Chapter 81: The Black Boat
Since this story has taken so many twists and turns, a summary is presented below to help us understand exactly where we are now.
Eight months after the events of Premonitions III, Vincent and Lucrecia are celebrating the former's thirtieth birthday. While Vincent wants to get married and have children, Lucrecia does not share his desire, still haunted by memories of Hojo and Sephiroth.
Another eight months later, Vincent and Lucrecia are vacationing in Kalm when Deepground suddenly attacks. They fight their way through the city, unaware they are being monitored by the mysterious Shelke. They eventually encounter Captain Mast, an Eastern Continent officer who summons a Dragonfly, which is easily defeated. They then encounter Azul the Cerulean, but are rescued by Reeve. He takes them to a safe location, but not before another encounter with Captain Mast, where she attacks them, unsuccessfully, with Ifrit.
Meanwhile, Shera is trying on wedding dresses for her upcoming destination wedding on Eros Nova, when she gets word that Sephiroth has stolen her Regenerator, a device that keeps produce edible longer. Jessie shows odd sympathy toward him. Later, Reeve's daughter, Sage, begins to suspect that Jessie had freed Sephiroth from his cell in Premonitions III.
The next day, Vincent and Lucrecia are attacked by Captain Mast on the way to Midgar. When they do arrive, they encounter Shalua, who is investigating Deepground activity. Further in, they confront Rosso the Crimson, but, unlike in the original timeline, Vincent does not transform into Chaos. Instead, Captain Mast shows up and wounds him. Afterward, Shalua takes him to WRO Headquarters be healed.
Meanwhile, Tifa, who is still President of the Western Continent, adjourns the government. She and Cloud purchase a boat to sail the world in. The boat is used, and has a locker that is sealed by a combination. Soon, Cloud and Tifa encounter another boat, whose captain is discovered to be Sephiroth. He uses Shera's Regenerator on Cloud and Tifa, reversing their ages to ten and nine, respectively. Cloud and Tifa, now children, break into the History Museum, steal the Chronus Wand, and travel back in time to when they were originally ten and nine, thus allowing them to return to their original ages in the present. However, they realize that, as they were turned back into children, they have lost their romantic attraction to each other.
Vincent awakens, but is baffled why he failed to transform into Chaos. Soon afterward, Azul leads an invasion of the headquarters. Shelke arrives, revealing she is Shalua's sister. After an awkward reunion, Azul is wounded. Realizing Lucrecia's thesis might be the key to defeating Deepground, Vincent and Lucrecia head to Nibelheim.
Meanwhile, Cloud and Tifa arrive in the year 1996. Determined to stay out of history's way, they make a brief stop on the Northern Continent. Unfortunately, they are caught, and are taken to Darton Manor, an orphanage. Tifa's roommate, Lynn, proves to be very unfriendly. They have several misadventures, including rescuing a young Cissnei from the Sleeping Forest, and Cloud narrowly avoiding getting adopted. Eventually, after two years, Lynn burns down the orphanage. Cloud and Tifa see their chances and escape back to their boat, sailing away.
Back in the present, suspicion against Jessie grows. She loses her job, is trespassed from Gold Saucer, and is nearly snubbed from Cid and Shera's wedding. Jessie herself begins to realize the growing evidence that she is the traitor who has freed Sephiroth.
In Nibelheim, Vincent and Lucrecia enter the hidden laboratory through the sewers, and discover that a summoning of Omega would likely destroy the planet. They make their way into the President's Mansion, where they are confronted by Rosso again. However, she is defeated and, unlike in the original timeline, captured with the aid of Zack and Yuffie, whom Sage had recruited. Later, Zack and Yuffie board the yacht shaped like a swan, and discover it on autopilot, with two dead and decomposed bodies in the back.
Back in the past, Cloud and Tifa sail to the Eastern Continent, where they are again captured, this time by Zeke Sullivan, a local farmer. They pretend to be siblings to avoid being separated. A couple of years later, they go through puberty again, and start to flirt. However, Tifa's advances on Cloud are in competition with Zeke's teenage daughter, Donna, who takes him on a date at the County Fair and kisses him. But when Donna loses her ability to stand her parents' authority, she murders them, planning on blaming Tifa. When Cloud refuses to take part, she tries to murder him as well, only for Tifa to shoot her dead. Cloud and Tifa escape to their boat again.
