While each of the three comrades he came to Nibelheim with were facing their possible deaths, Cloud Strife was coming back to life.

It was a slow process. First, his body began to stir: muscles coming back to working form that had become stiff and almost useless; joints and bones cracking as they remembered how to function; fingers that clawed at the air to run circulation back into their hands. His neck and back were the worst, feeling like someone had stuck a hard piece of wood down his spine. He twisted it and listened as it cracked in twenty different places. A low groan escaped his lips as his face started working again - grimacing at the splitting headache he discovered as he woke up. His eyes shot open as he took a deep breath - stale, stuffy air filling his lungs. His pale, blue, eyes widened as he came to the sudden realization that he had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten here. Wherever he was, it was dark.

You're dead.

The thought shot into his head, causing him to quickly try getting to his feet - which he failed at, tumbling down midway and landing on his shoulder. Another thought came to him as he hit the ground and felt a surge of pain rush through his body.

He threw his hands down to his shirt as fast as he could before gripping the edges of it and yanking it up. He leaned forward and looked down at his stomach to see-

Nothing.

"What?" He muttered to himself. Hadn't he failed Tifa? Hadn't he lost to the pipe-swinger? Hadn't he been stabbed?

…Hadn't he died?

You're dead.

"No…" He answered his own thought as he ran his fingers through his hair, which felt dirty and greasy. "No." He repeated, trying to get a grasp on the situation. "I didn't die."

"No, you didn't." A voice answered, loudly cutting through the silent darkness like a beam of light. Cloud shot his head in the direction it came from, but only wound up squinting into blackness. He cocked his head to the side and listened for any sign of life: the shuffle of feet; the shifting of position; the silent in and out pattern of breathing. He heard none of it. That's when a third thought hit him - this one the worst yet.

What if he was dead? What if this was the afterlife. An endlessly quiet and black room that you had to sit in for the rest of eternity, wondering if you were alive or dead - hoping for the former, but believing the latter. The thought closed his throat. It made his skin feel hot and itchy. He began taking short, sharp breaths. Suddenly, he found himself wanting (needing) to hear that voice again.

"Hello?" He called out into the dark.

"Cloud?"

"Cloud."

Cloud stopped breathing and stared into the black. Had he just heard a voice echo, or did two people just call out to him? Yes, he was almost certain it was two people. But… one of them wasn't in the room… they were…

Before he could finish that though, the voice returned saying: "You've come home, Cloud. You're finally where you belong."

Suddenly, as if an artist had begun painting the picture he saw through his eyes, the room began to lose its darkness. Light and color bloomed out from all around him and in every direction. He saw a floor take shape beneath him. He saw a rock wall form to his right - a rock wall with a ceiling twenty feet above it. As the picture continued to be painted, the wall began to come to life. A large painting hung on it of some man. A few feet down from that, a blue and gold piece of cloth hung from the ceiling. On it were many patterns of beasts and men together. They weren't fighting, they were almost… embracing one another. Further down the wall, a large table formed. Many things began to appear on it. Gold and silver things. Wooden things. Things that looked sharp and dangerous, as well as things that looked useful and intelligent. The wall sharply cut right to form another. It ran its course quickly, coming to a stop thirty feet or so later and cutting another corner into the room. In the middle of that wall was something… but Cloud couldn't make it out. It was still dark and blurry, like the rest of the room had been only seconds ago. Eventually, all four walls were formed around him, and everything in the room was clear. The place reminded him of somewhere. Somewhere that had been buried deep in his memory and nearly forgotten until just then. The Temple of the Ancients. It looked like some glorified throne room from The Temple.

"Welcome home… Neodeity." The voice said from behind its black, fuzzy, shield. And as Cloud squinted at it and it began to take focus, another thought came to him. He was sick, he knew that for sure. But what if his sickness had gotten this bad - what if it had gotten to the point where he was hallucinating? After all, hadn't Rufus said something about that? He couldn't remember, but had a damn strong feeling he had.

The blackness at the back of the room faded. Behind it was a robed man sitting on a large chair that's golden edges glowed from a nearby candle. The robed man did not look like all the others though. His robe was red with a similar golden lining around it that also took on a soft glow. His hood was not down. His face was revealed, and staring at it gave Cloud an eerie, dreamlike feeling. The man was younger than Cloud, probably not much older than thirty. He was clean shaven and had a full head of slicked-back, black hair that had tiny streaks of premature greys that ran alongside it. Two beady, black, eyes lined up close together - in the middle of which was a long nose with a bit of a hump in the middle. The man had a tight smile that was framed by two thin lips. His dark, black eyebrows came to a point at the ends of his face before dipping back down to frame his eyes. He stared at Cloud from the cave of his folded-up, red hood, and wore his tight smile like it was attached to him.

