So now that we're at OG end, I'm dedicating this milestone to 04JETTA, Final Heaven Discord member and Ao3 writer. Thanks, Jetta, for always being there to support! You're the best!

Chapter 53. January 21, εуλ0008

Cosmo Canyon. Once again. When they'd last been here, they'd been so full of hope, eager to learn, no knowledge of what lay ahead for them.

Now… so much had changed. So much loss, piling on itself; and here yet another had been waiting on them.

They'd stopped off for some final advice from Bugenhagen, for whatever the wise man knew that might aid their success against Sephiroth – but they'd barely arrived in time to find Nanaki's grandfather taking his last breaths. His parting words to Nanaki, really to them all – to get out, experience the world. To live.

To love. While you had the chance.

Tifa was grateful for Cloud's nearness as they sat quietly together at the Cosmo Candle. New lovers, still shy and uncertain, but they'd taken that step, and she was both nervous and excited to find out what happened next. Now that she had Cloud – and he her. To live their lives together.

They had left Nanaki in the observatory to howl out his grief, for the precious little time they could spare. Minutes, really as the red rock above lurched discomfitingly nearer – strangely enough, positioned right above Midgar. That couldn't be coincidence. Was it attracted to the Mako? To all the people concentrated there? Was it something of Sephiroth's doing? Tifa didn't know.

The last time they'd been here, she hadn't been certain who Cloud was. Hesitant to even bring it up. What if she had confessed her doubts that day? Would it have changed anything? Or would his mind just have been shattered that much sooner, with maybe no way to even bring it back?

She'd never know. She was starting to understand Vincent's brooding guilt so much more. There wasn't just the shame of the things you'd done. There was a different kind for those things you hadn't done when you should. Even worse in a way, because you'd never know the consequences, good or bad, leaving you uncertain for the rest of your days.

They both had guilt weaving through their bones. At least they'd have each other, someone to be there for them when it got to be too much. She turned to him; he was looking into the fire, but he must have sensed her as he swiveled his head to look back at her, the cool soothing of that blue all the comfort she needed for now.

He sat close to her, not touching, but only the barest space between them. Easy to close that gap if she felt the need – put her head on his shoulder, take his hand. She knew now – he wouldn't run away. He'd be there.

"I wonder…" she said, unsure of what it really was she wondered about the most. So many things; which first? "I wonder if Aerith made it to the other side? Or is she stuck somewhere in between?"

"I like to think she was reunited with Zack," Cloud replied. His mind, as much as hers, was immersed in thoughts of death. How could it be otherwise, when they were practically staring into the face of their own? He tried not to think about that. They had to succeed. He didn't care much about himself – but he wanted to pay back Sephiroth for all the people he'd hurt. For hurting the woman beside him.

Now THAT was unforgiveable.

"I hope she was. That she found some love in the end. But do you think… we'll ever be able to see her again?"

Cloud was silent for a long time, thinking. He tried to reach out to the Planet – Aerith had said anyone could talk to it if they tried hard enough, hadn't she? He'd tried a few times already… especially in the Forgotten City, he could almost swear he heard its voice. Almost… but not really. And it didn't seem to want to talk to him now.

"I don't know," he finally said. "I like to think so, but I guess it really depends on what will happen… after?" Neither of them wanted to say the word. Death. The finality of it. No matter what did or didn't lie beyond, there were things that had to be left behind, only their ephemeral regrets to mark that you had once been there.

"Let's think of it that way instead," Tifa suggested. "You know, like Bugenhagen said." The eternal flow of time… what you will see will eventually become a part of life's dream… "Aerith found her Promised Land. That's what she was seeking, anyways."

Cloud's silence was all the answer she needed. He was in the space between words, a language all its own, and one Tifa was only beginning to learn. She wanted to lean in, snuggle close, bridge the space between them – but now was not the right time.

Because time was something the simply didn't have.

But before she could decide, to hell with it, and throw herself into his arms and burst into tears the way she wanted – beg him just to tell her it's going to be all right - she was interrupted (saved?) by Nanaki bounding down the stairs. The two of them stood as one.

"Is he…" Tifa neither needed nor wanted to finish that sentence.

