Start Date: November 5, 2022

Windwillow

Final Fantasy VII

After the ordeal of switching seats in the buggy, the party has ended up stranded when it broke down. There was another reason for the stop, though... Some team members wanted to take a breather anyway, and so the party's made a stop at a town of science and mysticism called Cosmo Canyon. Red XIII's grandfather Bugenhagen is the chief Elder of Cosmo Canyon and has agreed to both fix the buggy and show Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith the secrets Shinra desperately wants to keep hidden about Mako energy. Yuffie's vowed to sneak into the machine as well. Would she succeed? Is she or is she not Yuffie Kisaragi?

Chapter Thirty-Two: A Visit to Cosmo Canyon

Scene One

Bugenhagen's special 'apparatus' resided in the back of his home in the observatory. It took up almost as much space as the actual living area of the house, and was several times more advanced than almost any technology that could be found on Gaia. Its precise workings were known only by Bugenhagen himself, but it was believed that it incorporated magic and special materials to function. And because Cosmo Canyon relied only partially on Mako energy, it was also powered by ancient energy crystals that had been mined from the area several centuries back. After throwing Yuffie out and scolding her, Bugenhagen took Cloud and his two lady friends into a large, spherical room. It was strangely decorated in unrecognizable symbols and runes, colored a deep blue, and seemed to shimmer like the ocean's water, almost as if it were flowing liquid rather than solid material. In the center of the room was a large elevator, suspended by four long poles that led up towards the ceiling, with a control panel located in the center containing knobs, levers, and buttons of various colors.

"This place is insane... Are we in a laboratory or an aquarium?" pondered Cloud as Bugenhagen led him and two two friends into the chamber. With the central column detaching as Bugenhagen input some controls, Cloud sized up the apparatus and tried to figure out how it worked. Bugenhagen only smiled in response, causing Cloud to lift his eyebrow. "Well... Sorry, didn't mean to offend you..." he muttered quietly as he bowed his head.

"Ho ho hooo, you've done nothing of the sort, lad!" Bugenhagen trilled. He floated with his strange orb onto the platform, where it seemed to change color into a cerulean blue. Beckoning Cloud and the others to come closer, Bugenhagen waved his arm all across the room. "The chamber is powered by what we call Spiral Spheres," explained Bugenhagen. "Rotating orbs of pure energy that can be used as a power source not unlike Mako. But because they're so rare and can only sustain power for a brief period, using them for everyday use is impossible..."

Bugenhagen gathered the trio of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith onto the platform in the center of the room and clicked off the lights. While the room descended into darkness, Bugenhagen pulled a lever sharply that began to lift everyone into what seemed to be a clear, rippling ceiling. As Cloud's head touched the ceiling it began to give way, and through what can only be considered entering a bubble, he and the others popped up into a pitch black chamber. Tilting his head in confusion, Cloud looked around the room and found several tiny balls resembling materia crystals but made of a clear, shimmering substance.

Whatever these "Spheres" are... This isn't Shinra technology... What the devil are we getting ourselves into?

Upon Bugenhagen pulling a second lever, the room lit up in an instant with blinding light. When the light receded, what had once been pitch black was replaced with the image of the night sky, except it was that they weren't looking at the sky; they were up in it. Countless stars came into view, as did the planets of Gaia's solar system that rotated around a central light that he deduced to be the Sun, though he could look at it without blinding himself. All the phenomena he'd watched from the ground in night time now danced around his very being, a strange sensation if ever there was one.

"This is... unreal..." gasped Aerith, holding her hands over her heart. Seeing the stars move close up was truly surreal. To her amazement, one of the stars shimmered briefly before cutting through the night sky in a curve. Also to her shock a series of large stones floated towards the Planet's model, looking almost as if on a collision course. "Oh, no!" she rasped. "Are they going to hit us?!" As the meteorites drifted towards Gaia, they were slowly drawn into a large black vortex that sucked them up and swallowed them whole, saving Gaia from destruction. "Wh-What just happened?!" breathed Aerith with a gasp. "That... thing... absorbed the meteorites!"

"It is a location in space called a Black Hole, where light cannot escape because of the intense gravity!" said Bugenhagen proudly. "A form of compressed spacetime created by a dying star's death throes, its gravity drew in those meteorites and sucked them into what is essentially oblivion... Once you're inside, you are not coming out!" he remarked with a grin. "But I didn't come here to show you that..." With a wave of his hand, the Black Hole slowly closed into a single point and vanished, to everyone's shock.