"Surely," The man finally spoke after what seemed like an eternity of staring. "You must have questions."

"Tifa." Cloud quickly answered without thinking.

The mans smile grew.

"Good. You've got passion, Neodeity. That's for sure. You'll make a fine replacement."

"Didn't I die?" Another sentence poured out of his mouth thoughtlessly. It was as if staring at this man had made him lose his ability to think.

"No, friend. You're alive. Soon, you'll be more alive than you've ever been."

"But…" Clouds hands reflexively went to his stomach and grabbed at the spot where he had been stabbed. "…I…"

The man waited patiently.

"I died. Pipe-swinger. Pipe-swinger got me."

"Pipe-swinger?" The man repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Tell me about this… pipe-swinger."

Cloud didn't know whether he wanted to tell the man or not, but at that point, he wasn't sure he was calling the shots on what he did and what he did not do.

"Cologne. He wore… cheap cologne. He was following me. He killed me."

"Did he now…" The man said, seeming to be amused by the story. "Did he kill you Cloud? No, I don't think he did. But did he end your life? I think that is a much more suitable answer. You see, dieing and having your life end are two very different things. Death… that's forever and ever stuff there. That's the end of all time, the end of all things. But since you're here - which you very clearly are - that could not have happened. What did happen, Neodeity, is your life was ended. You're meaningless, miserable existence on this planet was ended, and your knew life - meaningful and joyous - began. It's start is right here - right now. You died… Cloud Strife died… but Neodeity was born."

Cloud frowned at the man in confusion as he spoke. He wanted to tell the man to piss-off more than anything, but found he couldn't pry his eyes away from him, or make himself stop listening to the senseless babbling.

"This pipe-swinger you speak of. I am very much convinced - as my years of research and study on the subject of destiny has led me to - that this thing you speak of was a product of your imagination, Neodeity. I believe he wasn't real at all."

Cloud began shaking his head.

"Before you deny it, answer me this. Did anyone else ever see this… pipe-swinger?"

Cloud pulled himself to his feet. It simultaneously hurt his back, neck and legs as he did so. The man watched him carefully, like he was watching a play unfold before his eyes.

"I saw him. That's enough proof for me." He said, finally coming to a full stance.

"Is it? Isn't it possible you saw him because you wanted to see him? No… needed to see him."

Cloud squinted his eyes and tilted his head a bit.

"Yes. You needed him, Neodeity. You needed him to guide you. To push you. To make sure your trip back home went smoothly."

"Back home?"

"Back here. Back to mother."

"Cloud."

"What did you just say?" Cloud quickly demanded. He thought he had heard two voices again.

"No one else ever saw your pipe-swinger, Neodeity. No one but you, because you were the only one who needed to see him. He led you here didn't he?"

"No… he-

Cloud stopped abruptly. Suddenly, the pipe-swingers voice was in his head, telling him that Tifa was at Nibelheim. He had told him back at the place he'd met up with Barret. Back when he first came to Midgar. Back when he was… alone - just him and the pipe-swinger.

"I can tell by your face, you're beginning to believe me."

"No." Cloud answered quickly and defensively.

"Come now, Cloud. You only saw him when you needed to. When you needed information, or you started to get… lazy."

Cloud thought of himself at the bar - drinking and actually enjoying himself for a few seconds - until that damn guy… and then… and then the pipe-swinger. He began to shake his head.

"And then your 'pipe-swinger' must have finally realized how he could get you home. He had to make you believe you were dead. Make you believe you had to lay in the middle of the road and wait… wait for my men to come through and see you, just so they could rush you back home before anything else could happen to you."

"No!" Cloud shouted at the man.

"Yes!" The man shouted back. "Yes, Neodeity! Yes! There IS NO PIPE-SWINGER! You… are him!"

Cloud shook his head and stared into nothing as his mouth fell slightly open. Instantly, the memories of every encounter he had with the pipe-swinger came rushing back into his head: Inside Barrets meeting room; At the bar; In Nibelheim. And in every meeting with the man, something was different. Something was terribly different. The pipe-swinger had Cloud's face.

"No…" Cloud repeated, putting his hands on the sides of his head. "No… I'm sick… I'm hallucinating."

"No, Neodeity. The hallucinating is over. The time to see with true eyes has come."

"This isn't real. This is a dream… this is just a dream." Cloud began muttering to himself.