Nanaki hung his head. She didn't really know how to tell on his species, but… Did he look just a touch older now? "Grandfather has… rejoined the Planet," he said sadly. "I hope he is happy they are finally one. He never seemed afraid of that."

"There might not be a Planet much longer," worried Tifa.

Nanaki looked around. "Where is everyone else, anyway?"

"Here and there." Cloud waved a hand, straightening slightly. "It's time to start gathering them up. You're right, Tifa." She always was. "We can't sit around any longer. It's time."

Nanaki nodded. "I will help get them," he said. "The fate of all life on the Planet, indeed the very life of the Planet itself, is in our hands."

And Cloud could almost hear the Planet say, I know.

The gate to tomorrow is not the light of heaven, but the darkness in the depths of the earth.

Vincent's words. But here in the bowels of the earth, miles beneath the surface, he felt both their literal and figurative weight.

"I need you to do this for me," he told Tifa. "You're the one I trust the most."

She nodded, swallowing her tears. Behind her stood Vincent, Barret, and Cait. "Come back alive, okay?"

He reached out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "I promise," he told her, with the superstition that saying the words would make it true. "Don't you die on me either. I'll need you by my side. Until the end."

He wished those words did not sound so foreboding.

Behind him, Yuffie, Cid, and Nanaki waited respectfully, giving the lovers their moment. But even that instant was a luxury, as a greater moment loomed before them.

Tifa was the first to look away, as with a squeeze of his hand she turned to lead her group down the other path of the road's fork. He just stood there, staring, until a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

Cid stood there beside him. "She'll be fine, kid," he said – his voice subdued, devoid of its usual gruffness. In fact, it was about as close to soft as Cloud could imagine from the man. "You know she will. Let's get this over with so we can get back to our women, okay?"

She'll be fine. I hope I am too.

This wasn't the fake SOLDIER persona he'd adopted; this was just his real, uncertain self, no pretending. And he was, frankly, terrified. Not of the monsters along the way, which his dispatched with the surety of his skill with a sword – but what lay at the end, his curse, his nemesis. The man he'd killed once with no Mako to power his strength; could he do it once again?

He could hear Sephiroth calling out to him, feel the cells in his body wanting to respond. It only grew stronger as they got further down, towards the gurgling pool of green below, a boiling cauldron of Lifestream deep in the heart of the Planet. Below him, trails thinned to ledges, finally shrinking to mere islands of solid rock floating in that sea of green – he shivered with the memory of his own time within it – but it was the only way for them to go.

He stood on that ledge, hesitating. It was as if he knew, if he only waited a moment…

"Hey! You weren't thinking of leaving me behind, were you?" he heard her beautiful voice, a moment before Tifa herself appeared above him. She and all her companions, still blessedly intact. He felt himself smiling as they made their way to join him, the ledge small enough to leave them nearly single file. Even so, the others managed to allow her past to meet him.

Something rumbled above him.

"Never," he told her. Never again. And he knew he could not mean that word any more completely.

He looked ahead, and down. So this is the center of the Planet. The mysterious rumbling continued; Cloud wondered what it could be. Was it some trick of Sephiroth's pushing them forward? Or something unknown pushing them from above?

The growling, and hissing grew incrementally louder, closer. He wasn't going to wait to find out. "Let's mosey," he said to the gathered party.

He grabbed Tifa by the hand, and looking to her nod, together they jumped.

SEPHIROTH.

They'd looked at each other, feeling near let down as they all contemplated in their own ways the defeat of their enemy. It felt… incomplete, somehow. But there was nothing further to be done. The rest was up to the Planet.

After an epic journey, crisscrossing the world, going high into the sky and space and inward, to the deepest reaches of his own heart, Cloud was finally facing his foe. One on one. Deep down, he had known it would come to this.

He gave the order to disperse, and one by one each of his friends turned to begin the long climb back to the surface. Tifa was the last, patiently waiting; the others were gone, when it hit him all at once. His head seemed to explode; he was filled with bone crushing pain.