"Okay, there is no way this is technology! It's got to be some weird form of magic! This is so far outside technology at this point!" Tifa shouted as she folded her arms over her chest. Still, seeing the stars brighten and dim was a remarkably calming experience, and despite herself she found herself entranced. "If Shinra could figure this out, we wouldn't need Mako, right?!"

"Oh, no, it is technology, dear! Well, partially it is!" Bugenhagen said. To Tifa's shock, he reached up and touched one of the stars and it immediately flashed out of existence. When he withdrew his hand, the star reappeared exactly as it was before. "Spheres are, from what little we understand, a solidification of mana, much like materia is a solidification of Mako energy. It's similar to materia, except it isn't powered by what we call Mako..." he said proudly. Seeing Tifa's confusion, Bugenhagen laughed and pointed to the model of Gaia. "This feeds off the Planet's emanations, the byproduct of... Well, essentially it takes in one form of energy and breathes out this! It is a powerful illusion, nothing more and nothing less... Consider that the Planet takes in oxygen like us, and exhales this energy. Remember when I talked about the Planet's lungs before? This is your explanation."

"And this is coming from some part of our Planet, then?" pondered Aerith, her mouth wide open. Seeing the stars from close up, and watching the clouds circle Gaia, was a surreal experience. "This is... This is deep, man!" she gasped. "Is this like what Ancients use to communicate with the Planet...?"

"Oh, no, no, no! Nothing of the sort!" insisted Bugenhagen. He closed his eyes tightly, turned his face to Aerith, and opened them slowly as if to lift a curtain. The way he did so seemed wise in a way, but also creepy in another. "I am human, and that is all. Your people, on the other hand, were the only ones who fully understood this technology! I could never compete with the Ancients in their relationship with the Planet..."

Scene Two

"Y-You... you knew I was an Ancient from the start, didn't you?!" Aerith rasped, holding her hand to her mouth. When the shock passed, she slowly turned from surprise to confusion and tilted her head in such a way. "Okay, so... You aren't human, either?" she pondered.

"Oh, no, I am very much human, Miss!" laughed Bugenhagen as he shook his head. "Everyone has an aura unique to themselves, and that aura takes the form of a different color. Cetra have auras with unique colors..." he said quietly. Placing a hand to his face, he shook his head and turned back to his machine. "That is a different story entirely, one I'll be glad to expound upon when we're finished, Miss..." Bugenhagen sighed. "But allow me to get to my point: What happens when someone dies?"

"What happens when we die?" wondered Cloud. As he put a hand to his chin, no matter how much he thought there was only one answer. "When someone dies, they stop breathing, stop moving, and stop feeling. We put them in the ground and leave it at that... Don't we?" he asked. "I mean, you're... dead."

"Biologically, you are correct. The body ceases to function, decays, and returns its nutrients to the soil!" said Bugenhagen. Lifting a finger, he began to make circles with his digit. "There is a second state to being than that which we call biological life. Some call it a soul, others, well... Different cultures around the world have, in their creation mythologies, many words and ideas to represent it, but for simplicity I'll call it a soul!" he said pointedly. "A soul isn't a solitary being, but rather connected to every other soul. All life in this universe is connected! Humans, animals, plants... even the mountains and oceans possess their own consciousness, hopes, and dreams!" Turning to Aerith, he lifted an eyebrow and softly smiled. "How am I doing so far, Miss?"

"Y-You really... whoa... You really know what you're talking about!" gasped Aerith. "My mother Ifalna told me about these things when we were inside that awful facility, in between experiments... Not that I want to remember those..." she muttered with a grimace on her face. "But so far you're right. The only part you don't know about is-"

"The cycle of souls, the spiral of life and death, right?" asked Bugenhagen, much to Aerith's shock. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and held out his hand to her. "A path of life that transcends flesh and blood, one that encircles the Planet and enriches it with its blessed nutrients... And what do the Ancients call it, Miss?" he wondered as he opened his eyes and withdrew his hand.

"We call it..." Aerith started to speak, but quickly clammed up and narrowed her eyes. "Don't play with me. You know we call it the Lifestream, right?" she said softly. Sighing, she folded her arms over her chest. "When life is created, it's infused with a soul. That much my mother told me... But you know more, I'm guessing..." said Aerith quietly. "I don't want to put words in your mouth. You tell us."

