Three Thousand Years Later: Gaia

It was a normal day in the City of Edge, or just about as normal as it could get the way things were at present. All of Midgar's surviving residents resided in the city after Midgar was attacked and destroyed two years ago. One of these residents in particular, was the former mercenary, Cloud Strife. Ever since he and his friends defeated Sephiroth, and saved the world from the terror of Meteor, he and Tifa had started a new life, creating the Strife Delivery Service.

It was set up in the Seventh Heaven bar, which was where he lived with Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel. Marlene was Barret's adopted daughter, but since he was away on buisness, she was staying with Cloud and Tifa. Denzel is an orphan that Cloud and Tifa brought into their home after Cloud found him by his motorcycle one day, suffering from a disease many people around the world were. His parents were killed when his home at Sector 7 was destroyed because the plate was dropped. Cloud and Tifa, feeling it was their responsibility since the plate dropping was their, and AVALANCHE's fault, took Denzel into their family. Cloud promised he would find a cure for the disease to save Denzel.

The delivery job wasn't hard for Cloud to take care of. Since monsters were still roaming about, traveling was dangerous for common people. Cloud was an experienced fighter, so he was in charge of making the deliveries. His close friend and comrade, Squall Leonhart, would sometimes accompany him on deliveries. While they did that, Tifa was left in charge of the business side of the job.

However, things aren't going too well for Cloud at the moment. Right now, he is also suffering from the disease that plagues Denzel, as well as many others. The people around the world refer to the disease as, Geostigma, or Planet Scar Syndrome. When the Lifestream and Holy tried to push Meteor back from Gaia, some parts of the Lifestream were infected with Jenova cells.

After these events occurred, the disease spread to people all over the planet who came in contact with the tainted Lifestream, infecting a large number of people, with the number of infected still growing to this day. Symptoms of the sickness involve dark open sores appearing on part of the body with black ooze secreting from it. Although its severity seems to vary from person to person, it is invariably fatal. When someone is infected, they contract Jenova cells, and their immune system tries to fight off those cells. Unfortunately, the immune system can't destroy it, and it overcompensates for trying to fight off an incurable contamination. Therefore, anyone infected with Geostigma will experience debilitating weakness, as their bodies devote energy to fighting off Jenova's cells. This can lead to a sad, painful death, and Cloud, unfortunately, is no exception.

After he contracted the disease, he moved out of his and Tifa's home, and into the Sector 5 Church, where Aerith's flowers were still growing.

Cloud was currently in the desolate desert area outside of Edge city, where the ruins of Midgar resided. He sat on his custom motorcycle, Fenrir, while listening to a few messages on his phone left by his friends. After he finished listening to all the messages from his friends, he placed his phone in his pocket, and started up Fenrir's powerful engines.

The back tire ran against the ground, sending dust flying, before Cloud went speeding off back to Edge City. Little did Cloud know, that up on the hill, where the rusted and worn Buster Sword rested, stood a man in a black leather jacket with the hood covering his face. He watched as Cloud sped off, and pulled a cell phone from his pocket.

He speed-dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. "I've found him." the man said into the phone.

"Good, now proceed with the next step." a voice on the other line said.

"Got ya." the man replied as he hung up. The man then took out a Summon materia from his other pocket. He placed it on his right wrist, and the materia was absorbed into his arm, leaving a glowing red sphere that could be seen through his jacket sleeve. He pointed his hand towards Cloud and energy charged in his hand.

"Time for some entertainment." the man said as he fired a blast of energy from his hand. The red blast hit the ground in the direction Cloud was moving in. Cloud looked ahead as the blast of energy hit the ground, but kept moving forward. Several four legged monsters, as well as a giant two legged creature, materialized out of the ground.

They all charged at Cloud, ready to attack him. Cloud quickly opened Fenrir's six sword compartments, revealing Cloud's six auxiliary blades, which are all part of his Fusion Sword. Cloud quickly pulled out the Main Blade as the creatures attacked him. A four legged creature jumped at Cloud, only for Cloud to slice the creature in half.

He finished another two creatures as more came his way. The creatures running at him fired balls of energy from their mouths at Cloud. Cloud maneuvered Fenrir passed the oncoming barrage of energy blasts, while still keeping his speed up. Cloud looked to his left to see the large two-legged creature next to him. He was about to slash it, but suddenly felt a great pain surge throughout his left arm. He let out a loud grunt of pain as he looked at his left arm. He knew it was his Geostigma acting up again. "Damn it, why now of all times?-!" Cloud mentally cursed as he turned his attention back to the creature next to him. It quickly swung its large arm, and knocked the Main Blade out of Cloud's hand.

The sword went spinning and flipping in the air, stabbing into the ground behind Cloud. The creature then threw its fist at Cloud, but Cloud was faster, and he quickly reached for another sword. He chose the Hollow Blade, and stabbed the sword right into the creatures fist. The creature let out a loud cry of pain as Cloud ripped the sword out of its fist. He quickly jumped off of Fenrir and performed a fast spin slash with the Hollow Blade, slashing the creatures throat, killing it instantly.