"Tifa," he managed to croak out. "Sephiroth is still here. He's laughing…"

"Cloud!" she shouted, that word hanging in the air as the world around him disappeared…

This wasn't the bright space of the Lifestream; darkness was around, as far as the eye could see. He had no idea even what he was standing on. All he could see in this strange interspace was the SOLDIER before him.

He closed his eyes, feeling himself barreling through time and space, an unknown escort leading him forward.

Traveling through the cosmos, through eternity.

Surrounded by stars, a golden orb floating in the emptiness surrounding him.

A light at the end, and waiting…

Cloud opened his eyes.

He could feel the mako in his eyes burning its green through the blue, pulled by Sephiroth's own blazing fire. Not unlike Aerith's emerald eyes – but where hers were full of life, this green spoke of hate and tragedy, loss and missed chances.

Aerith…

This was the blade that had taken her. Had nearly taken Tifa. So much lost to that sword and its wielder.

This was the man that had nearly overtaken his own soul.

But no more. He was facing Sephiroth as himself - imperfect and weak though he might be, he had something Sephiroth would never have. People.

Friends who supported him.

A woman who loved him.

The feel of her touch, the passion, the emotion of the night before was still filling him up. He might be there alone, but he knew wherever they were, the spirits of his friends were still with him.

Even from the beyond. Aerith. Zack.

There were no borders to love.

Hate was what Sephiroth had used to overtake and manipulate him. It wasn't true strength. What he'd found along this journey, that was all he reached for now – the lessons he'd learned about the right reasons to fight. Determination held his arms, his broadsword before him, mirroring the stance of the katana wielder across from him.

He raised the Buster Sword. Honor and dreams…

The sword in his hands, yet another promise to keep. And he had to live if he was to keep it.

Metal met metal in a clang of sparks and shudders, and suddenly something filled him from deep within, something he'd never felt before. A burst of courage, of power, exploded from inside, and with a flurry of slashes, he struck. Again and again, sheer overabundance of force, even as he saw Sephiroth had already crumpled, felled by the very first blow.

Cloud realized – it was he himself that was Sephiroth's last, tenuous thread to life. And somehow he'd snapped it.

It only took an instant. It only took he, himself. Cloud Strife.

Sephiroth fell back, a look of complete surprise on his face. After the hardened nettled against his twisted alter forms, against Jenova itself, it was a lone swordsman who had finally finished him for good.

I'm not your puppet anymore, Cloud thought.

I am a man, no more, and no less.

I am Cloud Strife. Not EX-SOLDIER Cloud Strife. Just me.

It was enough.

He saw rays of Lifestream explode outward from Sephiroth's bare chest, as if his mako –laden cells were jealously reaching for the purity of the Lifestream. Before his eyes, Sephiroth's body broke apart, dissolving into the ether. Particles, energy, returning to the Lifestream from which they had come.

Despite it all, he suddenly felt a profound sense of loss. In a way, it was the truth. Sephiroth had been a part of him, for better or for worse.

Sephiroth, blocking Holy before they fought him. Was Holy now free? Cloud had swum towards that light, the search for which had cost Aerith her life, and suddenly they all were there, together.

Holy, the Planet's hope. The Planet would succeed, survive.

Weariness overtook him. He was tired. So tired.

Something called him still. A call he wanted to answer. A call for peace, for rest. The call of the Promised Land.

It would be so easy to reach for it.

The Lifestream rose to greet him, green tendrils, orbs of feeling and memory, of all those who had lived. Those who would ever live, calling to him to join them. Light of mystery that had threatened him before with its forgetfulness, now promising comfort instead.

He looked up, desire filling him. He reached up his hand… and far above, he saw Aerith's hand reaching back. All he had to do was take it.

Aerith was offering something he'd so rarely had. A choice.

Living meant pain. Tifa meant pain, the danger of opening his heart, of hurts and disappointments that came along inevitably as part of the whole we called love. And yet he craved that pain, the pain of living , of moving forward even when you didn't think you could.

Aerith reached with the greatest reluctance in her heart. If he was letting go… she'd be there to catch him. If that was what he wanted – but it wasn't what SHE did.

No, Cloud, that was never what I wanted for you, she thought. Wanted you to never give up.

Your Promised Land isn't here. Not yet.