Back in the present, Shelke recovers, but so does Azul. Vincent, Lucrecia, Zack, and Yuffie race back to WRO Headquarters, only to be stalled by Captain Mast. When they finally arrive, Azul injures Shalua, rendering her unconscious. Azul escapes, and the headquarters is ransacked.
To decompress, Yuffie takes Zack to Platinum Palace. While there, Yuffie admits to making four major mistakes. These include acting immature, stealing materia, and falling out with her father. She refuses to reveal her fourth mistake.
Cid picks everyone up, including the unconscious Shalua and the captive Rosso. Everyone prepares for a ground assault on Midgar. Cid remains aboard the Highwind, where he and Rosso take a liking to each other.
Back in the past, Tifa, now fourteen, and realizing she is in danger of losing Cloud for good to someone else, asks him to a date on the Costa del Sol Boardwalk. During the date, she acts more feminine, causing them both to re-attract each other. They kiss, and are officially once again a romantic couple, though they are only dating at the moment. Also on the date, they encounter Lynn, who is now serving time at Bolton, a reform school, for setting fire to the orphanage. Not recognizing Cloud and Tifa from before, she mistakes them for Matt and Julie Lane, a pair of cousins on the run from the law for incest. Cloud and Tifa then realize that they can impersonate the Lane Cousins and live at the reform school, thus resolving their fear of being separated, as well as accidentally interfering with history. They meet several new people, and find out what they are in for, including Milton (for calling in a bomb threat to avoid a test), Riggs (for hacking into the Shinra's secure database), and Miranda (for skinny dipping with a nine-year-old she had been babysitting). Amy, who appears to be an inmate, but is actually a paid intern, is immediately suspicious, and doubts that Cloud and Tifa are actually the Lane Cousins. Later on, Riggs hacks into Cloud and Tifa's cell phones and discovers not only their true identities, but also the events of the future. However, as they have already become friends, he, Miranda, and Milton agree to keep their secret safe.
Back in 0011, Vincent leads the WRO invasion through the Train Graveyard, where he meets Lieutenant DiStefano of the WRO. Further up, they encounter Captain Mast again, who summons a red dragon. After defeating it, the proceed to the Shinra Building. Meanwhile, Nero captures Shelke from the Highwind.
Despite splitting into groups, everyone arrives at the Shinra Building at the same time. Upon entering, Rufus splits them again, forcing four pairs down courses full of booby-traps. In the process, Vincent and Zack are injured, and Lucrecia takes them to safety. Azul is also killed. Yuffie is left to lead the group below the Shinra Building.
Back in the past, Tifa gets to know Miranda really well, and discovers that she is terminally ill with a heart condition, having already outlived her life expectancy by several years. Determined to give her something to live for, Tifa twists Miranda's arm into auditioning for a musical. Miranda wins the lead role, and, over a year later, delivers a memorable performance.
As gratitude, Miranda determines to restore Cloud and Tifa's relationship to normal. She breaks into the science building and makes an aphrodisiac for Bolton's prom night. During the prom, the inevitable happens, and Tifa takes Cloud down to their boat (hidden in a cave), where they have sex. Also at the prom, Riggs and Miranda go as friends. Riggs begins to develop feelings for Miranda, but she resists, not wanting to hurt him when she ultimately passes away. Meanwhile, Amy tries to seduce Milton into revealing Cloud and Tifa's true identity, but fails.
In 0011, below the Shinra Building, Yuffie and company behold a long, stone bridge that seems to lead to a previously unknown Mako reactor. Near the entrance to the reactor, they encounter Nero. He engages in hand-to-hand combat with Yuffie, but flees when he notices Shelke is free again. The group arrives at the reactor, and safely puts Shelke in a regeneration tube.
