Chapter 29. December 12, εуλ0007 (AM continued)

"Marlene?" she asked.

Scared and crying. It broke her heart seven ways. "We're closed right now," she sniveled. "Come back later. Tifa will be back then."

Tifa… "Is that your mother?" she asked carefully.

"Tifa's just a nice lady who helps take care of me." More than enough to make a mother, Aerith thought. Certainly more than she could claim herself. Marlene's expressions, her mannerisms, reminding her of Tifa – a mother indeed - it all gave her a warm feeling inside. "I only have a Papa." Marlene looked at her… confused, though not suspicious, for which Aerith was grateful. "Papa said never to talk to strangers."

"Your Papa? Barret?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah… that's my daddy's name." Marlene looked up at her. "Do you know him? Is he coming home soon?"

"Not yet, sweetie. He's fighting the bad people right now." The explosion in the distance punctuated her words. "Tifa's there too. That's why she asked me to come get you, to bring you to your papa. Before it gets too dangerous out there."

Aerith gradually stretched a hand forward. Marlene didn't take it; but neither did she draw back. Then Aerith realized her little hands were wrapped around something. A flower. "Marlene… where did you get that?" she asked.

"Cloud gave it to me!" Marlene brightened, smiling slightly through the tears. "Isn't it pretty?"

Aerith stared fondly at that oh-so-familiar bloom. So far that flower had gone, to bring this reunion about… That flower she's given to Cloud to bring him back, so she'd see him again. Hopes filled in unexpected ways. She'd told herself, gotta look forward not back… but what about when back came back to you?

This close she could see it, feel it, and it left her heart feeling ready to explode. Four years she'd wanted this moment. "Guess what, Marlene?" she asked brightly, heart beating in tandem with the casual words. "Cloud got that flower from me!"

"From you?" Marlene asked, child's wonder getting the better of her fear.

"Yes!" Aerith replied. "I grow and sell those!"

Distantly she wondered, were they waiting for her to get out? But she couldn't stall forever, just standing at the pillar's base. Was she the only thing holding the Sector Seven pillar up?

It could be true.

She gently coaxed Marlene forward, even as she could dimly hear the chaos outside, trying not to frighten the girl but desperate to get her to safety before it was too late.

"So you're a flower lady?" Marlene asked curiously. "Do you have more?"

"Oh yeah, lots more," Aerith soothed. "But they're at my house. Do you want to see? But we have to hurry – we don't want to keep them waiting!" She reached a little further as she spoke, smiling in encouragement as the moments ticked by,

A pause, and Marlene looked at her with a sadness and wisdom far beyond her four years – and her heart tore further, more than she had ever thought it could. "Are they going to destroy the bar? Are they going to destroy our house?" she asked, lip quivering, and part of Aerith screamed inside. So young, to know such things… was it ever possible to be free of Shinra? Aerith was nothing but a wheel of emotion, pain and anger all but drowned by love first and foremost, and even as screams and explosions echoed impending disaster, she pulled Marlene fully into her own arms, squeezing her tightly, fiercely, sparking the longing that she'd been holding back for so long to surface; and as Marlene threw her own little arms around Aerith's neck and bawled into her jacket, she wished desperately she would never have to let go.

She indulged herself for the longest moment she could allow, letting Marlene cry her gentle child's tears, relishing this once chance… it was a gift she hadn't expected. Through luck or destiny, she did not know, but she didn't dare to expect she'd get another. She knew she had to do everything she could now.

A lifetime. Everything she wanted to pass on, compressed to mere moments. She reached out from her heart to the Planet further, further…

- a flicker. A crackle of nervous energy, and Marlene pulled back, her eyes widening full of surprise – and Aerith knew she had made it. She'd crossed. All she could do – and it would have to be enough. As the girl's eyes settled into amazement and wonder, Aerith put her finger to her lips, sending the message through feelings over their wavering connection, this is for only you and I to know. Marlene, too young to embrace it in full, but Aerith was grateful for this briefest of moments. A meaning that would unfold itself through the years, until the time came for Marlene to pass it on to someone else once again, continuing the chain unbroken.

