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"What does he see in her?" Yuffie asked aloud as she held the origami crane that was her new weapon between her fingers, readying to throw it towards a prepared target attached to a tree near the base of the mountain. She had found it exploring the cavern at the top of the mountain with Lord Leviathan's advice, in response to her need for a new weapon, and was sure that it was magic at this point.

It had to be, given the cavern was filled eternal flames that burned so hot that they couldn't be quenched through normal means. Ordinary paper would have been ashes from proximity, but it was fine once they used Lord Leviathan's scale to call the power of the sea at its behest and snuff the flames. So naturally she needed to test it out, but Cid had commandeered her home to talk with Shera.

"I cannot say for certain that I fully understand his thoughts on the matter, but perhaps his loyalty is to be admired?" Yuri offered in response from his perch against the tree behind her. In his hands was a notebook that he was scribbling into diligently as he translated the ancient scripts that Yuffie's father had given her during her last visit.

It wasn't that she hadn't been attempting to decipher it, but she had been fairly busy all things considered. And Yuri actually did know the ancient writing since that was the sort of thing a good student like him practiced. So really it was for his own good as well as hers, or so she rationalized upon being reminded by her father that it was essential and asking Yuri while Aerith saw to his mother—who was more active now than before.

"But I still don't get it!" She chambered her arm and then flung it forward. The moment it left her grasp, the origami crane began to spin rapidly and then cut clean through the target. And then the tree behind it, and another two along its return path as it circled around. "She's literally the cause of all of our problems right now, Yuri!"

Yuri raised a brow as he watched the trees begin to collapse, bark splintering under their own weight before crashing down with a series of loud thuds. "Yuffie, forgive me for asking, but are you sure you're not just pinning unjust blame upon her?"

Yuffie petulantly huffed as she held her hand out and the origami crane found its way back into her grasp without much effort on her part or a papercut. It was definitely magic. "She let that quack get away with shooting Vincent when he tried to stand up to him for her sake, and let him take her child from her to experiment on. Who does that to people she claims she cares about?"

"Not everyone can be a strong as you are," Yuri said. "We all make mistakes, but not everyone can fix them on their own. Sometimes we fall into despair and can only wait for someone else to guide us. That's what separates us from people like you, who born to be leaders."

"But she didn't even try!" Yuffie sat next to him. "Vincent suffered so much because of her. He died and was brought back because he tried to save her, and yet all she does is sleep in a crystal while he has to keep pushing himself for her sake. I hate seeing him go through so much for someone like that."

Yuri looked forlornly at her face and then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "When you love someone, you do what you can to make them happy. Even if that means doing something that's a burden on you, because seeing them happy makes you happy—even if its unreturned."

She caught the underlying tone in his voice and recall what Aerith had told her before. Realization dawned on and she couldn't help but feel like a fool. "Yuri, is there something you want to tell me before I leave?"

His eyes snapped open at that. "Huh?"

"I mean, do you feel that way about me?" She rubbed the back of her head, feeling her embarrassment blossom in her cheeks at asking him. "I've always thought of you as my best friend, but is that how you feel about me?"

"Well, I…" he trailed off, looking away from her eyes nervously.

"Be honest with me, Yuri," she demanded.

His lungs went still as he froze on the spot under her gaze. Time seemed to drag on before he breathed again and confessed. "I see you as someone to be greatly admired. Even as children you were always so adventurous and unrestrained. When you found something you believed in, you constantly strived towards it, even if it put you in danger."

"Well, yeah. That's what you're supposed to do if you find something you believe in," she said. "But that causes problems too sometimes. Dad gave me an earful on that last time."

"Even so, I think that's amazing." He set the notebook down and looked up to the sky. "That will and passion behind everything you do is what reached out to Lord Leviathan, helped you defeat the Omni, and helped my mother. You shine so brightly it's like the radiance of the sun, and I want…"

To be next to you, went unsaid but she picked up on it easily enough. If he saw her as the sun then he couldn't stay next to her because he would be burned, which fit considering that if he tried to stick with her now he'd definitely die given what she was involved with. She'd feel… terrible if that happened.

No different than how Lucrecia no doubt felt when it came to Vincent.

"Agghh…" She whined as she held her head in frustration. "Why'd you have to go and make me understand her?"

"I'm sorry," he said, even though the small smile on his face showed otherwise. "But isn't it good that you can understand someone else a little better now? If you plan to lead Wutai someday and succeed your father, you need to be able to relate to others."

"I guess…" Even if she could understand Lucrecia a little better now, it still didn't change the fact that she thought the woman was weak.

