"Hey Tifa, do you ever think about how life might have turned out differently?"

"Huh?"

Aerith's question startled Tifa out of her reverie. They were in the Sleeping Forest, taking a brief break. Barret had placed Cloud against a tree where he was currently slumped. Barret, on the other hand, was stretching his shoulders and mumbling grumpily about how someone so scrawny could be so heavy.

Tifa was at a loss. Her hip was bruised from falling when Cloud shoved her away. Not Cloud. Whatever that was, it had not been him. And she was still reeling from when both Aerith and Cloud had disappeared. Horrible, terrible moments when Tifa had wondered the worst.

Aerith and Tifa had not discussed what happened with Cloud in Gongaga. What he had done. What he had tried to do. Tifa confided in Aerith about most things, but there had been other things to discuss. Tifa's experience in the Lifestream. Cloud's sudden recovered memories of Zack.

And Tifa found herself unable to speak about what had actually happened. It had confused and frightened her, but she also kept thinking about Cloud's face when she awoke the following day. His eyes had dark circles under them, as if he had been up all night. He was worried, tormented and confused by what he might have done.

The conversation between them was perhaps the truest they had ever been with one another. Cloud, who rarely admitted weakness, lamenting his shortcomings and confessing his deepest fears. The way he had looked at Tifa as she held his hand between hers. It shifted things between them. To turn around and divulge what he had said to anyone else, even Aerith, felt like a betrayal.

But things had devolved rapidly. Cloud had not been right since the Temple of the Ancients. He had been cold, disconcerting. Barely responsive to Tifa. And had pursued Aerith for the Black Materia in a way that chilled Tifa to her core. Then, they both had disappeared.

Impossible, dreadful doubts had plagued Tifa's mind.

But they found Aerith and Cloud on the floor of the Sleeping Forest. Both alive. Aerith had not elaborated on what happened after they had been separated from the others, other than that Sephiroth had the Black Materia. But she had been uncharacteristically quiet. And Cloud…

Cloud was insensate. Lost to them.

Now, sitting next to Aerith, slightly away from the others, Tifa's eyes kept getting drawn back to him. His head hung useless, and he was so still. Empty. He would snap out of it, though. He would.

"I mean," Aerith said. "Do you ever think about a different life for yourself?"

Aerith's voice was louder than usual, trying to grab Tifa's attention. Tifa tore her eyes away from Cloud, sensing that Aerith was trying to distract her. She shrugged, not fully understanding what Aerith was trying to ask. Aerith huffed impatiently.

"Like, what if you had never been in AVALANCHE. And what if Shinra never knew about me. What if I was just a regular person, living with my mom and selling flowers in Sector Five."

Tifa turned toward Aerith away from Cloud, propping her chin on her knees. Aerith liked these thought experiments. She made Tifa play along often on long travel days, asking a series of increasingly bizarre questions until they both were laughing too hard to continue.

What if you suddenly had all the gil in the world, what would you buy first? If you had to switch bodies with one of our friends, just for a day, who would you pick? Kiss, marry, kill – Johnny, Dio, Chocobo Bill – what if you had to choose?

"Do you think we would still have been friends?" Aerith asked, now satisfied that she now had Tifa's full attention.

Tifa shrugged. "I never really went into Sector Five. Maybe if things were different, we never would have met."

"Right…"

Aerith looked down, disappointed. Tifa reconsidered the question.

"Well maybe," Tifa said. "Maybe if I really had the time to focus on Seventh Heaven, I might have tried to expand its menu."

She nudged Aerith with the toe of her boot, and she looked back up. Tifa lifted her brows at her and continued.

"The Sector Seven slums had pretty limited options. I would have to shop around some."

"In Sector Five!"

The two women grinned at one another.

"There's a marketplace there," Aerith continued. "I went all the time. Sometimes just to shop, but sometimes I sold flowers."

"So there you have it. We might have met each other in the marketplace," Tifa proclaimed.

Aerith shook her head.

"That's not what I asked, though. Do you think we would have been friends?"