It filled her with regret that she couldn't afford to linger. Taking Marlene's hand, she urged her forward as delicately as she could, while still forcing a sedate, steady pace. It was easy enough to meld into the flow of refugees, letting the tide carry her out of the sector, driving forward towards the underground passage. She'd been meaning to send Cloud home this way, until Tifa had driven by in that carriage – was that really only hours ago? With a start, she realized it was still the same night, not even a full day since she had found Cloud at the church, not even two days since she'd first met him – and how far that fateful encounter had taken her. You can change your life in a single day. She'd heard that once. Amazing how truly that could happen.

Eager to step up the pace, Aerith scooped Marlene up, flower and all, into her arms and carrying her close to her chest. Marlene chattered gaily along, soothed by the aura of safety that Aerith dearly hoped she was exuding; as they trudged through the concrete tunnel, surrounded by fearful citizens urging each other forward. But it wasn't until they'd reached the surface, breathing in air that safely belonged to Sector Six, that Aerith herself calmed some.

All around her people were shouting, crying, looking for loved ones. Aerith ran her eyes along the heavy wall, following up to the steel sky that wouldn't be there much longer; a wall thick enough to absorb the shock of the impact, leaving the other sectors superficially untouched. As if the slum residents could go on as if nothing had happened. If she knew the grounders, they'd never forget.

But above? A slice of a giant pie, removed as if eaten? A sight of pure destruction, a wrecked island in miles of progress? How would they explain it away? Would they stare out the Shinra building in shock – or could people really look aside so easily?

Now that Marlene was out – how much time was left? How long for Cloud and Tifa- and Shinra – to reach the top? The early hours of the morning darkness were slithering away. Determined, Aerith turned towards the only spot of safety she could think of.

Setting Marlene to the ground, she took her hand; Marlene cried, pulling back, whining to go to the playground, and Aerith was charmed with the way her young mind could let the danger slip away do easily. Already, she could feel the familiar eyes, knowing perfectly well to whom they belonged, as she hustled Marlene through backroads and shortcuts littered with debris. Grateful no monsters appeared – for all her stated confidence, she didn't want to face a fight with a four-year-old in tow. All Aerith could think about was moving faster, tugging Marlene along.

Marlene looked fearfully back as Aerith pulled away from the crowd, the playground, sniffling, a slight tremor wracking her body, the courage the little girl had held onto so far finally starting to fade. Aerith had an idea.

She crouched down to Marlene's eye level. "You know, sweetie," she told her gently, "It's okay to be afraid. But I have something that might help." Reaching up to her hair, her fingers dove below the ribbon for the sphere nestled within, drawing out its quiet warmth. "My mom gave this to me for when I felt scared. You can hang onto it until you feel better."

Marlene took the materia in her left hand, her right hand still clinging tightly to the yellow flower.

"Do you like Cloud?" Marlene suddenly burst out.

Such a weird question. "I guess," Aerith answered, noncommittally. "Why do you ask?" I like Cloud. So many ways that could be taken if she said it herself; how many were the truth?

Marlene just looked down at the flower; what she was thinking of, Aerith couldn't guess. "I like Cloud," she announced, half-triumphantly. So does Tifa, thought Aerith. Í want him to be part of our family too!"

Hearing that hurt Aerith just a bit, for reasons she couldn't clearly identify. Hurt, and warmed her too. What on Gaia did that mean? She wanted to ask further, find out what it was that drew Marlene to Cloud - but instead fell silent, the two of them pressing forward with nothing but the yellow flower to keep them company.

The flower, coming back home again, Aerith noted as they finally reached the familiar lane leading to her housed; her heart thumped ever harder as they drew closer to their goal, scared of what she might find at the end of the road.

She burst through her own door, reaching for Marlene to pull her inside as well. Aerith was greeted by Elmyra rushing down the stairs, startled by the commotion. "Aerith, what's going on? I thought you were asleep, where did you come from – out of breath, no less?" Then she noticed the four-year-old at Aerith's side. "And what's this girl doing with you?"

"They're going to drop the Sector Seven plate," Aerith gasped out; she saw Elmyra's eyes widen in alarm and horror – but there was something even more important than that. "Mom…" she began, nervous and slow. "This is... Marlene."