"They're all dreaming, Neodeity. It's our job to wake them up."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Cloud suddenly screamed at the man, a vein in his head sticking out. His eyes bulged - his brow frowned furiously. His skin felt hotter than ever and all he wanted to do was hurt something to make it all feel better.

"Than what shall I call you?"

"YOU CALL ME BY MY NAME!" He screamed, his voice was thunderous even to his own ears.

"Which is…"

"SEPHIRO-

The last word shot out of his mouth and than hung in the empty silence of the room incomplete - like a bullet that had been shot underwater. Cloud stared dreamily at the floor, his mouth still hanging open from the unfinished word he had tried to say.

The man only sat there, looking as if he'd expected everything to play out like it had the whole time.

"You hate them, Neodeity. You hate the people."

Cloud only continued staring at the floor, not moving an inch.

"You went into seclusion for twenty years. Twenty years! That's longer than half my life! And you spent it alone. Away from them. Away from the scum that has spread itself all over this planet. You went away because you were waiting. Waiting for us to grow as strong and big as them. Waiting for our power to become so large, it was worthy enough of your… guidance."

The man waited for Cloud to answer, but he still did not speak or move from the spot he was in. His eyes looked like he was a million miles away.

"We've grown, Neodeity. You'd be surprised at how much we've grown. In fact… yes. When I first asked you if you had any questions, do you remember your response?"

Nothing from Cloud.

"You said the name of a woman."

At this, Clouds eyes grew slightly wider.

"She's one of us, Neodeity. You're 'Tifa'? She is one of our greatest allies."

Finally, Cloud lifted his head to meet the mans eyes, which were on him as constant as the stars in the sky.

"That's right. All your old friends will eventually see what she has seen. They'll see that this planet is in major trouble - that it needs a serious change. We're the change! We're the ones who will be saved when they return!"

Cloud frowned at him. The man nodded as if he'd realized he'd gotten ahead of himself.

"Neodeity… this planet was claimed in the name of another, many years ago. We do not belong on it. We are the bastard children of a failed war - the byproduct of a messy accident that should have never happened. Our race as we know it is fundamentally flawed in the sense that each one of us believes we're the most important thing in the universe, when, in fact, we are NOTHING! We should not even BE! This planet… belongs to Jenova."

Cloud grimaced at the mention of that name, yet he still said nothing.

"That's right. We're living on borrowed ground, Neodeity. I know it. Sephiroth knew it. Now you know it, and eventually we will make the whole world know it. Because that is the only path to redemption."

The man finally got off his chair and began making his way towards Cloud.

"Jenova's race will come for her. And when they do, only those of us who have repented will be saved. Only us, Neodeity. Only us."

The man hooked his arm around Cloud's shoulder. Cloud could smell the man, he smelled like… cheap cologne. Or was that himself he was smelling?

"We don't know exactly when, but we have our ideas. We have scientists working around the clock, trying to decipher all the clues and notes that our lord left us in his short time. He knew all… he was so wise… so powerful."

The man seemed to fade out for a moment before turning to Cloud and smiling.

"But you. You were the one that beat him. The one that was so much more wise and powerful that you managed to dethrone a God! But now, don't you see why you were able to do so? It wasn't so you could go into hiding for the rest of your days, Neodeity. It was so you could replace him!"

Cloud shot his head over at the man and squinted. He still couldn't find any words to say. His head felt like it was a millions pounds. His eyes hurt. His throat was dry and unresponsive. The headache he had had earlier grew with each pulsating blast of pain.

"You still need convincing? Neodeity… you've been being called here, have you not?"

Cloud looked puzzled at this.

"Have you not heard the voice?"

"Cloud."

Cloud stared at him, his mouth falling slightly agape.

"Surely, it's been calling you. Surely, it's grown stronger and more frequent as you've come closer home, has it not?"

"Cloud."

The voice in Cloud's head was much louder and clearer. If before it was like hearing someone call him from a far away dream world, now it was like someone was practically shouting in his ear. The voice was so clear. The voice, which he had believed to be Aeris for the last two months he'd been hearing it, was now so clear he could practically reach out and touch it. That voice that was warm and soothing and soft and beautiful. That voice that had made him feel good, but sometimes made him feel crazy. The voice that even came to him and haunted him in his dreams - like some beautiful ghost that lived in his heart. It was here. Somewhere in this god-forsaken mountain it was here.

Cloud turned his head sharply towards the door at the end of the room, which he hadn't even noticed until that very moment. He stared at it for a moment before looking back at the red-robed man who hung on his shoulder. This close, Cloud could see the mans dark-brown eyes shine from the light ahead of them.