"The souls of the dead and living mingle in the Lifestream, which is more simply a road of souls..." Bugenhagen explained. "Consider a soul pure potential. The soul, which emerges from realms unknown, goes through life, accumulates memories and emotions, and establishes both a personality and experiences things for itself. When the body dies, the soul leaves it and resumes its course with the Lifestream..." he said quietly. "The soul provides nutrients to the Planet in the form of emotions, experiences, and memories, and then the whole of the Planet becomes enriched with those nutrients." Turning to a very confused Cloud, Bugenhagen sighed. "Ah, but an old man's words are often difficult to translate. Allow me to demonstrate..." he said.

Bugenhagen input a series of commands into his control panel, causing the model of Gaia to stop circling the Sun and gravitate towards the party. The image of the Planet stilled for a moment, but slowly several objects emerged from its crust: a human being, a deer, and a tree all appeared at various points across the model, created from glimmering light. The figures continued to mature, until they suddenly stopped and became reduced to particles of light that began to cover the Planet in streams of light, encircling it with countless colors and streams of energy.

"These souls form a stream that permeates and encircles the Planet, or more plainly called the Lifestream!" remarked Bugenhagen. "Consider the Gaia Hypothesis for a moment, comparing our world to a living entity. Mountains as bones and oceans as blood, the Lifestream functions as its circulatory system and distributes nutrients to the whole of the entity to nourish it..." he said plainly. "We can be considered bacteria, single celled organisms that create unexpected and incalculable effects that affect the Planet, Gaia, as a whole. Planets and stars are the same, living entities composed of organs and bacteria that are themselves alive."

"This... Well, this is outside of my philosophical pay grade!" muttered Tifa. As she wracked her brains, she quickly threw up her hands in confusion. "This is all amazing, but I don't see what it has to do with Shinra and Mako energy..." she sighed. "So far you've given us a lot to think about, but what the heck is your point?"

"Is that what you think, Tifa?" Bugenhagen asked abruptly, startling her with the intensity of his stare. "Souls light the lanterns of our world. Imagine for a moment if those lanterns were to be extinguished. Allow me to show you the result..." he said darkly. With a click of his fingers, the lights surrounding Gaia slowly faded to nothingness and, to everyone's horror, the Planet began to crack and it crumbled into dust. "These are the fundamentals of the Study of Planet Life, which we research in Cosmo Canyon..." said Bugenhagen plainly. "The most basic of basics..."

"Th... That's horrifying!" groaned Cloud as he held his face in his hand. "So souls are what power the Planet, right? Do I have that right?" he asked, receiving a nod in reply. "So you're saying that without souls, the Planet dies..."

"Natural, spiritual energy is the force that keeps the world functioning as an organism! We are all a nutrient source to that organism, and in gratitude it allows us to enjoy life!" said Bugenhagen proudly. "The nature of spiritual energy is beyond human understanding, and you cannot reduce life to a mathematical equation..." he said. "Humans don't understand how to use it, so when we extract it from the ground it becomes inefficient and useless to the Planet. It can no longer fulfill its very purpose."

"Hold the phone! You said extract!" gasped Tifa, holding her hands over her mouth. Cloud was equally horrified, and Aerith slowly shut her eyes as if in pain. As the realization came, Tifa's face slowly contorted in horror. "Oh, God... So what Mako really is... it's Lifestream?! Then when it's-"

"Our Planet's Lifestream, when extracted, is crudely processed into what we call Mako energy, which Shinra distributes across the globe, yes..." sighed Bugenhagen. "Shinra's Mako reactors provide daily, affordable energy to everyone across the globe. The energy we call Lifestream becomes Mako, and is used up as if it were currency. To Shinra it is, I suppose..." he growled. "A decade's worth of spirit can be used to power a toaster..."

"So, Mako energy is Lifestream, then..." said Aerith quietly. "Every day we go through billions of lives and countless memories to fuel our daily lives, our creature comforts and our hobbies - human, plant, and animal, everything that once lived is being used up and thrown away..." she said darkly. "We're not only killing the Planet, we're killing our future as well... It's suicide by existence..."

"A slow, cruel death, indeed! I'd liken it to exsanguination, starving the body of blood and nutrients until it simply ceases to function!" said Bugenhagen. He typed in a few commands with a slight pulse of anger. "It ceases to function, as do we all... And soon, if we continue perpetuating our crimes..." When he forcefully hit a button, the entire cosmos broke into motes of light and the room fell dark. Suddenly, the elevator began to drop, and as they passed through the bubble it broke and the trio fell to their knees in a puddle of water. "The time of reckoning approaches!" growled Bugenhagen. Sighing, he typed in a few commands and the water receded. "Spend the night here... I'll show your friends the same truths I showed you... Then you can make your decision as to whether the Planet could possibly be saved..."