Mother and daughter's eyes met, understanding instantly crossing that bonded line. "Oh my goddess," she gasped. Aerith nodded, trying to force down the lump in her throat that threatened to drizzle out into tears. The outpouring of emotion finally hit her full, and she grasped the edge of the table, wobbling slightly. She felt Elmyra's hand on her shoulder, securing, soothing.

"I'll get Marlene settled upstairs," Elmyra told Aerith gently. "You look like you're falling apart." Aerith certainly felt like she was.

Turning to Marlene, Elmyra leaned over, placing her hands on her thighs. I never got to hold Aerith when she was this little, Elmyra realized, and her mother's heart ached with lost longing. Marlene, meanwhile, was openly gaping in all directions, as children do. "You have all those flowers outside…"

"We do," Elmyra told the girl brightly. "And they look even better from upstairs. Do you want to see?" Marlene nodded. Elmyra reached down to scoop her up…

The knock on the door was the loudest softness she'd ever heard, and all three people inside looked up at once. Aerith knew exactly what it meant – she was endlessly aware by how fast they could work. Truthfully, she was surprised they hadn't caught up to her sooner.

It had finally come. The danger that Aerith had feared when she made the most difficult decision a mother could make years ago.

There was nothing to be done, no way around it. Gathering Marlene behind her skirts, she turned to the sound. "Come in," she called to the door, and it opened to that familiar face, the one that had been around for most of her life.

"Hello, Aerith," he started, but there was something – different – in the way he greeted her, something not like before. Authority. As if she needed that extra bit to know why he was here.

Tseng's infamous stare bore into her, and she returned it defiantly, daring him to be the first to speak. Turning half-behind, she saw Marlene, wide eyed and trembling. Her bracelets clinked together like a rattling chain as she reached down her hand; after a moment, the child reaches up her own small hand to intertwine with Aerith's. Aerith felt the warmth of her small palm, hoping Marlene couldn't feel the fear in her own heart and soul.

"Aerith," Tseng finally began, "You knew this day was coming."

She did. The attacks on the reactors, the plate dropping, jus t a few more small steps towards the inevitable. But the small complication she hadn't, couldn't have planned on –

"You said I had to come in willingly," she accused, but suddenly, with horror, it came together. Marlene, she was young enough, too young, for them to need her consent – if they took her, raise her inside… would they even allow Aerith there with her? Would it be her own imprisonment all over again, she with her mother, or worse yet, Marlene there alone and unloved?

What would Ifalna have done?

The way Tseng looked at her – as if he could read her mind. Maybe he could. "That's exactly what I was hoping you would do," he replied, eyes tracing down to where the hands of woman and girl met. Was it her imagination, or did a small smile appear? Of amusement, affection even?

The unspoken understanding they'd shared through the years. Tseng, her old protector – was he in fact, looking out for her still – in whichever way he deemed best, she knew. A moment of connection that gave her hope.

"Perhaps I can offer you something in return." He lifted one glove-clad finger. "Shinra wants to find the Promised Land. They need the last Ancient. That's who I was ordered to bring in. But it you come with me, I could make sure that as far as Shinra…." He left the sentence hanging for a moment, allowing comprehension to sink in.

"There is no Marlene." Tseng looked fiery, intently, into Aerith's weakening resolve. "Do you understand me? There is no Marlene."

Aerith was wavering, Tseng could see. He'd watched Aerith grow up, wished better things for her, but her heritage doomed her no matter what. This was perhaps the one way he could obey his responsibilities and do the best he could for Aerith, all in one.

And pay towards that debt he had to Zack.

"So you see," Tseng finished, voiced like oiled leather. "Your options are… very limited."

Beyond "very limited". Nonexistent, and Tseng knew that perfectly well. She glanced at her own mother; Elmyra's face, stern and resigned, showed she had reached the same conclusion. "Give me a moment here?" she asked Tseng; the man nodded, stepping just outside the doorway. He had waited a long time for this. He could certainly wait five more minutes.

She knelt down to the child still quaking behind her. "Marlene," she began sadly, "It was nice to meet you… but I have to go. For a while, anyway. You can stay here, okay? And you can take care of all the flowers for me in the meantime, okay?"