Meanwhile, back in 0004, Miranda celebrates her eighteenth birthday. Soon afterward, Riggs gets word that his parents and sister died in a fire, which he later realizes was set by the Shinra as a result of his hacking. Miranda cares for him for a couple of weeks before surprising him with a trip to Ruki Island, inviting Cloud, Tifa, and Milton to join them.
During dinner one evening while there, Miranda takes Riggs down to the beach, and tells him the true purpose of the trip: in order for Riggs to have a family, Miranda proposes to marry him. Although Riggs is initially skeptical, he ultimately accepts, and they are married the next day. At the wedding, Miranda surprises Cloud and Tifa by asking them to renew their vows. They do so, thus rendering their relationship completely back to normal.
Riggs and Miranda share three happy days together. On the fourth day, Miranda dies from her heart condition. Later that day, the grieving Riggs announces he has purchased a yacht with his life savings. It turns out to be the yacht shaped like a swan. He lays Miranda to rest in her wedding dress in the back room of the yacht and, not wanting to live without Miranda, and not wanting to be inevitably captured and tortured to death by the Shinra for hacking, elects to poison himself. After an emotional farewell to Cloud, Tifa, and Milton, Riggs boards the swan, puts it on autopilot, and volunteers his fate.
Cloud, Tifa, and Milton have nothing left to do but return to Bolton. Soon afterward, the real Lane cousins arrive there, exposing Cloud and Tifa as frauds. In the chaos, Cloud and Tifa flee to retrieve the Chronus Wand, only to find out that Lynn had taken it. Lynn intends to burn them to death in the kiln in the art building, and escape in the chaos.
She leaves the Chronus Wand in the kiln as bait to lure Cloud and Tifa in, not realizing that they will use it to escape. They travel back in time to earlier that morning, flee to their boat, and leave behind the reform school that had been their home for two years.
Back in 0011, Yuffie and the group fight their way through the reactor to the core. There, they find Weiss, motionless and apparently dead. Suddenly, Weiss revives, and it is soon revealed that he is actually possessed by Hojo. Yuffie defeats Hojo/Weiss in battle. Afterward, Hojo is ejected from Weiss' body, and Weiss and Nero merge with Omega.
Back in the past, Cloud and Tifa sail to the tropics and live for two years in the Twenty Islands, adopting somewhat of a hedonistic lifestyle with each other. After that, they sail south until they hit the Storm Belt. They then sail east until they arrive at Eros Nova. Later that day, Cloud and Tifa discover a boat identical to theirs, and are shocked to spot Aerith aboard. They quickly deduce that Aerith was the boat's previous owner, and open the safe using her birthday as the password. Inside, they find a journal, warning them of a great disaster pending in Eros Nova the day before Cid and Shera's wedding.
At the beginning of the journal, Aerith is pursued by the Shinra, though she successfully shoos them away. Her adoptive mother, Elmyra, then offers to take her on a vacation, but the depressed Aerith (from earlier events not revealed in the journal) declines the offer.
Aerith goes on a date with a seemingly perfect man, but feels no chemistry. Later, she has sex with her friend Ronaldo unexpectedly, and realizes that she needs steamy situations to set off the spark. Later, her best friend, Mac, returns from Eros Nova, and mentions topless and nude areas. Realizing the opportunity, Aerith requests the vacation for her twenty-first birthday.
Once in Eros Nova, Aerith meets Pete, whom she immediately takes a liking to. She also meets Chrissy, a young stay-at-home mom with a husband and son. Chrissy is nervous that the Shinra is planning testing her husband, Ben, as a candidate for the Shinra military; if he successfully passes the tests, the Shinra will kill both Chrissy and their son, Spencer, to eliminate any distractions for Ben.
Aerith and Pete arrange a first date on a topless beach, which Aerith, of course, spends topless, setting off sparks for both of them. They have sex on his boat, and she drinks his champagne, which is, unknown to her, spiked.