"Go ahead. You're not a prisoner here, Neodeity. You're here to be free."

Cloud gave him a distrusting look before he slipped out from under his arm and began walking towards the door. The man simply stood there and smiled. Cloud gave him one last look before shoving the door open and stepping out into a rock hallway.

"Cloud!"

He could hear the voice better than ever now. It was… coming from somewhere… down the hall. His feet were carrying him before his brain even registered which way to go. As he moved on, his legs started to feel weak, but they pushed as hard as they ever had. He was going to get to the voice. He was finally going to make it end.

Aeris… I'm coming.

---

Outside the mountain, high in the sky above, a black cloud began moving towards the highest peak of Mt. Nibel. Simultaneously, dark clouds began moving over every major city and town on the entire planet, but the darkest one of all hung over the mountain. The people did not realize it now, but the planet was reacting. Reacting to something terrible that was about to take place. Something bad would happen… and the rain would fall.

---

Cloud kept pushing his way down the hall - his hands now groping at the sides of it for support. Every step he took he seemed to feel more and more rejuvenated. And eveyr step he took, the voice grew louder and louder. It called to him practically every second now.

"Cloud."

Aeris, I'm trying.

Up ahead, the hall make a sharp cut right, and something inside of him just knew that that was where the voice was coming from.

He rushed to it as fast and as hard as he could and made the turn… and then was hit with the worst feeling of déjà vu he had ever had.

There was a door. It was long, metal, and perhaps the most intimidating door Cloud Strife had ever seen. He stood before it in awe, arms dropped lazily to his sides, mouth slightly agape. His eyes were burning holes through the middle of the giant door - no, gate was a more appropriate term for what this beast was. Because behind it was something deadly, and dangerous - but it was also everything Cloud had been looking for almost the entire last twenty years of his life. He couldn't remember how he came to be standing before it, nor could he remember why exactly he wanted to pry his way inside of it so bad in the first place. He slowly raised a cautious, outstretched hand to the face of the metal structure. His bare palm made contact with it. It was ice cold, but it somehow made him feel warm inside. He listened as hard as he ever had, but could hear nothing from the other side.

When suddenly, like an answer to his yearning ears, the voice came.

"Cloud."

The voice.

The voice he loved. The voice he knew. The voice he wished he could see. It was everything that kept him sane, and at the same time - the sole reason he was crazy. It was her… it had to be. The flower girl. His flower girl. Only her voice could be so sweet and smooth and perfect and real. And he knew that if he could only ever reach her… reach the voice, everything in his head would become right again. His disease would just… go away. Everyone that had grown such a hatred for him in their hearts would forgot about it. Would forget about all the mistakes he made. Forget almost entirely about the man himself. But then, like a holy spirit, he would return - and they would welcome him back with open arms, and every good memory anyone ever had about him would be shared throughout the entire population. One mind, connected by the sheer love that radiated so powerfully within each separate one.

He was to be… almost God-like.

And now, here he was. Seconds away from opening that magic door to freedom, and he was more scared than he had ever been before. His hand began to tremble on top the steel frame. His heart was skipping beats as randomly as a case of the hiccups. This was it.

Aeris… I'm coming.

"Cloud?"

Aeris?

"Cloud…"

He shoved the door open with everything he had.

It swung back on its hinges.

Cloud Strife stumbled into the room, feeling like his heart was about to explode, but only if his head couldn't beat it to it.

He saw what was in the room.

He fell to his knees as tears swelled in his eyes.

Before him was something from his past, but it was not a flower girl. It was the giant, bizarre casing of Jenova that had once resided in the Mako reactor near this very mountain. Now it was here. Now it loomed over him, glowing a soft blue off its chrome surface. Something was beneath that casing… something that moved and squirmed.

The remains of Jenova.

Cloud shook his head in disbelief before burying his face in his hands. Tears slipped through his finger cracks. He wept. He wept harder and worse than he'd ever had in his entire life.

Behind him, the man in the red robe stood with his arms folded across his chest, still wearing that cocky smirk.

"Now do you understand… Neodeity?"

Cloud pulled his hands away from his face and stared down at them. They trembled and shook violently beneath his hunched-over body. He saw tears dropping down onto them from his eyes. He lifted his head to stare at the statue-like casing of Jenova. And now Cloud, who hadn't been able to utter a word since he'd made the foolish mistake of calling himself by the wrong name, found a word inside his head that he desperately wanted to say.

As he knelt before the remains of Jenova, staring up at it with tears still flowing down the sides of his cheeks, he uttered one word.

"…Mother."

---