Marlene stared, melancholy, at the single bloom still crushed in her fist, then reached up to place it gently on the table. "Are you going with the bad people?" she asked Aerith. "Is Shinra taking you away?"

Shinra. Anger surged again. This young, and already Marlene knew. "For a little while," she admitted. "But not forever." I hope. "There's nothing to be afraid of," she added, wondering if she was convincing herself.

Marlene pressed the materia into her now-empty spare hand, cupping it in both together. Staring deeply into it, Aerith wondered if Marlene could see anything inside, something she herself never could. "If you're scared, then you need this back," she finally said.

Wordlessly, Aerith took the orb- wondering, as she replaced it in her hair if she was giving away its existence to Tseng – then realized, as with most things, he probably already knew. "Thank you," she whispered, for so many things.

The word goodbye hung in the air, no one wanting t o speak it. "She'll be well-taken care of here," Elmyra assured her, as if there could be any doubt. The silent missing words – until you come back.

She hugged her mother tight, whispering, "I love you, Mom." Elmyra gripped her fiercely in return, both wishing they never had to let go. But there was one moment Aerith wanted even more.

She knelt down to embrace Marlene, knowing even if she held her forever, it wouldn't be enough. "Remember our secret," she told her; that tie between them was all, for now, she could give

And straightening up, she stiffened her shoulders, bracing for whatever lay ahead. Tseng attended the door, gesturing like a gentleman for her to go forward. In the distance she heard the whirring blades of a waiting helicopter.

She let her thought diffuse into the air.

Follow the yellow flowers…

Working in tandem, smooth as a dream - back to back, side by side. Upwards they climbed, sand-soft minutes ticking through frozen time. Climbing further than even the bravest residents of the slums had reached.

Biggs's last words, surfing the edges of Cloud's mind. Not a fan of children? But you have so much in common. But now… he had to be a man. For Tifa.

As much as he feared her in danger, there was as much danger below; at least here, under his watch, he knew she was safe. He always had one eye on her, passively admiring the force, the fury as she held her place beside him. He couldn't afford to be soft. Not now.

Tifa fought her tears into focus, losing herself in the rhythm and comfort of familiar motion. Deep down, she was terrified, but Cloud at her side raised a reservoir of courage she didn't know she had, and she knew she couldn't, wouldn't, give in –

- Until they found Jessie, crumpled and burned, pain lacing her expression.

As Tifa ran to her, Jessie's eyes opened with obvious effort. Cloud was already picking her up with that gentleness he had deep inside, setting her down carefully, arranging her into a more comfortable position. Tifa knelt down beside her friend, tears filling her eyes unwillingly, even as she could hear Shinra still searching for them above.

"Hang on!" Cloud urged.

"It's… no use…" Jessie forced out, lolling her head. "I'm… not going to make it."

Tifa couldn't find any words. She knew Jessie was right; it was a risk they'd all signed on for, but now, seeing the result before her... and with no time to waste, she was denied the last reminiscences the desperately wanted. Another thing to lay on Shinra. Tears were now openly streaming down her face as Jessie continued. "Shinra was right. We are a menace. All those lives lost at the reactor from our dumb idea… it was my bomb. This is my punishment."

Cloud clenched his first, angry at his uselessness. Helpless to save Jessie. Tifa buried her hands in her gloves, weeping openly. He didn't know if he should touch her, say something – he only knew how to fight.

Helpless to protect Tifa from tears.

"Death is the easy way out. Tifa – you've gotta make out… for all of us. To atone for our sins. You. And Barret." He could hear Jessie's breaths, labored, dwindling. "Barret's still up there. Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

– and her head fell to the side, as her eyes closed, for the last time.

It seemed ominous silence hid all the sounds of Shinra above for a moment, as the only sound ringing in Cloud's ears was Tifa crying, crying.

He couldn't bear to interrupt her, but moments later, he could see her forcing the tears away herself, wiping the last of them with the back of her glove. She raised her eyes to his, and for a moment they only looked at each other, seeing the same answer reflected in each other's eyes. She's right – we have to go.