Cloud landed back on Fenrir and accelerated faster. The creatures were now having a hard time keeping up with the motorcycle's speed. Unfortunately, Cloud suddenly felt another surge of pain from his Geostigma, and lost his focus and speed. The creatures quickly caught up to him and lunged at Cloud from all directions, ready to kill him. When they were only a second away from killing Cloud, they suddenly disappeared into clouds of black dust.

Cloud stopped his bike and looked around the area, before spying the man who summoned the creatures up on the hill where the Buster Sword was. The man smiled evilly at Cloud before quickly running away. Cloud wasn't sure what to make of the situation at all. He sheathed the Hollow Blade, and turned around to retrieve the Main Blade, before heading back to the city to try and see if he could figure something out. "Who is that guy?" was the question that crossed Cloud's mind a few times as he rode off.

"Okay, I think we've got his attention. The plan's proceeding accordingly." the man said into his cell phone.

"Good, now to do the same at the forest beneath Cocoon. Your other target's currently in that area. Head there immediately and make sure she gets the message to." the voice on the other line said before hanging up.

"Roger that." the man acknowledged as he rode off into the distance on his own motorcycle. A black portal opened in front of him and he sped into it. The portal closed behind him to prevent any pursuers.

At the forest beneath Cocoon, the same black portal opened and the man came speeding out of it on his motorcycle. He quickly came to a stop and observed the area. "So this is where she is." the man said as he got off his motorcycle and walked off to find his target.

Cloud had returned to Aerith's church and got off his bike before stepping inside. As he walked to where his stuff was, he laid his eyes upon the flowers in the front. Cloud had stopped before them and stared blankly at the flowers. A timber wolf had suddenly appeared next to Cloud. This wolf is a symbol of Cloud's loneliness and guilt for the deaths of two of his greatest friends, Aerith and Zack. But the wolf was also a symbol of Cloud's past failures.

"If only I was stronger." Cloud said as he remembered the deaths of Aerith and Zack.

Flashback: 3 Years Ago

Hundreds of Shinra troops were closing in on Cloud and Zack. Zack quickly set Cloud in a hiding spot and drew the Buster Sword, charging at the army with fierce determination. When the long, grueling battle ended, Zack had killed most of the troops, but the final few survivors had severely wounded him with their guns. They had found Cloud later, but seeing him in his Mako addicted state, the soldiers decided to leave him for dead. Rain began to fall on Zack as Cloud weakly crawled over to him. Cloud couldn't help show his grief and despair as he reached the Zack.

"Z-Zack." Cloud weakly muttered, his face filled with grief and shock.

Zack relaxed despite the intense pain coursing throughout him, and looked to Cloud with a warm smile. "For the... both of us." he began.

"Both... of us?" Cloud confusingly responded.

"That's right... you're gonna..." Zack began.

"You're gonna..." Cloud repeated.

Zack grabbed Cloud behind his head and rested Cloud's head on his bloodied chest, "Live." Zack finished as he held Cloud's head comradely.

"You'll be... my living legacy." Zack stated as his hand dropped to his side. Cloud raised his head to show some of Zack's blood got on the right side of his face and hair. Zack mustered what strength he could and held the Buster Sword's hilt to Cloud.

"My honor... my dreams... they're yours now." Zack confidently said. Cloud reluctantly grasped the Buster Sword with both hands and Zack gently pushes it towards Cloud.

"I'm... your living... legacy." Cloud acknowledged. With that, Zack died on the spot seconds later, but... he was smiling. Despite this, Cloud was overcome with sorrow and despair, and loudly screamed to the sky with all his despair.

Flashback: 2 Years Ago

Aerith was kneeling at an altar in the Forgotten City, praying to Gaia to release Holy and stop Meteor from hitting the planet. Sephiroth had then used his mind control on Cloud, and told him to kill Aerith, but Cloud refused, and resisted with all the will power he had. With Cloud unable to, Sephiroth did the deed himself, descended from above, impaling Aerith with his sword, the Masamune.

Aerith had died in Cloud's arms, and Cloud laid her body to rest in the waters of the Forgotten City.

End of Flashbacks

Cloud came back to reality and the wolf had disappeared. Cloud had noticed something in the middle of the flowerbed. It was a piece of paper which was odd because it wasn't there the last time Cloud looked at the flowers. Cloud walked over and picked up the piece of paper.

He turned it over and saw it had a message on it. The message read:

"If you want to learn the truth, come to the forest beneath Cocoon. If you care for the safety of your friends and the world, I'd suggest you do it."

Cloud had a feeling that this was a trap, but his instincts were telling him to go. "Well, this might be interesting." Cloud said as he left the church and headed off towards the forest beneath Cloud rode off towards the forest he stared up at the world of Cocoon floating over the planet.

It was heavily populated, and was actually a paradise for humanity. The technology and such that Cocoon had is a great benefit to humanity. Aircrafts are the only way someone could reach Cocoon, but whether Cocoon would let you in was totally up to them.

Cloud sped up and hurried off to the forest to meet whoever left him the message.

The mysterious man that had attacked Cloud before was still been wandering around the forest looking for his target for almost about half an hour. He finally looked off into the distance and saw something, or rather someone, walking through the forest. A girl with long strawberry-blonde hair that carried a gunblade stored on her in a black case. A confident smirk slithered onto the mans lips as he was ready to commence with the next step of his bosses plan. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a large red sword with a rapier style hilt.

"I finally found you… Lightning."

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