"Then that's good enough for me," Yuri said, going back to working on the notebook and translation. "I can't walk besides you, but as long as I can be of some use to you, then that's fine."

"I'll hold you to that when I come back," Yuffie said, leaning against him slightly. "Dad was whining about me not knowing much of our culture beyond the martial aspects, but you're good at the other stuff. I'll need someone I can trust by me when I run the place to make sure that the cultural aspects are intact."

[-oOo-]

Tifa set the second Huge Materia down next to the first one within what was once the Gi Cave. The ancient spirits had been laid to rest now and only a handful of people knew how to access it, so it would be safest there. Once it was secure, she made her way to the exit and back to where the other members of AVALANCHE called their home, peering through the window.

Inside, she found Barret sitting down at the table and listening as Marlene told him about everything that she had been up to while they had been away. His gun-arm was still missing and had been replaced with a wooden replica for the time-being—the new one would be done soon. For the first time in a long time he looked happy, no longer having a weight on his shoulders brought by the constant fighting.

Jessie and Biggs were off in a corner, with the former sitting in the latter's lap. They were obviously in love at this point. But she couldn't help but wonder where was Wedge until the sound of a strained voice drew her attention to the backside of the home.

There she found him, tinkering with what looked to be a generator of some kind next to a wheelbarrow. As she rounded the corner, he noticed her footfalls and rose to his feet. "You're back from wherever you went?"

"Yeah." She took a good look at him. He'd slimmed down somewhat since his arrival, probably due to the change in the diet. The food in Cosmo Canyon was healthier than Midgar and, from the sound of it, he had been moving around more. "Why are you out here alone?"

"Since Barret's back to watch Marlene for now, I figured I would work on this windmill generator that a monster got its talons into," he said, wiping his hands on the overalls that he was wearing. "Be of some help in keeping things running when we're not out dealing with monsters, and saving up so I can afford a place of my own."

"Are their problems between you and the others?" she asked. Their home was big enough to fit them all, so she didn't see the immediate need to split up.

"Not… really," he said, albeit with some hesitation. "There's just not going to be a place for me soon enough. I think Biggs is planning on having his sister come over to Cosmo Canyon now. You know she was living on her own after we got the blame for fall of the plate, but after that broadcast went out they started talking again."

"I thought outside communication with Midgar had been cut?"

"She managed to get out before everything went crazy there," he said. "She's over in Kalm right now. She's about as stubborn as he is and wants to take the fight to Shinra, but now he wants to talk her down."

"If we had known, we would have brought her along. But at least they're back on speaking terms." It was something of a relief in the grand scheme of things. Hojo may have leaked that information specifically to sow further chaos, but it gave them some measure of absolution from the blame of the Plate Fall. "And what about Jessie?"

"She doesn't have her moments as often as before either, but I think it's because they keep each other happy." He smiled in a wry manner. "Wouldn't surprise me if they had a kid on the way sometime soon."

"That's great," Tifa said. "I'm happy for them. But how have you been coping with everything?"

He sucked in a sharp breath before turning away from her and down to the generator. "…Every now and then I think of my little makes me feel like I shouldn't be here trying to settle down, but should be getting out there while we've still got some positive reputation from all of this. Like I should be going for Rufus and Heidegger while the world is out for their blood."

"Wedge, that won't help," she warned him. "Shinra needs to be stopped, but we can't be careless in how we stop them or it's the innocent people that will get hurt. Besides, you're better with fixing things with your hands than holding a weapon."

"Yeah, I hear you. But it still feels like I should be doing something more to help the cause than just watching Marlene while Barret goes to fight." He crouched down over the generator and then loaded it up into the wheelbarrow. "Anyway, I'm going to go take this to the guys installing it. Catch you later."

She watched him cart it off through the back streets while considering his words. The loss of his brother still stung him, as the loss of her family and friends stung her. But they couldn't just go headstrong into confronting them anymore. Every time they'd done so, it had caused other problems in the long-run. Instead, what they needed to do was find some way to make it so things like that didn't happen anymore.

But how? She couldn't help but wonder as she made her way back to the front. The answer eluded her until she spotted Nanaki in the distance, sitting in front of the Cosmo Candle and watching the embers rise to the sky. She could make out his somber expression even at the distance, a far cry from when he had first arrived and went to see his grandfather-figure.

Looking back at the others still sharing a story through the window, Tifa figured she had time to see what was bothering him. She made her way over to the Cosmo Candle and sat next to him in front of the fire, asking, "What's wrong, Red?"