Don't take my hand unless you're truly ready. You'll know when it's time.

LIVE. My final wish to you.

He wished to the heavens above. Temptation to take her hand, leave it all behind. Give into the Lifestream's will.

Let go of it all.

He made his choice.

…and it was Tifa, Tifa's hand reaching, she above him screaming his pain, soundless to his ears as rocks crumbled and fell around him. He saw the pain in her eyes, guilt striking him as he realized how close he'd come to the edge, and how much he'd wanted to fall off.

The platform he was standing on split in two as he struggled to keep his balance. Tifa leaned forward, screamed louder…

He reached out his hand.

The rocks under her suddenly fell away from the cliff, and before Tifa knew what had happened, she was diving through space. Cloud didn't think as she fell towards his arms, only acted, leaping forward and catching her in the crook of his left arm as the right grabbed for a handhold. It was only a blink of an eye, but the danger was past before she'd even known the fear, now safe in her hero's hold even as his grip on the cliff's edge was the only thing saving them, dangling precariously over the endless expanse of the Lifestream below.

She didn't much care for another swim in it.

He could hear the voices of his friends yelling, calling their names, but all he worried for was HER. The body flush against him, still tingling his skin with electric shocks of love. Her now-calm eyes showing no residue of fear, only absolute trust that he'd be there to rescue her.

He was her hero, after all.

Time stood still in that moment. He'd realized he'd had a choice… and he had made it. The Promised Land. A land of supreme joy and happiness. But do we have to die to find it?

The Planet's voice rang in his head loud and clear. The first time he'd truly heard it. Why now? Why never before?

Maybe this is the first time I really wanted to hear it.

Maybe I should try to listen.

He didn't need to go to Aerith. She'd always be with him. She and Zack both.

His burden, his only way to honor their memory, was to simply live on.

The Promised Land is not one place, Aerith had said. It's something you find inside of yourself. Sephiroth, Shinra, had it wrong all along. But the Planet told him the truth. Aerith had been right – the Planet's message was to go find it.

Tifa nuzzled softly against him.

Everything you've ever loved is what will push you forward. Pull you up.

His grip on the Cliff edge tightened. "I think I'm beginning to understand," he told her.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"The Promised Land," he told her. "I think I can meet her there." He looked into his eyes, making sure she understood his meaning; her look, wistful, romantic. "When all of life is done." Tifa, I have to live it out with you. And while we're here , she'll always live on in our memories. Our journey is finding happiness here.

He considered the woman in his arms. The promise – that was what tied him to the living world. The promises he needed to keep.

Promises and mako were what he was made of.

That was what kept him going.

She put her head into his chest, relishing the feeling of him. You saved me in the instant I needed it. You're there when I need it the absolute most. And you will be there, all the days forward.

I'm not afraid anymore.

Beyond life. Beyond childhood. Beyond what we were and on to what we will be. She had her own regrets and wishes for Aerith as well. "Yeah, let's go meet her," she told Cloud.

"We're going home," he said.

"Huh?" she replied.

"Beyond the mountain," he whispered to her. "We have something to do when we get back. We haven't seen the other side of the mountain."

We'll never cross alone.

Tifa, my Promised Land is you.

"Yeah," she replied. "Let's go home." Let's go beyond that mountain, Cloud. Let's go through life together.

That will be OUR Promised Land.

He flexed his arm, with all his strength pulling them upward. He gave Tifa a shove on her behind – a bit playful despite the danger – and she scrambled up to the tiny ledge above, he pulling himself up just behind her, away from the yawn of the Lifestream far below.

Cloud looked around; it was just the two of them on the tiny outcrop. "Where is everyone?" he asked; Tifa said nothing, just looking at him for answers. Trust and love radiated off her in waves. He opened his mouth to yell…

…but before he could say a word, cheers were heard from above, the voices of his friends tumbling all over themselves. "I'm so glad you're safe!" Tifa shouted back, smiling. "What now?"

"Holy should be moving soon," Nanaki said, leaning to sniff the Lifestream below. "This place is not safe. We must leave before that happens."