Tifa studied Aerith. She was still smiling, but the look in her eyes was unreadable. Although Aerith had managed to get Tifa to play along, this felt different than their usual silly games. Tifa's answer seemed important to Aerith, far more important than making her laugh by choosing to kiss Chocobo Bill.

"I knew almost immediately I wanted to be your friend," Tifa said. "So yes, if we met, then I think we would have been friends."

"Only almost immediately?" Aerith asked.

Tifa shrugged. "You have to admit it was confusing circumstances."

Aerith giggled, and Tifa smiled too, thinking about Cloud's dress.

"But I really knew we would be friends when you knocked that guy out with a chair!"

Now they were both giggling.

"So that's it," Aerith said happily. "You'd be shopping in the marketplace and see me, BANG! Knocking some creep out flat on his back!"

Tifa laughed. "What did he do?"

"Who cares?" Aerith said, shrugging. "Let's assume he deserved it."

"Seems likely," Tifa agreed. "I'd probably come over to kick his butt too, just for good measure."

"Hey, thanks for the help!"

"Not that you needed it. Maybe I would have been so impressed, that I would offer you a job as a bouncer!"

At that, Aerith made a mean face and flexed her muscles. She frowned at her biceps.

"You wouldn't make me go to the gym with you, would you?" she asked doubtfully.

"Hmm," Tifa considered, also frowning at Aerith's arms. "Well, maybe. You're not bad in a fight, but if you're going to be my muscle, then you have to look the part."

"I could be convinced!" Aerith conceded. "But only if we go shopping after."

"We'd need money for that," Tifa reminded her.

"With Seventh Heaven's extended menu, that would be no problem. Nobody can resist your cooking!"

Aerith brightened, like she had a sudden idea.

"Hey, Tifa! If we both worked at Seventh Heaven, you could teach me how to cook. I've never been any good at it."

Tifa smiled. "I can teach you how to cook now, Aerith. Anytime you want."

"Right," Aerith said.

She sounded deflated, as if Tifa had ruined the illusion of their imaginary world. Aerith sighed, fiddling with the grass by her feet. Tifa felt wary all of the sudden.

"Aerith?"

She looked up. Her smile seemed sad to Tifa.

"I think we would have been friends too," she said. "But either way, I'm glad we're friends now."

"Me too," Tifa said.

"Even with everything that's happened, and everything that's going to happen, I'm glad."

Tifa frowned. "Everything that's going to happen?"

Aerith was looking off into the forest, past Tifa. She was not staring at anything in particular. It was that faraway look she got on her face sometimes. Distant and knowing. Usually, it did not bother Tifa. It was just part of what made Aerith, Aerith. But now, she felt a sense of foreboding.

"Aerith?" she prompted.

She shook herself, smiling reassuringly at Tifa. Tifa did not feel reassured.

"It's not going to be easy," she said.

Tifa shrugged. "When has it ever been?"

A pause. Aerith, who always spoke spontaneously and from the heart, seemed to be taking her time, struggling to choose the right words.

"I mean it, Tifa," she said softly. "It's going to be hard. Really hard. I just know it. And I'm sorry."

There was a long silence as Aerith let her words sink in.

"But we can't give up, okay Tifa? You can't give up. No matter what."

"I won't," Tifa promised. "We said we would do this together, remember?"

"We did," Aerith agreed. "And we will. It's just that…"

She grabbed Tifa's hand, giving it a squeeze.

"There's this one thing I have to do first. And I have to do it on my own."

"What?"

Aerith kept going. "So, we'll both have to fight on our own for a bit."

She was standing now, dusting off her dress. Tifa stood quickly, confused.

"Just remember you aren't alone, okay Tifa? Even if it feels like it," Aerith said.

"But, Aerith!"

She was moving quickly now, saying a few words to the others. Tifa was about to grab her, to force her to stop and explain, when Cloud made a sound. It was the only sign of life he had shown in hours. Without thinking, Tifa knelt by him, putting a hand on his shoulder, and peering into his face. Nothing.

By the time Tifa turned around, it was too late. Aerith had left, lost in the fog, as if the forest had sealed behind her.

