Disclaimer:

We all know I don't own anything from FF7 or square-enix/soft. No characters. No locations. No vehicles. No Chocobo. All I own is myself, and I'm not even sure about that one.

Oh well, at least this story's mine. See, I can see the silver lining to every Cloud... :-p

Sorry, couldn't help that one :-p

Don't upset the Lifestream... I want to share the fun too! Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!

Part 1: Epilogue - Eternal future.

Time flowed in quite bizarre ways sometimes.

Especially here. How long had it been? She didn't know, but it seemed that it was not that long. A couple of years, perhaps? Marlene had grown up into quite a cute little girl; of course, the fact that she now wore her ribbon scored bonus points. It seemed to her that it had only been a few weeks since she'd come here, at best.

"Still thinking?"

Aerith sighed and turned to face her ex. Well, technically speaking, they had never broken up, but he had died. Wait, she had died too, so did that mean they were back together again? Aerith decided that no, too much time had passed for her still to feel that they were a couple. And it had been just a date, after all…

"Aww, and here I thought you still liked me!"

"Zack, would you mind not reading my thoughts? I like my privacy you know?"

He laughed. Or at least, she felt waves of mirth coming from him. Despite the fact that they still retained the form they had when they were alive, they were still spirits and spirits did not makes sounds. Instead, they communicated through emitting emotions and thoughts through the Lifestream. It was quite convenient, since it always assured her that someone would come and talk to her when she wanted to, but as she came to learn, it also meant that what would have been her innermost thoughts up there were public knowledge here. Or as in Zack's case, public gossip.

"Hey, don't be angry. I just caught on those waves you were dishing out, that's all."

"Oh, was I? I'm sorry…" She played with her insubstantial curls, waves of embarrassment rolling from her. Zack's face softened. That had always been her way, her heart so open, so ready to see good, so innocent and guileless –well, maybe not that guileless- that it was not hard to see why she had so much difficulty in keeping up the barriers that would have isolated her thoughts from what she wanted to come across to others.

"That's all right… If you promise to go out with me again."

"Zack!"

"What's wrong with trying my luck again? You're the prettiest girl around after all and I'm the most good-looking guy. I say we make a match of it!"

"Zack…" Her tone held a note of warning. Was there also an undercurrent of amusement? He decided that yeah; she could not have changed that much after all. Either way, he would be really surprised if she said yes. He knew that she had fallen in love with Cloud; he didn't resent his old buddy for that. It was only fair that they'd both tried to find some love and happiness together. Life had to go on, after all. What he wished for was that Cloud could see that. Maybe with Tifa's help, he would. Yeah, with her help, he would come to see that life was for living and not mourning forever. Zack had always liked Tifa; if there was anyone who could drag his stubborn, confused, uptight buddy to reason, it was her. Plus, she deserved some happiness too, after the way both him and Cloud had failed her…

Aerith sent him a puzzled look. Why was he thinking of Tifa now?

"Anyway, what are you doing here? I though you were going to go back to sleep."

He grinned, his lop-sided, cocky grin that had always, for an obscure reason, had a strange effect on her, midway between irritation and embarrassment and attraction.

"I couldn't leave a damsel in distress."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Of course."

"Of course!" He acted hurt, his eyes wide with the sting of her doubt. If he remembered right, puppy eyes worked well with her… "Why else would I still be here? I'm dead tired, you know. I don't know about you, but going up there has drained the hell out of me."

Aerith looked closely at him. True enough, his form looked more transparent than usual, while hers was still as strong as if she was still alive. And he had been awake for only a short time… she had called to him to help her contact Cloud when she had felt the corruption Kadaj was threading in the lake of the Ajit. One day, Zack, as strong as he was, would go back to the Lifestream… while she might still very well stay stuck in this place after everyone had come to join them, maybe until the end of time. She had heard her mother's guiding thoughts about fifteen years after her death; who knew how long the Planet would require her to stay in this form?

It had revealed to her that she would go back to join the cycle of life when her mission to protect it had been accomplished; she had thought that it would be over when Meteor had been stopped, and Sephiroth too, but no. She had lingered in that lightless world, drifting here and there, meeting those whom she had known and who had died, and collecting information from the ever-flowing source of the Lifestream.

Zack's thoughts floated on to her, breaking her reverie. "Maybe there is something else to be done."

"What would that be?"

He seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment, and Aerith waited. It was often like that with the ghosts of humans; sometimes, it took some time for them to get their thoughts organized into a coherent flow. She had long decided that her Cetra heritage gave her a certain ease in communicating this way, perhaps because her mother had trained her from beyond the grave in listening and speaking that way. Go straight to the heart of the matter. Cut to the essential. Forget the distracting murmur of other flows.

After some time, he spoke up.

"Since I've been here, I've slept quite a bit to preserve my strength. But I've also met some of my old friends, and some people I used to know in Shin-Ra. That was a bit less… pleasant."

Aerith grimaced. She too had met the former President Shinra, that most unpleasant, egocentric, greedy little clothes horse.