A couple of hours later, Aerith wakes up in a cell. Rufus enters, and informs her that Pete, along with Mac and Ronaldo (whom Pete had brought down for Aerith's birthday) were working for the Shinra. After being clothed in her traditional pink dress and red jacket, she is rescued by Chrissy, who was also captured, with Ben's tests seemingly having begun. Chrissy is determined to find and rescue her son before it is too late. They rescue a third girl, named Tanya, and, in the fourth cell, they rescue Sephiroth, who had recently emerged from the Lifestream.
After leaving their cells, Tanya, who is both suicidal and insane, releases a powerful and robotic shop vacuum, which sucks her to pieces and kills her. The remaining three flee through a maze. Chrissy is then challenged by Shinra troops by herself, which she easily defeats. The three are next challenged by tear gas, whereupon Sephiroth leads Aerith to safety, causing her to develop feelings for him. After that, they enter a basement filling with laughing gas, and a suction fan that kills all occupants except for the main three.
They then find themselves in a house. There, they discover that there are eight bombs planted throughout Eros Nova, set to explode in 0011 (the day before Cid and Shera's wedding). Once they do, it would leave a wound in the Planet, resulting in the Lifestream coming to heal it. Aerith and Sephiroth have sex that night, and also the following morning. After that, they find the previously locked front door wide open. Sephiroth goes looking for his masamune and orders the girls to stay put.
While waiting for Sephiroth to return, Aerith and Chrissy discover a conservatory behind a bookshelf, where Ronaldo was planning to kill them. Chrissy kills Ronaldo by breaking open a glass hornet's nest. In the next room, the pool room, Mac attempts to kill them, but Chrissy pulls her into the pool, where Mac gets her hair caught in the drain and drowns. The two women then encounter Pete in the Library, where he holds them at gunpoint. Just then, Sephiroth sneaks up behind him and kills him with his masamune.
The three then escape the estate. A few yards away, Chrissy finds her son dead, along with her husband. It then becomes clear that Ben is not the candidate; Chrissy herself is. The trails were the tests, which she passed.
With no choice but to leave Chrissy to be picked up by the Shinra to become a new military officer, Sephiroth and Aerith continue on their way. Sephiroth admits to having killed Chrissy's husband and son, in exchange for the Shinra staying away from Aerith's house.
When they reach a safe distance, Aerith asks Sephiroth for another date, but he declines and ends their relationship, stating he plans to be near Eros Nova when the bombs go off, thus absorbing the Lifestream and becoming a god, much like his eventual plan with Meteor.
Sephiroth then spares Aerith's life and allows her to go back to her mother, so long as she never tells anyone about their relationship, and that she never interferes with any of his plans. Aerith then returns to her hotel, and is reunited with Elmyra.
Meanwhile, the Shinra executives pick up the grieving Chrissy, and instate her as a military captain. It is then revealed that Chrissy is actually a younger version of Captain Mast.
Aerith and Elmyra quickly leave Eros Nova with Pete's boat, and sail back to Midgar.
AND NOW, THE CONTINUATION….
February 8, 0006
By the time Tifa, aged eighteen, finished reading Aerith's journal, the sun was beginning to set. She and Cloud, aged nineteen, were still as they had been, sitting naked in the cabin of their boat.
Tifa closed the journal, sighed, and threw her head back.
Cloud immediately sat down next to her.
"He's going to blow up Eros Nova," she sighed.
"Who?!" Cloud asked.
"Sephiroth," she clarified. "The day before Cid and Shera's wedding. He's going to blow up the island with a bunch of bombs and leave a wound in the Planet. He'll then absorb the Lifestream and become a god. He turned us into children to prevent us from stopping him."
"So that's it," Cloud said. "He had a plan B this whole time."
"Apparently," Tifa said.
Suddenly, a tear rolled down her cheek.
"What's wrong?" Cloud asked, as he clutched her hand.
"She's been through so much," Tifa sighed. "And she only deserved the best."
"Who?" Cloud asked, though he knew the answer already.
"Aerith," Tifa replied. "She tried to go on a date with someone, and he betrayed her, drugged her, and took her into a cell. She met Sephiroth down there, and they had to find their way out of a maze of deadly booby traps. And you'll never guess who was with them?"