The thunderous pounding of bullets, only eclipsed by Barret's roar, ever increasing as they fought their way further than even the bravest residents of the slums were able to go. Still further and further, finally bursting onto the open plateau crowning the pillar.

"You made it," Barret roared, barely sparing a moment from riddling the helicopter above with bullets.

A figure dropped from the chopper - a familiar black suit, the same shock of red hair he'd seen at the church. Barret turned as Cloud and Tifa ran, but the Turk was faster, ducking from Cloud's sword a splinter of a second after he'd pressed the button sirens began to blare from all sides, screaming at them to get out, get out.

"Fuck you, Reno. Turn it off." Barret turned his gun-arm directly on the Turk; Reno laughed, knowing full well Barret couldn't afford to shoot. Cloud held his sword raised and ready, sensing Tifa beside him, poised for attack as well.

The Turk only grinned, fierce and cruel. "Too late there, buddy," he called back. "Doesn't matter if you shoot me or not. Plate's going down either way."

"I oughta shoot you just on principle," growled Barret, the sound of a second copter approaching trailing on the end of his sentence. They looked up…

Inside the helicopter, another person she hadn't seen in a long time. Last time, they'd parted friends. This time…

"Cissnei," she greeted the other woman coolly.

"Aerith," Cissnei returned, noticeably uncomfortable.

She wanted to ask Aerith so many things, but chief among them was - why had Aerith allowed herself to even get involved with AVALANCHE? Without knowing what she had been getting herself into – and the irony being, it was the attacks on the reactors that had made pulling Aerith in all the more urgent. You foolish girl, she thought. Only hastening this day.

"Why did you – " With surprise, Cissnei heard Tseng voice her own question.

Aerith turned her head towards the window, little except the brightest lights of Midgar visible through the dark-tinted windows. "You wouldn't understand."

They wouldn't. The pull to Cloud – she still didn't know. Everything else had just swept her up along with it, taking a gamble that didn't seem heedless at the time, and in some respects still did not. Some things about him, so familiar – and some so unique.

Aerith's unanticipated ties to AVALANCHE - The problem would resolve itself soon enough, Tseng hoped. He doubted they'd make it out. The two rebels, Marlene's caretakers – a shame for the girl, but an acceptable loss. It would cut a dangerous tie between Marlene and AVALNCHE.

Safer with Elmyra, if still not perfect.

But he couldn't help hoping Cloud would make it out somehow, if only to see more of him and solve this strange mystery. Under his lashes, he squinted a glance back at Aerith; now apparently lost in thought but if he knew her, still taking in everything around. The two people most important to Zack. Was there something more in this picture, something he was missing?

Cissnei couldn't read her boss's face; was he thinking the same things she was? How the Turks failed, the army beating them to Zack – how much might have been different. Did Aerith know about that? She shouldn't, but with her strange abilities, one could never be sure.

The others, she worried about as well. What a strange series of coincidences had led Marlene to Tifa – almost as unlikely as Cloud meeting Aerith. But that had happened too. Who knew a man from Corel would find himself in Midgar – well, that was Shinra's fault, wasn't it really? – and meet a woman from Nibelheim. And the rest, as they say, was history. A history not entirely predictable, and Shinra at the start, she herself – yes, you, Cissnei, she thought – playing a role in it all no matter how much she wished otherwise

Tseng, nonchalant, gave the coordinates – and Cissnei was surprised to realize they were heading towards Sector Seven. Aerith, a slum dweller, needed nothing more than the pattern of lights below to tell her the same. "The plate's still there," Aerith observed.

"Watch," Tseng calmly suggested. Ordered, really.

Aerith knew there was something he wanted her to see.

He slid open the hatch; wind hit them with a blast, warm gunsmoke intermingled with cold licks. Aerith instinctively lurched forward, Tseng's flash-quick grip on the back of her dress the only thing keeping her from tumbling out as the helicopter banked.

She couldn't make out the figures on the pillar below at first, but as they got closer, she gasped in astonishment.

Below, in miniature. Tifa. Cloud. They had made it. And a third she knew must be Barret. Reno running from them as sirens blared all around, and she knew it had begun.

