They were in the air now, and they were allowed to unbuckle. Aerith and Squall were still seated, but Yuffie had got up and was running around happily.

"Oh, for Christ's sake!" Cid shouted after a while. "Tell that goddamn kid to sit down!"

Aerith smiled, but instead she walked over to him, examining the controls.

"Cid…" she began.

"Hehe," Cid chuckled. "I know what you're thinking, kid." He handed her a mechanic device with a screen. Aerith was slightly confused.

"Huh?" she looked at the blinking lights on the screen. There were four.

"It's a tracking device of all the Gummi Ships."

Aerith's eyes widened, Squall scrambled over and quickly snatched the device off Aerith. Cid smirked as he turned the steering wheel.

"See the red dot?" he asked. Aerith and Squall nodded.

"That's the ship your friends are in."

Aerith's eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly. She couldn't believe it for a moment. She turned around to Squall behind her. He had the same look on his face as her. She knew he was feeling exactly what she was feeling.

The words then sank in. Aerith let out a laugh and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

"Oh my god!" she said, her eyes wide with amazement. "They're alive!!"

The words sunk in for Squall too, and he returned the hug.

"You were right," he said.

Aerith let go of him, beaming. She went over to Yuffie, kneeled down and, feeling like a complete hugaholic, gave her a hug as well. Squall watched them for a moment, and then glanced back to the tracking device. He frowned slightly as something caught his eye.

"Cid," he said, tapping the pilot on the shoulder. "What is that?" Squall pointed to a blinking blue light in front of the red. Cid turned around and took the device from Squall. He scratched his head as he examined it.

"That," he said finally. "Is a very large asteroid."

"What?!" Aerith said incredulously, looking over at them and rushing over to see. She grabbed the device from Cid and looked at it. Her eyes widened with horror. "But it's headed straight for their ship!"

Cid nodded grimly.

"We have to do something to warn them!" Squall said frantically. "Send a signal or something!"

"I can't!" Cid replied. "Their ship is too far away. Even if I do send one, they won't receive it until after it happens!"

"You mean…" Aerith whispered, looking up at him. "… they're all going to die?"

Cid closed his eyes and said nothing. Aerith felt weak all of the sudden. She fell back, only to be caught by Squall.

"Aerith…" Squall began as he helped her up.

"I'm okay," she said, forcing a smile. But she wasn't. An asteroid would destroy the ship, everyone inside would die, including their friends.

"We have to do something," she whispered.

"Well," Cid said. "There's nothing that can be done mechanically."

Aerith closed her eyes and sunk to the floor. For the first time, she felt so helpless and alone. She couldn't save anyone.

A warm arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, making her feel safer. Aerith opened her eyes to find herself looking into Squall's stony greys. She could see the fear and sadness in his eyes. He was scared too. Aerith gave him a teary smile and rested her head on his shoulder. Squall hugged her tighter. He had promised Cloud he would look after her. It was a promise he intended to keep. Squall brushed his chin on her hair as she cried. The sweet fragrant of her hair was so similar to Rinoa's. He felt a stab of sadness in his heart of the thought that he'd never see her again. A single tear fell into Aerith's hair.

Yuffie walked over and stood in front of the older children. Though confused at why they were crying, she sat down next to Aerith and smiled at her.

"Don't cry," she said. "Aerith, remember what you always told me when I was sad?" Aerith and Squall pulled apart and looked at the child.

Yuffie raised a hand to Aerith's cheek, wiping away a tear.

"You told me," she said. "That you should never lose faith and as long as our hearts are connected, we'll always be able to see each other again." She put her hand on her heart.

Aerith smiled at the child's wisdom. She stroked Yuffie's hair.

"Thank you, sweetie," Aerith said. "You made me feel much better."

Yuffie smiled her toothy smile.

"You're welcome," she said brightly. "By the way, did you remember my shuriken?"

Aerith laughed and pulled the toy shuriken out from her pocket. She threw it to Yuffie, who caught it and started to throw it around playfully.

"Hey!" Cid yelled as he dodged one of her attacks. "If you hit anything and wreck the ship, it'll be your fault if we die!"

Aerith smiled and she got up. Unfortunately, Squall did the same and their heads banged together.

"Ouch!" they both said. Aerith fell back onto the floor and Squall fell on top of her. They both burst out laughing.

"Sorry," Aerith said, rubbing her head as he helped her up.

"No, it was my fault," Squall said, smiling his rare smile. Aerith stood up and dusted herself. Squall suddenly realized how pale she was.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Aerith said, nodding. She smiled at him and walked over to the window. She let out an exhausted sigh and hugged herself tightly.