The cold rock dug into Tifa's elbows and knees. She blinked at the ground beneath her, dazed. Aerith, you said it would be hard, she thought. But I didn't think it would be like this. I promised not to give up, but please…anything but this.

"What in the hell?"

A woman's voice cut through the sounds of fighting. Pointy toes of dark red heels appeared next to Tifa's face where she was hunched over.

"Where did she come from?"

This time, a man's voice. Familiar, but Tifa could not quite place it.

"Interesting…this all just keeps getting more and more intriguing."

Another man's voice, also familiar. Even in her numb state, it made Tifa's skin crawl.

"Wait a second, isn't that –" Sharp nails dug into Tifa's hair, yanking her head up with surprising strength. "The Lockhart girl?"

Tifa eyes struggled to process her surroundings. Rock and mako and people. She struggled to place them. It all swam in her eyes.

"Tifa!"

That voice she recognized. Barret. He was nearby, but not right next to her.

"It is her."

The first man's voice. It was triumphant, arrogant. The hand with sharp nails let go of her and rough, black-gloved hands pulled her to her feet. Her legs wobbled beneath her, but she was pulled back against a solid body, an arm coming around her chest to restrain her against it. Something cold and hard shoved up under her chin. Tifa smelled metal and gunpowder.

"Put your weapons down," the man said calmy. "Or I'll blow her brains straight over my shoulder."

Vaguely, Tifa noted she was in the center of the Northern Crater. She was staring straight across a rocky walkway at her friends. Dismantled, defeated pieces of some manufactured foe, certainly a Shinra creation, were scattered and smoking around them.

Shinra. She placed the voices now. Rufus Shinra. Scarlett. Hojo.

"Shit, shit. Listen to the man!" Barret shouted. "Tifa! You alright?"

Tifa was incapable of answering. Her mouth did not seem to be working. And besides, what would she even say to that? Tifa gazed past Barret, her head resting limply on the cold barrel of the rifle pressed beneath her chin.

A flash of light. Cries of alarm around her.

Cloud had appeared directly between Tifa and her friends. He was straight-backed and calm, taking everything in. He looked to his left, then his right, before looking up at the strange rocky formation that hung above them, seemingly floating without support.

"It's that SOLIDER!" Scarlett exclaimed. "Watch out, Elena said he's gone mad."

The rifle shifted slightly beneath Tifa, as if Rufus were reconsidering where to aim it.

"Cloud!" Yuffie cried. "Do something!"

Rufus pulled Tifa more tightly against him.

"Watch it, Strife. Do anything stupid and you'll be cleaning bits of her off the rocks."

Slowly Cloud looked toward Rufus. His eyes briefly glanced over Tifa.

"She's no longer my concern."

His voice was mechanical, repeating Sephiroth's words. Tifa felt Rufus's surprised laughter shaking in his chest, pressed against her back.

"I knew SOLIDERS were cold, but damn," he said.

Hojo approached Cloud, walking in front of Tifa and Rufus. His hands were steepled in front of him. He nodded his head, as if something he suspected had been confirmed.

"That's no SOLDIER," he told Rufus. "It's another Sephiroth clone. Just as I thought! This proves the Jenova Reunion Theory. My experiment was a success."

"Here we go again," Scarlett muttered. "What are you talking about?"

He gave her a quick look of deep disdain.

"The reunion," Hojo said emphatically. "I've long theorized that Jenova, even when dismembered, would become one again. I thought the clones would gather at Midgar, where Jenova was stored. But Jenova herself began to move."

Hojo paced, the glow of the mako reflecting off his glasses.

"It's all Sephiroth's doing. I never could quite figure out where the clones were going. But I knew Sephiroth would be their final destination."

He leaned toward Cloud, inspecting him.

"Tell us. What is your number?"

Cloud shook his head and then hung it.

"I don't have a number, Professor," he lamented. "You never gave me one."

Hojo startled, backing away in disgust. "A failure?! You're telling me a failure made it this far?"

"Please, Professor Hojo. Give me a number?"

His voice was pleading. Cloud looked at Hojo as if he were a beloved parent, or a deity. Tifa wondered if she was going to be sick.

