much Aeris knew about them.
"Its time for you to go now," Aeris told them suddenly. "Give everyone my love when you see them."
"I will," Vincent said, as the trio was wrapped in the green light of the Lifestream.
i know its short, but the next chapter's coming right up! i just didn't want to combine them. and thanks for your patience with my delay. i've had so many ideas on my mind lately, that i had to get all the others down before i could go back to this one. and real life kept doing that thing where it got in the way of my writing.
eerian