"Who?"
"Captain Mast," Tifa replied. "Right when her husband and son were killed."
For a while, there was silence. Then, someone planned the next step.
"We need to drop anchor," Cloud then announced. "We'll destroy the bombs tonight."
"It doesn't work that way," Tifa dismissed. "They can only be neutralized within a three-hour window, between the time they are armed and the time they go off. They can only be neutralized with a nanite diffuser, and can only be found with a radiation detector. Both of those are hidden in a bunker somewhere."
Cloud sighed.
"So out next step is to find the bunker," he deduced.
"That's right," Tifa replied. "And we have a little more than five years to find it."
"So where do we start looking?" Cloud asked.
In response, Tifa smiled at him.
"We have more than five years to find out," she said. "Stand up."
"Stand up?" Cloud asked in confusion.
"Yes," she replied with a smile. "Stand up."
Cloud stood up. He then heard Tifa slide over.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Enjoying the view," she replied as she began to gaze at his bare butt. "I'm only human!"
"Right," sighed Cloud.
And then, she pulled him down onto her lap.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"A lot of women like to hold their men," Tifa replied as she wrapped her arms around his torso. "Don't you like this?"
"As long as not too heavy on you," he replied.
"Please," she laughed. "I could carry you if I wanted!"
Cloud thus sat back and allowed his wife to hold him.
"This is such a good feeling," Tifa said as she kissed his bare shoulder.
"What else did you learn from the journal?" Cloud asked.
"The Shinra took over Leon Brave's house," she replied. "He must have been some poet, I think. Also, there's a topless beach on the north end of the prude side. The guy she went on a date with took her there. And he was the boat's original owner. Her friends came down to celebrate her birthday with her, but they also betrayed her."
"Damn," muttered Cloud.
"No wonder she was so grateful for our friendship," Tifa continued. "If only I had known, I would've tried to be a better friend to her."
"You were," Cloud assured her. "That's why she trusted you so much."
Tifa hugged him more tightly, resting her head on his shoulder.
"What else did you learn?" he asked.
"She and Sephiroth liked each other," she replied. "He even wanted her to reign at his side, but she turned him down. She made the noble decision."
Tifa then looked up at the ceiling.
"God, I miss her," she said sadly.
"I'm sure she's resting peacefully," Cloud said.
For a while, they sat in silence, with Tifa continuing to hold and kiss her love.
"Okay," she finally said, "I want to see your face again."
Cloud got up and sat down next to her.
Tifa smiled and stroked his spiky hair.
"What else did you learn," he asked.
"A few sweet spots not on the list," she replied before pressing her lips against his.
THE NEXT DAY…..
February 9, 0006
It was noon when the highlight of the day occurred.
Tifa was peeking out the window when she spotted it.
"Hey, Cloud," she called. "We have a visitor."
"Aerith's boat?" Cloud asked.
"It's definitely not Aerith's," Tifa replied. "See for yourself."
Cloud peeked out the window, only to see a boat almost identical to theirs, but it was painted black.
"It's awfully close," Tifa observed.
That was an understatement; the boats were directly facing each other, and they were too close for one to pass the other.
"It looks like they want to talk to us, whoever they are," Cloud suggested.
"What could they want from us, though?" she asked.
"One way to find out," Cloud replied.
Cloud and Tifa put their clothes on (they had been naked previously) and stepped onto their deck.
The black boat was still facing them directly. Nobody was on its deck. Nobody was visible in the cabin, either.
"So how long is that thing going to stare at us?" Tifa asked aloud.
And then, a familiar woman appeared from the cabin.
Cloud and Tifa gasped in unison; they had never expected to see her again.
She was wearing a black tank top, sneakers, and a pair of equally black jeans.
But what made Cloud and Tifa recognize her was the green hair.
It was Lynn.
"You guys!" she exclaimed. "It's been awhile!"
"Lynn?!" Tifa exclaimed.
"How did you get out of Bolton?" Cloud exclaimed.
"I turned twenty-one," Lynn replied. "What else?"
