Chapter 4: A Chat on the Lifestream

Tifa opened her eyes to see that she was lying in an open field full of flowers and surrounded on 3 sides by beautiful trees. The sky was blue and cloudless with the bright yellow sun shining overhead. The temperature was pleasantly warm and there was a slight breeze.

"This place is beautiful!" remarked Tifa quietly to herself as she sat up and looked around. As she got to her feet she felt that something was not right but she could not put her finger on it. As she looked around her eyes eventually settled on a far away figure that looked to be walking towards her. As the figure got closer she could make out a pink dress and brown hair. It suddenly dawned on her who it was.

"Aeris, is that you?" gasped a pleasantly surprised Tifa.

"Of course it is silly, where you expecting someone else?" replied Aeris with a smile.

"Where the heck are we?" inquired Tifa.

"We are in the lifestream. This is a manifestation of what the planet used to look like. Everyone who dies eventually returns here." stated Aeris.

"Wait just a minute, are you saying I'm dead?" asked a worried and very confused Tifa.

"That is exactly what I'm saying." replied Aeris. "You are dead just like me." said Aeris.

"That's funny, I don't remember dying. The last thing I remember was we were fighting a big monster that looked like an overgrown crow. It picked me up but dropped me. That is the last thing I remember. The fall must have been what killed me." Tifa told Aeris.

After about an hour of chatting about past events Tifa commented "It would be great to be able to see and talk to Cloud again."

"I agree. I wouldn't mind talking with him again. You know what, I think I know of a way but I have never tried it before. It is called dream talk. When the person you want to talk to falls asleep you can enter their dreams and talk to them. It only works while they are asleep and if you don't leave the dream before they wake up then you are trapped there until they go to sleep again." said Aeris.

"We should try it. Next time Cloud falls asleep lets visit his dream and talk with him." said Tifa with excitement.

"We should leave; it will be getting dark soon. Follow me I will take you to where I have been staying these past 8 years." said Aeris as she quickly led Tifa to a huge building at the far end of the field.

Inside Tifa saw many other people who were going about as if they didn't care or didn't know they were dead.
Aeris led Tifa up a couple flights of stairs and then down a long hall and stopped in front of a large set of double doors.

"Since I helped save the planet and all I get to have the best room here." she said as she unlocked the doors and led Tifa inside.

The room was lavishly furnished with two huge four post beds, several mirrors, plush couches and chairs, a beautiful bathroom with a large jetted tub and several sinks, and to top it off a huge TV that dropped out of the ceiling at the push of a button.
"Holy cow! The dead really know how to live!" remarked Tifa as she gazed around the beautiful room.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home. You can have the other bed if you want." Aeris told Tifa.

"Thank you so much Aeris." replied Tifa with a grateful smile.

They stayed up and chatted for a while then went to bed. As Tifa went to sleep she thought to herself "Being dead isn't bad. I could enjoy this." She soon fell into peaceful sleep.