Breathing hard and drenched in sweat, Cloud and Tifa staggered to their knees, then their feet, and slowly exited the room. They left Bugenhagen and Aerith alone, and as Bugenhagen clicked a button and several fans started to dry the room, Aerith turned to face him with a look of both confusion and resolution in her eyes. Bugenhagen sighed softly and turned to face her.

"Even my mother never told me all of what you have today... And it's chilling..." Aerith said softly. "I know that the Ancients communicate with and walk alongside the Planet, but... You said you could tell I was a Cetra yourself, without me telling you..."

"Consider it an old man's parlor trick, if you will..." sighed Bugenhagen. Lifting his hands, he began to emit a soft pillar of violet light. "All life has a distinct color to its aura. By reading the pillar of light emitted by a life form, those so trained can see such things. A Cetra's aura doesn't register as a single color..." he said quietly. "They cycle through a rotation of colored auras, countless colors mixing into something beyond what I can perceive, perhaps because of your connection to the Planet. When I saw your aura, I knew you were Cetra."

Aerith's hand briefly brushed her hair ribbon, though she quickly lowered it. "You must know more than you've told them. I don't believe that you're telling me everything you know, either..." She undid her hair ribbon and withdrew a gleaming, white materia. As her long brown hair dropped, Aerith held it close to her heart. "You know about Holy..." she murmured. "Don't you, sir?"

"I've read the tomes and heard the stories, yes, but nothing more..." Bugenhagen said quietly. "I don't think a soul alive knows of it but yourself and I. The Ultimate White Magic, connecting directly to the heart of the Planet, is not something to be trifled with. Using it comes at great risk..." he murmured. "And I trust your mother told you of the... prerequisite to connect to the Planet with it, yes?" Seeing Aerith's hesitation, Bugenhagen threw up his hands. "I'll say only what you want me to..." sighed Bugenhagen. "I won't reveal your tribe's ultimate secret without your consent. I understand the ramifications of what I'm speaking of, as do you..."

"It... just isn't something I want them to worry about," Aerith said as she retied her ribbon and stashed the White Materia inside it. "I just hope it never gets used the way mother told me..." she said darkly. "If something... horrible... happens, this secret might be the only salvation for humanity... and if I have to, to save the others, I... " She paused suddenly, her eyes lowering. "You know, I don't know... I'm not sure yet..." Aerith murmured.

Scene Three

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith weren't the only visitors to Bugenhagen's apparatus. Next, Barret, Cait Sith, and Yuffie took their turn inside the chamber and all came out shaken to the core. Taking Bugenhagen's suggestion to heart, the party spent the rest of the day relaxing. Tifa got her shower and clean clothes, and the others took turns inside Cosmo Canyon's bath houses. Repairing the buggy would take longer than expected, so by night time everyone chose to gather around a large bonfire in the center of Cosmo Canyon, where as night came everyone quietly pondered their new knowledge.

"I wasn't the one who started AVALANCHE..." said Barret as he rose to his feet in front of the bonfire. "From what I got out of it, a bunch of angry people from Cosmo Canyon ended up in Midgar and started bashing Shinra's use of the reactors, said they were destroying the Planet..." he said quietly. "Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, and me all heard the stories, got together with some other folks, and we decided that one day we'd come here and celebrate handing Shinra's ass to them in a hat..." Barret sighed. "I never knew all this stuff. All I learned 'bout was hate, and since I hated the suckers anyway, it sort of became empty... I hated 'em cause I wanted to hate'em..."

"You recruited me back in Sector Seven half a year back, and I never really questioned it either..." sighed Tifa. "Because of what happened in Nibelheim, I hated them too. Saying that they were destroying the Planet was one way to rationalize the fact that I hated them with all my heart..." she said sadly. "It gave me an excuse to hate them even more..."

"That's how it was for me, too! I wanted to find a reason to hate them, so I got one!" snarled Barret. "But that's all I did, hate them. I didn't do any research, I didn't try and find out how they were killing the Planet... Maybe..." he sighed as he plopped down roughly on his seat. "Maybe I've been fighting for the wrong reasons this whole time... 'Cept now I got Marlene to fight for, so that's gonna be my reason to fight 'em. And I owe it to Dyne, too."