"But there are people missing."

"Maybe they have already gone back to the Planet," she ventured.

"No. They were very strong people, so it stands to reason that they would have lingered around like you and I. Plus, even if they had gone back, they would have left something of themselves down here that I would have recognized. That has been bugging me for quite a while now."

Aerith was suddenly very afraid. "Zack… who were they?"

He held her gaze for a moment before breaking away. "Unpleasant people. Dangerous people. And if I can't find them here…"

Her whisper continued where he had left off. "… then they're still alive."

Silence reigned between them. Aerith was listening to the Planet, trying to find a whisper of anything that would ease the dread in her heart. What she learnt instead horrified her. How could this have escaped her notice?

"Zack… what can we do?"

He shook his head ruefully. "I don't know. I guess it's all up to Cloud and the others now. We cannot rise again like we did to push back Meteor, for this threat has little to do with magic."

She regretfully agreed. They could not attack that threat, not directly. But what could they do…?

"Zack!"

He regretfully shook his head. "To appear to them, we need a strong surge of life-energy. Plus, they have to be listening to us and be within hearing range, like Cloud was when we said goodbye."

"We can always use the church, speak to those who are still here; I know that many children still like to play there. The flow of Mako has only increased since the last time we were there, so it should be pretty easy to contact them."

He shook his head. "It has increased only to heal the breach we created to let your cure for Geostigma through. Soon, the little flow that allowed you to hear your mother and grow flowers there will be closed off and your Great Gospel will stop curing the sick and the wounded. And those people are of the patient kind; they will not attack until their final weapon is about ripe."

"Oh…" Aerith clenched her fists. There had to be another way to warn them!

"What we need is a portal…or a messenger."

"Someone half-way here…."

"…But still there?"

They looked at each other in silence as it dawned upon them. They had found an answer. That plan was their only hope. If this estranged soul agreed, all might not be lost…

Before going back to sleep to get some of his spent energy back, he smiled to her. She didn't know it, but she was a unique girl. She'd died, but she still lived on in the hearts of others. Maybe that, more than her lineage, was what allowed her to go on in a place where one's thoughts, one's being, one's essence could be scattered all over the place in a moment, never to be whole again. He was fading, but she was like one of the goddesses of old: immortal, all knowing, and forever alive through the power of her heart. He went back to the shadows, drawing who he was tight into himself so as to retain most of who he had been ,when he woke up next to lend a helping hand again.

Once again, Aerith was alone. She listened, kept on listening, sifting through all kinds of things to find what she needed to know. But sometimes, that disturbing whisper would echo back to her, penetrate her soul and settle there like a cold hand upon her throat. She shivered.

Coming from somewhere far off, Aerith heard once again the screams, the moans of the dying, of the dead… fear, anguish, anger, sorrow, so much sorrow. A new battle was about to begin for the destiny of this sad, terrible Planet.

Once again, the past was about to become the key to preserving the eternal future.

Author's Notes:

Many of you have guessed it, Towa no Mirai means Eternal or Everlasting future. Look for the lyrics, the artist is Yellow Monkey

The previous chapter was something I thought about only later on, after I had started to work on this part of the epilogue. Towa no Mirai is in a sense more of a conclusion than Eternal future. It ties up loose ends, throws some light on other stuff. If you're wondering where the idea for a picnic comes from, it's from a scene (ok, not a scene, more like bonus Voice over) in the special Collector's DVD of AC. I think.

Eternal future takes place in the Lifestream. I based this chapter on elements from "The Maiden...", like the flow of time, the ability to communicate through thoughts and emotions, etc.And yeah, she did meet Prezzy Shinra, but he got sucked when Sephiroth started to gather energy... Good riddance!

Lord Makura, now we know what cured Denzel, Cloud and all the others. In fact, there was an undercurrent of Lifestream running under the church. That current is what allowed the flowers to grow, and that is also why we can see Aerith's ghost there in the game. Aerith and Zack forced the Lifestream through the breach Kadaj made when he struck. She used the opportunity to use her final limit break, Great Gospel. Haven't you ever wondered how Cloud managed to beat the crap out of the two brothers? Well, if you remember, Great Gospel revives, cures, and makes you invincible for quite some time. It started to wear off during the fight with Sephiroth.

Many times throughout the fanfic, I had wanted to post a chapter with Aerith and Zack, if only to say that they still exist within the Lifestream. Aerith, because I find it strange that she only seemed to manifest after the dark baptism episode, Zack because i think he's one of the least understood characters of the game. I hope CC will put things right. In the meantime, I hope to do a Past Imperfect chapter just for him, as a tribute, in one of the following arcs. Plus, he's cute :-)

So, what is your verdict of this arc? how did you like it? What would you have included more in it? or less?

I just feel relieved that I have been able to say all that I wanted to, clear up some misunderstandings and moot points. I no longer feel like my head is going to burst like a ripe mango now! Hooray!

On the other hand, I am now burning to get on with the next arc... lots of delicious things to tell... XD... like who that tormented soul is...

See you soon!

Celeste