Chapter 94: At the End

Green.

It was the first thing that seared through Tifa's mind and it was so bright she instinctively slit her eyes against it and raised a hand to shield her eyes. For a split second, her thought was to wonder if this was what Cloud's world had looked like whenever he'd opened his eyes in the tube all those years ago. And then her sight adjusted or the room dimmed a little and she realized there was a river of liquid green that, instead of flowing horizontally, was flowing vertically upward from a wide pool in the very center of the room. And, following that observation, she noticed that, unlike the rest of the forgotten hallways of this place, the room around that pool was in ragged ruins, ancient smudges of burns, broken pillars and cracked stone floor.

Aerith was on her knees on the floor next to her. Weeping in great tearing sobs. The sounds snapped Tifa out of her awe and she went to her knees next to her friend, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her close into her chest. As if she somehow had to physically put herself in the way and protect her friend from whatever was tearing her heart out.

The room seemed to be throbbing like a discontent heart beat, hot and cold at the same time.

In her arms, Aerith continued to shudder with wracking sobs. The key lay on the floor next to her, forgotten, looking like a child's bleached bone. Tifa grit her teeth against it. Even she could feel the aching sorrow in the room and the awful pain of a child betrayed and uncomprehending of why. Tifa looked around with narrow eyes, fighting down the feeling of helpless panic.

And then, because it was her natural response when one of her friends was weeping in her arms, she got angry at what had caused that pain.

"Stop it!" she shouted it but it was the level, angry shout of a parent dealing with a child that had stepped too far over the line. She put the years of learned authority and sheer determination into the command, the mixed tone she used to deal with drunks, rowdy children, misbehaving dogs and men that stared too intently at her below eye level. She'd faced down an ex-SOLDIER that had killed an entire building of people to defend Zack, she could damn well face down a wretched building and a stream of green.

"I said, stop it!"

It felt like wind moaning outside the window sounded except there was no sound. And then, following the impatient snap of her voice, the feeling paused. The air hesitated. Like a whisper it died soundlessly around her. The air around her stopped pulsing like a dying animal's sides. In her arms, Aerith quieted. Tifa stayed hunched over her, stroking her hair and holding her close, eyes flicking around the room as she waited for the next attack.

Nothing came.

Aerith hesitantly lifted her face and blinked huge eyes over Tifa's shoulder.

"I really hate this place," Tifa told her softly and Aerith's arms wrapped around her in response.

"It doesn't know. It doesn't understand how to deal with me. It's too – "

"Old, I know," Tifa answered. "Outdated technology." She snorted and leaned down to press her face into her friend's hair and exhale. "I still hate this place."

Shaky, Aerith tried to get to her feet and Tifa rose and hauled her up, draping her friend's arm over her shoulders. Aerith gave her a weak smile.

"We've got to get to the pool in the middle," her friend told her and Tifa made a face.

"How did I know you were going to say that?"

It made Aerith murmur a laugh and together the two of them moved to the pool. Cautious they stood in front of the river that ran upward. Aerith was practically boneless against her and Tifa was glad she'd gotten stronger since Midgar so she could hold her friend steady. She planted her boots, determined to stay upright as long as Aerith needed her to.

She'd pretend she was Cloud and moved for nothing. The thought made her smile, even if it tore her heart. Cloud probably pretended he was that way just about as much as she was now.

In front of her the strange river of green, radiating too much life to be ignored, shot continually upward. Where it ended or where it came from, Tifa couldn't guess. Somehow, she felt better not knowing. Against her, Aerith shuddered.

"It's so loud," her voice was fading and she shut her eyes but she didn't fall. Tifa shot a worried look at the river of green and then back the way they'd come, noticing without surprise that there was no exit visible where they'd come in. She gave the fountain in front of them a suspicious look. Having a horrible idea about why they were standing there.

"Do you see it?" Aerith asked, eyes still closed and Tifa turned her head to look at her friend, who was far too pale and thin skinned looking.

"What?" she asked.

"The stone. In the middle of the spring. Can you see it?"

"There's a stone?" Tifa asked warily but she squinted against the light that flowed too quickly in front of her and tried to see through the liquid that wasn't liquid, the light that wasn't light. She tried to ignore the fact that sometimes… the liquid rippling past looked disturbingly like vague human bodies made of liquid glass. After a minute, she caught what might have been the shadow of a solid shape. Another long minute of watching showed her something similar in the same place as the first.

"I think so…" she hesitated softly. "Maybe."

"Oh good…." Aerith's voice was fading again and she sounded half-asleep. Or half-unconscious. "That's what we need. That will send Jenova back to sleep again."

"Why can't we find something that will just kill it?" Tifa muttered as she shifted to balance Aerith's weight a bit better on her shoulder. Aerith made an amused sound.

"Because Jenova is not alive to start with."

Tifa made a noise in her throat, sounding for a minute as if she was her absent Cloud instead of herself. Wonderful answers that weren't answers. Then she nodded.

"All right."

Aerith's eyes opened and they were only as green as they should be. She smiled.

"No," her voice was soft and gentle and sad and firm. "I have to get it. You can't touch that green and stay sane. This is my part."

Tifa was already shaking her head but Aerith was nodding.

"Yes. And you know it, Teef. You've known this was coming just as much as I have."

Tifa kept stubbornly shaking her head.

"No. No," she repeated. "I'll get a long stick and we'll knock it loose or throw my boot at it or something. This place doesn't care about whether it hurts you or not. That weird river will hurt you just as bad as it would hurt me."

Aerith's eyes were clear and beautiful.

"I love you. I always have. You make everything possible for everyone else. I can do this, Tifa." Her voice was still too quiet but it was sure. "I know I can."

"Aeris…"

Aerith gave her waist a gentle squeeze and than straightened to her own feet. She swayed as if battered by ocean storm winds but she stayed upright.

"It's my turn, remember?" she smiled and her eyes were determined. Tifa narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to hold the back of your dress," she informed her friend and Aerith was suddenly in her arms and hugging her. Laughing. Her friend was actually laughing and it wasn't restrained or anything but honest.

"Yes," Aerith mumbled against her shoulder as Tifa hugged her tightly back. "You can hold the back of my dress. I won't be going all the way in."

Tifa made an unconvinced sound but she let her friend go when Aerith pushed away. She was scared. There was no lying about it. This place was tearing away at her friend from the inside and somehow the flowing green in front of her – Lifestream – just admit it is what it is, Tifa – the Lifestream in front of her was too raw looking and too overwhelming. She'd thought mako was too powerful and intense. Compared to the force in front of her, mako seemed mild and tame. One of those cyclones you made in two bottles of water as opposed to the real kind that swept in off the bottom of the ocean.

If she had thought for even a second she could, she would have ignored Aerith and gone after the stone she wasn't even sure was there.

Except part of being an older sister and substitute parent was knowing what you could – and couldn't – do. And she couldn't do this. She knew it deep down in her bones. She could feel it in her blood. What was in front of her was too much and it would strip her mind from her before she even got in it up to her elbows. She knew it the way animals knew fire was dangerous. She didn't have to be told. She just knew.

Aerith squeezed her arms and then turned. She waited though until she felt Tifa's hands close like death itself over the fabric at the back of her jacket. Then, she drew in a deep breath and her brows pulled down in determination over her eyes. With a steady nod, Aerith stepped forward without hesitation into the raging Lifestream.