As if on cue, the cave began to shake, a shower of rocks suddenly raining down, past them and into the crater below. In the midst of the chaos, the Highwind appeared, a frantic crew calling to them, throwing down ladders, escorting them aboard and to the glassed-in cockpit. The second time this airship has carried us away from the crater in the nick of time, Tifa thought, as Cloud grabbed her hand, hustling her forward.

She never wanted him to let go.

The ship righted and turned, but a bright light exploded beneath them as Holy erupted from within to seek Meteor It blasting them up and out, rattling them like marbles inside. Parts of the ship broke away, swallowed somewhere in Holy's light, the ship tumbling and struggling to stay aloft. Tifa slid down the near-vertical deck, and Cloud tightened his grip, grabbing a nearby rail to secure them both.

The others were slipping, sliding everywhere. Cid cursed as he fell towards the controls and past. Desperately reaching for the emergency level, his hand clamped down on the handle and he pulled. Wings sprouted from the sides, turning the airship into a plane; the ship righted itself, and they were calmly gliding forward.

I'll come back when it is all over.

Marlene had been sitting alone. She heard the voice, loud in the silence of the room at the top of Elmyra's house in Kalm. "The flower lady?" she asked? but there weren't any more words. She ran to the window, hoping maybe she'd be outside. Marlene wanted to see her again.

Marlene wanted to see them all again. She wanted everyone to come back.

But when she threw open the window, it was scary outside! That giant red sun was right over Midgar – and she could see storms where it was almost touching. Even this far away she could see what was happening. Midgar was getting broken into pieces.

But Daddy wasn't in Midgar anymore, right? She'd said goodbye just like a big girl and told him it was okay to go. Daddy. Tifa. Cloud.

Elmyra had told her that her other friends had gone back to the Lifestream. Jessie. Biggs. Wedge. Elmyra said she could see them again, but not for a long time. And she knew Elmyra was right. The flower lady had shown her the Lifestream. It was a happy place. But she didn't want to wait to see Daddy and Tifa and Cloud again.

Flower lady, keep them safe.

And it was like the flower lady heard Marlene, as a white wall came rushing forward to Midgar. Fighting the big red sun. Trying to push it back and save Midgar… but she was scared it was too late.

The red rock was fighting back!

But the flower lady was there too. Please, Marlene begged. Make everything okay.

At Miss Ruvie's house, the winds slammed against the walls, shaking the house to its plated foundations. Denzel knew. The roar was unbelievable – like a train driving straight towards them, over them. The red rock was coming closer.

And he had nowhere to run.

Suddenly, shining through the floral curtains, he could see a white light brighter than the sun. As the light met the rock above, all of Midgar trembled under the impact, pictures falling off the walls and vases, lamps crashing to the floor all around the bedroom.

Miss Ruvie got up to look. "Hide, Denzel! Stay under the blankets!" But as soon as she was gone, Denzel found himself afraid to be alone. He rushed to the window and looked out, stunned by what he saw.

Tornadoes everywhere, tearing the houses near him to pieces with their hurricane gusts; it was only a matter of time before they got to him, too. This was worse than the plate dropping. This was all of Midgar being destroyed.

The winds blew harder, and Denzel screamed. He could see red and white mixing, but the red was winning. White light everywhere, but even within that, he saw snakes of green energy rising from the ground and swirling upwards swirling upwards. Fighting back.

A monster? But monsters you could fight. Denzel didn't know how to fight this. He ran to the door of the bedroom just as those green coils burst through the tarp of a broken window, hurtling towards the two of them.

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Ruvie shouted at him, but he just stood there, paralyzed, as Ruvie was surrounded. She collapsed, and a wave of energy exploded outward, towards Denzel, blinding him for a moment.

The last thing he felt was his little body hitting the floor.

Shaken, Cloud and Tifa found their way to join Barret at the front. Fitting, it was. The three who had started this adventure together – before Aerith joined them, and changed their path forever.

Before them, Meteor bore down on Midgar. Whirlwinds had already arisen, shredding the plate into pieces, its population evacuated into the slums below..

Holy was struggling, trying – but it was already too late. Sephiroth had held it back too long; Meteor had time to become too strong. Midgar was gone, and as much as they'd hated that city, Shinra's crowning jewel – the loss crushed their hearts, another weight hanging from their souls. Meteor was pushing through that shining barrier, determined on its path of destruction.