Marlene... Dyne... I ain't fightin' 'cause of hate no more... It'll be out of love, from here on out... I promise...

As time passed and the fire continued to burn, everyone stared at the flames as if searching for an answer in its crackling embers. Tifa had her own thoughts and concerns, not all of which were answered by Bugenhagen. Eventually she shuffled next to Cloud and stared at her friend's eyes, eyes she thought she knew but had doubts about who he really was. His story back in Kalm hadn't been the complete truth...

"Y'know, Cloud... Looking at the fire's got me thinking, and..." Tifa said as she stared at her shoes, avoiding eye contact with Cloud. Somehow, she hoped she'd get the answers she wanted, but half of her didn't want to ask the question. "Five years ago, back in Nibelheim? Cloud, you..." she sighed as she took a deep breath and turned her eyes to Cloud. "You told us everything, didn't you? Did you leave anything out?"

Cloud also stared into the fire searching for answers, and Tifa raising the question sparked his own uncertainty. Even though he'd told them everything he remembered, he was vaguely aware that there were discrepancies.

Five years ago, I came to Nibelheim and fought Sephiroth... How did I survive a fight with Sephiroth? He's the most powerful warrior that's ever existed... What happened after that? It was five years later I came to Midgar... I want to say I remember everything, but there's a five year gap I can't account for... I don't get it. I told the truth, I said everything. Isn't that enough?

"Forget it, Cloud... Just forget I said anything..." sighed Tifa, slowly inching away from Cloud. "Maybe memories... Maybe they aren't supposed to make sense. Maybe they can be wrong and right at the same time, even..." she said quietly. Silently dropping to her back and using her hands as a pillow, she closed her eyes tight. "You... You are who you are, Cloud. That's all that matters, right?" Tifa murmured softly, mostly to herself. "That's all that matters..."

Listen to me, acting like I believe what I'm saying. I just don't want to ask the damn question. Why you never came for me...

"Even if I'm an Ancient, I never knew what Mako really was and how the Planet was dying..." said Aerith quietly. "But we all heard the Planet's scream and now we all know what's at stake isn't just us or Shinra, it's everybody we care about..." she sighed sadly. "Maybe this is when we all take a break and think what we're really doing chasing Sephiroth... or if we want to at all..."

If I ever have to use it, to save my friends... Then, I'll summon Holy. I won't let them or the Planet die, not if I can do anything about it. These people taught me to never give up, even when everything's gone to hell and back. So, I won't stop fighting... No, never!

Yuffie's feelings were similarly muddled. The reason she'd been fighting Shinra was to get enough materia to take them down. Everything about the Planet dying and everyone else dying seemed like a detour to what she really wanted - to make her father believe in something again, preferably her. Why was she still dealing with these lunatics and their quixotic campaign to save the world? Staring into the fire, her thoughts flickered on and off along with the crackling embers.

Maybe I can find a materia that saves the world? Yeah, I'll do that. But first, I'm going to put my foot up Shinra's ass. Then I'll do whatever... Gawd, what a mess! This crap makes my head hurt!

They didn't even know his real name, nor his identity. Reeve had started spending time with Cloud's faction to help ferret them out and do what his job demanded. He still considered them terrorists, and wouldn't forgive them for the collateral damage they'd done during their attacks in Midgar. And he still remained loyal to his company, the company he'd dedicated his entire life to. Then his mind turned to the destruction of Sector Seven, remembering the horror he'd felt when the Plate dropped. As he watched the party through his mechanical cat's eyes, his own began to gloss over with doubt.

Who are the real terrorists, them or us?

"You know, it's been decades, but I still remember everyone sitting here by this fire..." Red XIII said quietly, curling his tail over his paws. Seeing Cloud's look of confusion, Red XIII sighed and laid down. "Me and my parents, we all sat here. I still miss Mother, and I remember the last conversation we had. But then..." He growled as he bared his fangs angrily. "My Father was a no-good coward! That rat abandoned us when the Gi Tribe attacked, left Mother all alone! I will never forgive that bastard..." growled Red XIII.

Unbeknown to the party, Bugenhagen had been watching them from a distance. Hearing their new opinions and positions on what they'd learned was fascinating. He himself believed there was no hope, and he'd expected them to come to the same conclusion, but even through their doubts they showed no signs of giving up. Hearing Red XIII's words about his father Seto speared his heart like an arrow. If the boy could never forgive Seto, his father could never rest in peace.