"Shut up," Hojo snapped. "Miserable failure."

Cloud shook his head, sighing in defeat.

"I am. I am a failure. But even a failure can have a purpose. At least, now, I know mine."

He lifted his head, looking around at all of them. Yuffie, Cid, Vincent, and Cait were in one cluster to his left, Barret and Nanaki in another. He spread his arms, shaking his head at them.

"Thank you all, for everything," he said. "And I'm sorry."

He nodded at each them in turn. His voice was sincere yet impersonal. As though he had already left all of them behind. Tifa saw the emotions dancing across her friends' faces. Confusion. Denial.

Barret and Nanaki exchanged a look with one another. They looked across to Tifa. Unlike the others, they held a terrible understanding in their eyes. It was full of despair.

Cloud turned to Tifa.

If Rufus were not holding her in place, Tifa was not sure what she might have done in that moment. Would she have run away or towards him? And if she ran to him, what would she have done? Thrown her arms around him and begged? Pounded on his chest, shoved him, yelled?

"And especially you, Tifa…"

Her name is his mouth was unbearable.

"I'm really sorry. I don't know what to say," Cloud continued. "You've been so good to me."

Tifa suddenly recalled the doctor back in Nibelheim. The one who told Tifa and her father that her mother had died. He had spoken the most terrible, incomprehensible words Tifa had ever heard in her young life, in a carefully crafted, professional voice. His sorrow had felt genuine to Tifa, but so distant as to be meaningless.

Cloud looked directly at her now. His face was placid.

"I know now that I'm a failure in more ways than one. I never lived up to being your Cloud. Tifa…maybe one day, you'll meet him."

He turned away.

Tifa realized that she was shaking. Her knees knocked into one another. She could not control it. Rufus's arm was still tight against her, but her trembling destabilized the hard metal of the gun from its place under her chin.

"Oh, to hell with it."

Rufus's voice was not exactly apologetic, but Tifa detected at least a note of pity in it as he withdrew the rifle and his arm.

Without its support, Tifa crumpled. She heard her friends' shouts of distress. There was a click above her head as Rufus aimed the rifle in their direction.

"Don't even think about it," he said evenly.

"For fucks sake, look at her!" Barret shouted. "If you need someone to point a gun at, take me."

"I'll pass," Rufus replied.

Their back and forth was interrupted as the earth quaked beneath them. Scarlett shrieked. Rocks fell around them. Tifa felt them pummeling her back and arms.

"What is this?" Rufus snapped.

"Have a look."

Hojo's voice was calm, as if observing an interesting but not especially surprising reaction in his lab.

Tifa heard horrified gasps, that even in her numbed state, urged her to lift her head and see what was happening. The strange formation above them had disintegrated and fallen. A large chunk of rock had smashed through the ground beneath them, severing the path. Cloud was on the other side, now separated from them by a chasm filled with mako.

There was a cylinder of crystalized mako in front of Cloud. It was huge, glowing. There was something inside. A man.

I'll return to my true form soon enough. You'll see.

Sephiroth. Asleep, in a seemingly suspended state.

Hojo laughed, delighted. "You see! It was Sephiroth all along. He never was absorbed into the Lifestream. He's been here all along, manipulating the clones, drawing them here. Can't you see? The reunio– "

Nanaki's voice, horrified and furious, cut him off. "What are you so happy about? Cloud has the Black Materia! Don't you understand? Sephiroth will destroy everything!"

Cloud stood in front of Sephiroth. His hand was held out in front of him, the black orb cupped in his upturned palm.

"Cloud…"

His name left Tifa's lips in a whisper, barely audible. The others were louder, screaming at him to stop. Tifa knew, though, that it was pointless. None of them could reach him now. He stepped forward. His hand slid through the crystal as if were water.

There was a blinding burst of green light. A terrible sound pierced Tifa's ears. A scream. The Planet was screaming.

When the light abated, Sephiroth and Cloud were gone.