"Grandfather has become bedridden," he said.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He is resting for now, but his age has caught up to him." Using his paw, he gestured to a trinket of some kind. "He knows that the Planet will call for him soon, so he bequeathed me with a relic of my father's."

"I'm sorry to hear that." There was nothing that she could really do but give him her condolences. "He seemed so lively when we last met."

"Such were my thoughts as well," he admitted. "It was fortunate enough that I was able to see him again before now and make amends with the spirit of my father. Those were his only regrets it seems, so he will go peacefully."

"What will happen when he passes?" The man was knowledgeable on many aspects of spirit energy and the nature of the Lifestream. His death would mean that the knowledge would be lost if not passed on properly.

"Hargo will take his place, being the second-wisest of the elders," Nanaki explained. "It will be hard on many, given how he had taught us much and influenced our lives in so many ways. However, I understood that the day would come eventually. Even if not for his advanced age, my kind lives for an exceedingly long time, so I must accept that someday those I know will also perish before me."

"That also means you'll be around to see their descendants flourish and tell them about us after we're gone," she said, providing a silver-lining for him. "Everything we've learned won't die with us as long as someone is there to pass along that wisdom, to stop people from abusing the Planet and repeating the mistakes of letting a company like Shinra gain as much power as it did."

"I suppose so," he agreed. "It would be foolish of me to not honor the fallen by seeing to it that the peace they fought for did not last because of ignorance."

Tifa was a fighter. That was how she fashioned herself after the loss of her home. But once the fighting was over, she would have to become something else.

At the same time, even if they took down Shinra and Sephiroth, there was nothing to stop it from happening again sometime in the future unless they took measures. People couldn't just see Mako energy as their solution any longer. They had to see the damage it did to the Planet over the time.

The knowledge that Cosmo Canyon was famed for needed to be passed on to the next generation. That would hopefully sow the seed for them to learn from their mistake. That way it wouldn't get to this point again in the future, where people like her needed to fight.

[-oOo-]

"You've nearly been all over the world at this point, haven't you?" Elmyra asked her daughter as they sat across from one another on the wooden porch of the home that Reeve had arranged for her to live in at Mideel. Aerith had come by and told her about many of the places she'd visited and people she had met. However, having raised her for so long, she could tell her daughter was shying away from serious topics for the most part, in an effort to avoid bringing down the mood.

"It's a shame that I haven't had time to enjoy the sights very much, but I think we've visited every region but the north," Aerith said, looking out towards the luscious greenery that surrounded them. "Even so, this is a rather beautiful place you've been staying."

"It is, if warmer than I'm used to." Under normal circumstances she would have loved it. But it was still tainted by her association with Reeve and the deception that he'd put her through in an effort to get to her daughter. That was still bothering her even now, despite having gotten to know Denzel and Ruvie. "I still miss our home though. Even if it wasn't as gorgeous as this place, it still had so many fond memories."

A slightly nostalgic smile blossomed on Aerith's face. "It did, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did…" Her mood turned sour as she considered the timing of the visit and the events at Midgar. They had managed to keep up with the developments that were publicly being made, and she knew the signs of a war beginning to boil over. "You're heading back there soon, aren't you?"

"…Yes," Aerith said softly. "It looks like both sides are starting to mobilize, so I'll have to leave soon."

The thought actually made Elmyra's hands tremble and her lips purse, considering she lost her husband in that meaningless war driven forward by Shinra. The last thing she wanted was Aerith to be near a battlefield. But there was nothing she could do to stop her at this point, and she knew it. That was the terrible thing about having someone destined for great things as a child—you couldn't shelter them from the danger that it would bring.

Aerith gently overlaid her hands with Elmyra's, a comforting touch meant to ease the fear welling up in her heart. "We won't be in the middle of the battle itself. We're just going to slip into Deepground using their reactor as a beacon while the majority of the troops are away. If nothing goes wrong, we'll be able to settle things quickly and fewer lives will be lost."

"… Just come back to me," Elmyra pleaded. She didn't want to lose her daughter the same way she lost her husband. "That's all I ask. I don't care about anything else."

"I will, Mother." Aerith then moved in for a hug slowly.

Elmyra embraced her tightly in turn and didn't want to let go either.

[-oOo-]

Deep beneath the caverns of Midgar and Deepground, a slumbering champion laid.

An ethereal voice whispered softly, resonating with his desires as he dreamed.

A single black wing twitched in response, heeding the Goddess' words.

The appointed time was coming, thus Genesis stirred.