Well, this seems to be the time we agreed on, Seto. This is also a promise I will honor. Your son will know the truth, and then he can make his own decision.

"Ho ho hooo! Everyone seems to be thinking quite a bit, hmm?" trilled Bugenhagen as he floated towards the party, settling in next to Red XIII. He quietly ran his hand through his grandson's fur and patted his head, startling him. "Cloud, if I can ask a favor of you, I want you and one of your other friends to accompany Nanaki and I somewhere..." he sighed. "There will be combat. If you don't want to do this, I won't hold it against you, but..."

"Hmm... Combat, huh? I guess after all that I could use a good brawl," Cloud sighed as he worked a kink out of his neck and lifted himself to his feet. With everything that he'd heard, putting out some aggression might help his omnipresent migraine, because if he kept thinking, he thought his head might explode. "Who else is coming?" he asked.

"I'm up for some action!" Tifa said as she lifted herself to her feet and dusted off her miniskirt. Like Cloud, she could use something to clear her head. The problem was that she still ached, and her right fist hadn't stopped throbbing since the battle with the Turks. She probably pulled something when she used Materia Fusion, and until she got her strength back up...

"No, you're too hurt to go, Tifa!" admonished Aerith, rising to her feet and lifting her staff to her shoulder. As she watched her friend's dismay, she narrowed her eyes at her and silenced her. "And Cloud's in bad shape, too. If he's going, I've got to go and make sure he doesn't keel over and call it quits..." she said softly, words that seemed to convince Tifa as she silently plopped back down next to the fire and resumed staring into it.

Red XIII was confused, but if Bugenhagen asked him to go do something, he would do it. But why would his grandfather come with them and put himself in danger? And more than anything, why now?

Author's Notes

And so here the word "liberties" might be stretched a bit too far. It probably broke a while back. My own interpretation of Bugenhagen's story is based mostly off of the in-game dialogue, but I threw in a few of my own personal philosophies as well, so if it's too far out there or I overstepped my bounds, I apologize but I'd like to interpret the game's story in my own way, so... At this point, I may as well be writing a normal fiction piece with all I've added and changed. I don't know about the rest of you, but writing this chapter really got me thinking about a lot of things. I'm hoping you got something out of it too.

The whole pseudo aquarium style for the device came to me when I came up with the Spheres, that and I thought it'd be cool. As you may expect, "Spiral Spheres" reference the Spheres of Final Fantasy X. My own interpretation of how they work and how they function in the FFVII universe is of course far out, but I'd like to show a couple things... First, that there's a severely limited energy source that the people at Cosmo Canyon have access to so that they don't use Mako for everything, and that the philosophies of FFX and FFVII have a certain connection to each other. I don't think I referenced it directly, but the Spheres in the original game record visual and audio memories like storing images of Zanarkand, and I tried to explain that the Spheres here record energy and retransmit it as the kind of illusions that Bugenhagen's room recreates, by transforming energy into another form. It'll actually pop up again later, so maybe I can explain it better then.

I hope I made everyone have their own little moment in the spotlight with the scene around the bonfire. One of the things I've wanted to do is make these characters more than caricatures and stereotypes, into something more representative of an actual person. Given my lack of psychiatric knowledge I'm diving in blind, but I really hope these characters become more than simple sprites in a 3-D world. If I'm in any way succeeding? Other than making you folks happy, it's all I care about. Well, that and enjoying the writing. I'm having a blast...

Bugenhagen's explanation of pillars of aura references Breath of Fire IV. In the game everyone has a certain colored pillar of aura that defines them (or something similar, haven't played in a while), and I figured I'd go with that as both an homage to the game and to try and define what color a soul is when it joins the Lifestream. The idea of Cetra having a unique, multicolored pillar was all my conception, though. I made Bugenhagen's purple 'cause of his robes, and because it seems sort of a sagely color to me for some reason... Royalty and all.

One final note: Bugenhagen's awareness of Holy. This one might be controversial... Towards the end of the game, though, he explains what Holy is when everyone's in the City of the Ancients, so I figured he was aware of it for longer than the small period of time he explained it in the actual game. From the first time I wrote his exchange with Aerith, I've been steeling myself for some criticism that it goes against canon, but I wanted to give a poignant little scene between the two just to remind everyone that she only uses Holy after she's dead and inside the Lifestream... I'm guessing that was the prerequisite, that Aerith knew that, and was praying in the expectation that Sephiroth was going to kill her. That, or I just think it's a cool idea. Either/or.