"Cloud," she whispered "You have to get out of there." She closed her eyes, folded her hands together and concentrated. "You have to get out of there."

Both Cloud and Rinoa had fallen asleep. Tifa smiled to herself as she watched Cloud. She threw a blanket on top of him and started to tuck it warmly around. A small groan distracted her. Tifa looked at him. He was so handsome. She had loved him from the very moment she met him. Tifa smiled and touched his cheek gently.

"If only you knew," she said. "If only you knew how I feel about you." She smiled lovingly at him.

"I… love you, Cloud." She fiddled with the rim of his blanket. "I've always wanted to say that, but I guess I was just too scared to. Might as well just say it all now, huh?" She smiled a little and took a deep breath, looking back at him. He hadn't moved.

"I'm the girl of your dreams, disguised as your best friend." She smiled again.

"Sometimes… I wish I wasn't me, you know?" She let out a dry laugh, as if it was a lame joke. "Sometimes I wish I could be more like Aerith, because she seems to be the only one you can really open up to." She paused, her smile fading. "I know I can never be her, and I know you'll probably never look at me that way." She sniffed, her eyes misted. "And I just think it really, really sucks." Tifa smiled through the tears as she stroked his hair.

"I love you," she said again after a moment. "Why couldn't you see that?" More tears, her voice quivering. "Why couldn't you ever see that?" She leaned forward and kissed his forehead tenderly.

Cloud began to stir. "Aerith?" he mumbled.

Tifa immediately removed her hand and covered her mouth to muffle her sobs. More tears streamed down her cheeks, but she remained silent. She got up and walked to the seat next to the sleeping Rinoa, and sat down. She wiped her eyes of her tears and tried to rid herself of her painful emotions through sleep.

Cloud stirred more violently. He began tossing and turning.

Cloud…

He could hear her, but how? Was it the wind, or just his imagination?

You have to get out of there…

"Aerith?" he muttered again.

Cloud…you're in danger… you have to get out of there…

Cloud opened his eyes slowly. He sat up and looked around. Tifa and Rinoa were asleep, just like everyone else. He scratched the back of his head. Was it really her? Was he really in danger?

It's just a hallucination, his mind said. Nothing to worry about.

No, his heart argued back. Aerith is trying to tell you something. Why else would you be hearing it? Listen to her. Listen to her voice.

At that, Cloud tossed his blanket off and got up.

"Wake up," he told Rinoa and Tifa. "We have to get off the ship." The girls sat up immediately, wide awake at his words.

"What?!" Rinoa said, dumbfounded. "Are you crazy?!"

"Something bad is going to happen," Cloud replied grimly. "We have to wake everyone up." He looked at Rinoa who, though still confused, obeyed and began going around to the nearby passengers. Tifa glanced at her friend, then turned back to Cloud, utterly baffled.

"What are you talking about?" Tifa asked. "How do you know all this, Cloud?"

He sighed, knowing how it was going to sound. "Aerith told me. In my dream."

Cloud walked towards the emergency space capsules, each one containing enough oxygen for one person. Rinoa went over to some people sleeping nearby, unsuccessfully trying to wake them as they brushed her off.

"She told you in a dream?" Tifa repeated, following after him. "And you're taking it this seriously?" Cloud nodded. The two girls walked towards him. Tifa examined a capsule, and then looked at Cloud.

She didn't know whether to believe him or not, but he seemed serious. And whenever he was serious about something, it was always a matter of life and death. From the look in his eyes, Tifa could tell he knew something bad was going to happen, and as usually, she couldn't help but put her faith into him. She glanced back at the escape capsule, a suddenly feeling of fear arising inside her through her realization. She bit her lip.

"We might never see each other again." Cloud let out a weary sigh and cast his eyes down.

"Don't talk like that!" Rinoa said. "We'll always be able to see each other again. My gosh, don't be such a pessimist!" That brought a small smile to the other two. Rinoa glanced over her shoulder at the other passengers, letting out a weary sigh. She looked back at Cloud in dismay.

"No one will listen to me," she said. "I even said to them the ship's in danger and everyone might die, but they still won't listen to me!" The trio exchanged grim looks.

It was hopeless. No one was going to believe a few kids like them.

"Excuse me?" said a voice behind them. They turned around to face the old woman from before. "Can you please tell me what is going on?"

"Something's going to happen to the ship," Cloud said. "Something bad." The old woman gasped, and went back to her seat. She returned, in her arms her sleeping granddaughter.

"Please," she told Rinoa. "If anything bad does happen, please take Kairi to safety." Being the eldest of the three, Rinoa knew it was up to her to take responsibility for all their lives. She extended her arms for the old woman to place the sleeping child. The old woman smiled at her.