"That's right," Tifa admitted.
She had forgotten that Lynn would one day be automatically released; she had never bothered to inquire about her age.
"I know you're not the real Lane cousins," Lynn continued. "But I've since recognized you guys. You were at that orphanage I burnt down all those years ago. Codi Restful and Tara Underwood, as I recall."
"You got it," Cloud replied.
"So what are you two doing all they way down here?" Lynn asked. "Hiding from the world?"
"Just passing through," Cloud replied in a monotone.
"Is that so," Lynn continued. "Why don't you two join me on my boat for drinks?"
"We're not thirsty," Tifa dismissed skeptically.
"Come on!" Lynn insisted. "We can let bygones be bygones!"
"We'll pass," Cloud insisted with folded arms.
"Suit yourself," Lynn insisted before disappearing into her cabin.
The black boat then pulled in reverse, and sailed off.
Tifa and Cloud then returned to their own cabin. They stripped off their clothes again and made themselves lunch.
Of course, they did not forget whom they had just encountered.
"So Lynn's on the loose," Tifa sighed as she finished her sandwich. "And she knows where we are."
"That makes things worse," Cloud added. "You don't trust her, do you?"
"Hell, no!" Tifa replied. "The last time we saw her, she tried to kill us! I would trust Captain Mast or even Rufus before I trust her!"
She then stood up.
"Which reminds me," she continued as she scanned the boat before walking over to the Chronus Wand and picking it up, "we shouldn't be leaving this laying around."
She opened the locker that had contained Aerith's journal, placed the Chronus Wand inside, and sealed it shut.
Tifa then turned to face her love.
"Don't forget to remind me to destroy that thing once we've saved Eros Nova," she requested.
"No problem," Cloud replied.
She then folded her hands behind her back, and smiled at him.
"You know," she continued, "Lynn really drained me. I think we could both use a nap. Preferably while holding each other."
"I'd like that," Cloud replied with a smile.
They two lovers climbed into the sleeping area and pulled down the covers.
TWO HOURS LATER….
Tifa pulled up the covers and slid out of the sleeping area. After allowing her eyes to adjust to the light, she noticed something.
"We forgot to clear the dishes!" she laughed.
They cleared the dishes and washed them, standing side by side at the sink and kissing each other when the opportunity arrived.
Then, Tifa noticed something else.
"Where's Aerith's journal?" she asked.
THAT NIGHT….
If only Tifa would know what was going on on the black yacht once the sun was down.
Lynn closed Aerith's journal, and stared at the ceiling in the same manner that Tifa had the previous day.
"So Sephiroth is going to take advantage of that explosion and become a god," Lynn said to herself.
She paused, and a grin appeared on her face.
"That is, if I don't get there first," she added.
She then glanced at the open laptop at her side. It read: PROPERTY OF RIGG MAYNARD.
"How unfortunate that Riggs left his laptop behind," Lynn continued. "If he didn't, I'd never know your true identity."
She paused.
"Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart," she continued. "I should have known. Codi Restful is an anagram for Cloud Strife, after all. Traveling from the year 0011. You can fool some, but not me. It's just too bad I'll have to wait over five years to become a goddess."
She stopped talking to herself, and scanned the musty interior of her cabin.
"Unless I take a shortcut," Lynn then continued. "It looks like you're most famous for stopping Sephiroth in early 0008, when you stopped Meteor and…."
She then realized something.
"Wait a minute," Lynn said. "Did you stop Meteor, or was it something else?"
She exited out of the profile of Cloud that Riggs had made. She then scanned Tifa's, along with Barret's, Jessie's, and….
"Hello," said Lynn. "What's this?"
She was on a profile she had not yet considered. It read:
NAME: Aerith Gainsborough
BORN: February 7, 1985
DIED: January 23, 0008
She clicked on it.
An hour later, Lynn knew everything.
"So it was you who prayed for Holy, and ruined Sephiroth's chances before they started," she said to Aerith's picture.
She then closed the laptop, and sat back in her chair.
"You're never getting to that altar," Lynn said. "I'll make sure of it."