"We're too late…" Tifa mused sadly.

They were all waiting on him, their leader. As if he could change the black mood of the party with sheer will alone. Cloud made the decision with greatest reluctance. "Let's go, Cid. Nothing we can do here." Nanaki was right – they needed to worry about the rest of the Planet. Cid was already turning the Highwind to leave when Tifa cried out, "What's that?"

Cloud's head whipped around as soon as the words were out of her mouth - and he knew immediately what he was seeing. All too familiar magical green, the same tendrils and pearls that had so recently tempted him towards oblivion. This close, he could feel its energy, practically taste the knowledge within. As it burst out of the ground, here, there, and everywhere, he realized – The Planet itself was fighting back. Fighting for its life.

"Lifestream," he said simply.

Aerith… did you do this? "She's still with us," he told Tifa. "Still fighting." Tifa only inched closer to him, knowing it was the truth…

"It's coming," Marlene whispered.

Luminescent waves as far as the eye could see, tearing the ground to pieces; and even as Meteor pushed through the barrier of Holy, the Lifestream streaked like lightning over the Planet's surface, racing towards Midgar, towards Meteor. And as green clashed with red, slamming into Meteor, the threat to the Planet started breaking apart. First crumbling at the edges, then shattering fully before their eyes; the Lifestream grabbed each piece and crumbled it into dust that was whisked into the atmosphere, carried back like stardust into the space from which it had come.

It was over.

As the Lifestream began to recede, slowly winking out of existence, the passengers of the Highwind just stared, disbelieving. Against all odds, the Planet had been saved.

The silence hung, reverent. Patient. Cloud could feel their eyes on him, waiting for a word, a signal, what next.

He looked to Tifa for his strength. His love, his life. And now, his future. It started today.

He knew – only one thing needed to be said.

"Thank you, Aerith," he said, meaning it with all his heart. And he couldn't tell how he knew, but he was certain she could hear. "Thank you."

Aerith soaked in the Lifestream slowing ebbing back, returning to her. It had taken all of her strength to call to the Lifestream itself, not knowing if it would respond to her plea.

But it did.

She watched with gratitude as it shrunk back from the destruction of Meteor – tearing apart the skin of the Planet in the process. But wounds could heal.

Even death was not the end.

Death was simple; she'd taken the easy way out. Freed of the responsibilities of life – now she felt like she was cheating, never having to endure a lifetime's thread.

It was life, surviving, that was hard…. But living it was worth it. That was life's true gift.

Cloud remembered. He'd always remember her and Zack both. Aerith was no longer afraid. He'd live on his life with Tifa – she and Zack on this side, the two of them on the other. She wished them all the happiness they could find, the Promised Land they'd be making together.

She looked past Midgar, past the city still collapsing, falling into what would only be ruins and memories before long. Shinra's monument, the city of mako no more. It didn't matter – it was a smaller town beyond that she was searching for.

Looking further, towards her mother. Towards her daughter.

She saw Marlene, still at the window; watching with childlike awe and fascination, nut armed with the understanding Aerith had given her. Knowledge that by design, Aerith had planned to slowly unwrap with time, letting Marlene grow into the heritage she yet knew little about.

She'd done what she could. And she smiled to the cosmos.

Her daughter had her whole life ahead of her.

Author's Note: Did you think that was it? Well, I have a confession to make. I'VE BEEN TRICKING YOU THIS WHOLE WAY THROUGH. This isn't the real story – the true story starts now. Everything until now has been laying ground for what happens next.

So how long will it be? Well, it continues forward into the "present" day, Gaia equivalent. I.e., year 0022-ish. My current estimate for final word count is about 400K, but since this thing keeps getting bigger, clearly I have no idea how to estimate story length. Maybe you shouldn't listen to me.

Additional warning: I said this at the start, but that was a quarter million words ago, so this probably bears repeating. The sexual content of this story increases A LOT from this point forward. Now that Cloud and Tifa have finally gotten to that point, you don't think they'll be able to keep their hands off each other, do you?