Rinoa walked over to a capsule and opened it. She placed Kairi in and started to adjust her safety gear. The old woman walked over next to her. Kairi yawned and opened her eyes.

"Grammy?" she squeaked. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rinoa," the girl in blue said. She finished with the safety gear.

"There." Rinoa stood up and moved over for the grandmother.

"Grammy?" Kairi said again. "What's going on?"

"You're going on a fun trip," the old woman said.

"A fun trip?"

"Yes."

"Are you coming too?"

A tear ran down the old woman's cheek as she smiled at her granddaughter. "No, I'm not."

"Why?"

"Because I'm too old, my darling." She kissed Kairi on the forehead and then stood up.

"Grammy, wait!" Kairi shouted, struggling to get out. Rinoa pushed down the glass door. Kairi started to cry and bang on the door. Rinoa closed her eyes and turned to the grandmother. She smiled at Rinoa and took her hands.

"Thank you."

Rinoa smiled and nodded. She turned and walked to Cloud and Tifa.

Tifa continued to stare at Cloud, who had his eyes down.

"So," she said. "I guess this is goodbye." Tifa dropped her gaze and turned away, hugging herself tightly. Cloud looked up at her. She began to cry. Rinoa saw this and went over to hug her.

"Hey," she said softly, patting Tifa comfortingly on the back. "Don't be like that, sweetie. We'll see each other again." They pulled apart and Tifa gave her a teary smile. Rinoa then went over and hugged Cloud.

"You don't lose faith, either. Okay?" she said, hugging him tightly. "This isn't the end." Cloud nodded silently.

Suddenly, a violent jolt woke up the entire ship.

"Too late," Cloud said, looking around the ship. He sighed as he came to an agonizing decision. "We have to go now." The girls nodded.

Rinoa first ran over to Kairi's capsule and launched it. She ran back and jumped into her own capsule. When she finished, she looked back up through the glass door. The grandmother was standing there, smiling at her while everyone else was running around in a blind panic. Rinoa bowed her head to her. She raised her hand to the ring around her neck and touched it thoughtfully. She smiled sadly to herself, then launched her capsule. Cloud and Tifa frantically put on their safety gear. When she was done, Tifa glanced and smiled at Cloud, who hadn't finished yet.

"I'll find you," she whispered. "And then I'll tell you for real." At that, she hit the launch button.

Cloud finally finished and he leaned back in the capsule. He let out a weary sigh and closed his eyes.

"Thanks, Aerith," he muttered. He took a deep breath, and closing his eyes, he hit the launch button.

He hit it just in time too.

"Oh no…" Aerith gasped as she watched the blue light collide with the red on the tracking device. Squall ran over and snatched it off her.

"Damn it…" he said bitterly. Aerith was trembling uncontrollably. Squall wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to cry onto his chest. He closed his eyes tightly.

"No," Yuffie said, running up to the couple. She tugged on Aerith's dress. "Please, Aerith…" Yuffie hugged her around the waist.

"Wait a second," Cid said, taking the device from Squall. He examined it, and then pointed to four small yellow dots scattered around the area where the Gummi Ship had been.

"Four people got away," he said, handing the device back to Aerith.

Aerith examined it and gasped.

"Oh my god," she whispered. "He heard me call him."

Squall frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I… I called out to him. I told him he had to get out of there, and it worked." Aerith smiled.

"It's unlikely they were the survivors," Squall said. Aerith shook her head at him. Why are you always thinking the worse of things?

"It's more unlikely if it wasn't them," Cid remarked. "No one could have seen that asteroid coming." Aerith smiled warmly at him. She went over and took Yuffie's hand, leading her over to the window.

"They're out there, Yuffie," Aerith said, pointing out the window. "I know they are."

"What's going to happen to them now, Aerith?"

Aerith smiled. "They're on a new adventure. But someday, they'll find their way back home."

She knew she was right. No matter how long she had to wait, she knew Cloud would find his way back to her. Some day, she'll feel whole again.

His head hurt. He had been knocked unconscious when the capsule landed. Cloud kicked the door open. He got up and examined his surroundings.

Sand, sand and more sand.

He was in the middle of nowhere. Cloud jumped out of the capsule. It was going to be a long journey, but he didn't care. He was alive. Aerith was alive. Cloud smiled to himself and looked up at the sky.

"I'll find you," he muttered to the wind. "I don't care how long it takes me. I'll find the light I need."

With his Buster Sword in hand, he made his way through the sand dunes of the desert. He didn't know where he was going. It was like walking through a long dark tunnel. The only way out was to find the light at the end. The light was in her.

"Aerith," Cloud whispered. "I'll find you."