Rocks were falling again. Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo moved away from her, dodging the debris. Tifa's friends were calling out to her, but she did not know where to go. She sat on the ground, arms trembling beneath her, as she tried to hold herself upright. She stared at the empty space where Cloud had been only moments prior.

Arms came around her, skinny but strong. Yuffie had reached her first.

"Tifa, come on! We have to get out of here."

Her voice was distraught.

Cait reached them next. "Hurry! We cannae stay here!"

Yuffie's arm was tight around Tifa's shoulder. She tugged at her, ineffectively. The ground shook. The crater was breaking apart.

"Tifa, please, we have to go," she begged.

The others surrounded them. Tifa felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Barret. Nanaki was close too, nudging her gently with his nose.

"We gotta get to the airship!" Cid shouted. "It's the only way we're getting out of here."

Cid turned to Rufus.

"Tell your men to bring it over. Now. They'll have to lower ropes down for us."

Scarlett laughed.

"You think you're coming?" she asked scornfully.

"It's going to take a damn good pilot to get us out of this alive," Cid retorted. "If your pilot was stupid enough to fly that airship here in the first place, he sure as hell can't get you back out."

Rufus narrowed his eyes at Cid, studying him carefully. Recognition slowly dawned on his face.

"Cid Highwind," he said.

"Damn right."

A brief pause. The crater shook violently again. More rocks fell.

"Give the order, Scarlett."

Cid moved closer to Rufus and Scarlett, impatiently grabbing for the radio. Scarlett protested, but Rufus shook his head at her sharply. Cid began barking orders into it. Soon, they heard the hum of the airship approaching.

Yuffie was trying to pull Tifa to her feet again. Barret kneeled next to Tifa, grabbing her chin with his hand, making her look away from where Cloud and Sephiroth had fallen into the mako below.

"Come on now, Tifa," he urged. "There's nothing we can do, okay? We gotta get going."

Barret's voice was gentle. Tifa looked at him blankly. Go where, she wondered. Where would they possibly go? What was left for them to do?

"Pick her up, Barret."

Vincent's voice, direct and unfeeling, snapped Barret into action. Tifa found herself tugged to her feet and thrown over a broad shoulder. Barret ran behind the others, slowed down by Tifa's weight.

"Shit. Shit, shit."

He cursed as he ran, dodging fallen rocks and avoiding places where the path was crumbling. The airship hovered low ahead. Cid had ascended first, Rufus, Scarlett, and Hojo close behind.

Yuffie, Nanaki, and Vincent were now being hauled to its lower deck now, Cait clinging tightly to Yuffie's shoulders. She leaned over the railing when she reached the top, throwing her rope back down.

"Hurry!" she shouted at them.

Barret grabbed the rope. As soon as it was in hand, the airship ascended, pulling them beneath it. They swung, suspended in the air.

"You've got to be kidding me," Barret moaned.

Slowly, they were pulled to the surface of the deck. Vincent grabbed Tifa from Barret's shoulder and deposited her on the deck unceremoniously. Yuffie extended a hand to Barret, helping him over the guardrail. He collapsed next to Tifa, breathing heavily.

"Shit that was clos–"

Lights exploded again from the crater. The blast shook the airship and it swerved. Tifa slid on the surface of the desk, slamming into the guardrail. The others shouted out in alarm. Yuffie had lost her balance, falling over onto Nanaki. On her back, she pointed a finger at the sky.

"Look!" she cried.

Something colossal had erupted from the crater. Several somethings. Massive creatures. Tifa knew them immediately. Weapons. She curled her hands around the bars of the guardrail, and pulled her face closer, peering at them through the gap.

"Tifa!" Barret shouted. "Get down!"

There was a bright glow surrounding the Weapons. A strange energy crackled through the air. Tifa ignored Barret. They won't hurt me, she thought.

One of the Weapons launched toward them. The airship turned sharply again, avoiding its path. An aftershock followed behind the Weapon, a blast of charged air. It hit Tifa full on.

Time seemed to move slowly as Tifa fell backwards. Blackness filled her vision, moving in from edges. Tifa embraced it. By the time she landed on the deck, the back of her head cracking against it, Tifa had lost consciousness.