Cissnei, looking over her shoulder, felt her stomach drop. Cloud, she'd expected. But Tifa… Tseng didn't know about Tifa. Maybe if I had told him... Maybe if she'd told him Tifa would be that much more dead. How had Tifa made it here? Before diverting to Sector Seven, she'd been headed to Corneo's.

Cissnei never thought she'd see the day she'd think Don Corneo's was a safer place for a woman to be.

Cloud, this is your chance to keep your promise. Get her out… if you're some kind of SOLDIER now, I know you can…

"Tifa!" Aerith screamed below; they'd dipped close enough for her to see the color of Tifa's eyes. "She's safe! I made it!"

"Aerith!" was all Tifa had time to shout back, before, with a sharp tug, Tseng yanked her back inside. The helicopter jerked away, heading for free air, and what Aerith knew waited for her above. Below, as the plate began crumbling, she saw Cloud grabbing Tifa, running to Barret – and she prayed to the Planet that they would somehow make it out.

Tseng at first said nothing as they flew away, Aerith losing sight of her friends as the explosions started. "There is nothing more that can be done," he finally said, stone-faced.

"I know," Aerith replied wistfully.

And as the last Cetra was whisked away to the Shinra building, she heard the structure creak ominously, and the steel sky begin to fall, the noise louder than even the loudest scream she had ever heard from the Planet –

…and it was to the Planet she prayed.

Please, Gaia, let them have made it out…

Elmyra had expected Marlene to be inconsolable, shrieking after Aerith left, but instead, she bore the change in events with a fortitude that would have made Aerith herself proud. Still, the quivering of her eyes, tears just moments away from bursting, told Elmyra what a struggle the child had put up.

She wanted Marlene to know she wasn't alone. "Do you want to come here?" Elmyra asked gently, opening her arms for an embrace Marlene could run into.

Marlene looked doubtful, but let herself be consoled anyway; she sniffed into Elmyra's shirt. "Who are you?" she mumbled nervously.

"I'm Aerith's mother," Elmyra said gently. "Don't you have a mother too?"

"I have my Papa. And Tifa. And I guess Cloud too," Marlene replied.

"Tell me about them," Elmyra urged.

So Marlene talked, and for valuable minutes her fear became distant, as Elmyra learned of the people who meant the most to the child. Cloud, she had met, but Marlene saw a gentle, kind side to the SOLDIER that Elmyra had been too angry to acknowledge when Aerith had brought Cloud home; now, she was sorry she'd been so blinded. Barret, her daddy, a man Marlene so clearly looked up to. And Tifa –

It was so strange, to hear the sound of another woman's name, in conjunction with Marlene's care; and it was this woman she wondered about most of all. "My daddy said we met Tifa two years ago," Marlene informed her; but even so, that would be all of a child's memories with this alternate mother figure. Slowly, she formed her impression sight unseen, wondering how it would compare to finally meeting the woman who clearly cared for Marlene as if she was her own.

Even thoughts of flowers could no longer distract Marlene; suggestions to go upstairs and see them were refused, Marlene staring instead at the front door. The aura of waiting settled over Elmyra's little house, neither woman nor child able to do anything else.

For comfort, she rocked Marlene back and forth in her lap, relishing this rediscovery of something she had thought lost, but fearing the consequences. Marlene here, so close to Shinra. Exactly what she and Aerith had been afraid of. Part of her hoped that by some means she did not yet know, things could still work out for the best. But how that would happen with Shinra in the picture, she did not know. Unless Shinra was gone, Aerith would never be truly free.

Marlene was finally drifting off, exhausted; and still Elmyra worried. She wondered and feared what might happen to Aerith at Shinra HQ; hoping Aerith's status would protect her. Was she deluding herself? At least she'd be safe. Especially if they were truly going to drop the plate… she shuddered, hoping it wasn't true, but in her heart, she couldn't find hope, not really.

As if on cue, the sirens started blaring outside, and ELmyra KNEW.

Marlene woke up immediately bursting into tears. "Shssh," Elmyra said, brushing Marlene's hair. "Remember, Aerith told you there's nothing to be afraid of. It's far away. It can't hurt us."

If anything Marlene sobbed even further. "My daddy's fighting over there! Tifa too!" she forced out between unstoppable tears – and outside, those damned alarms still blaring.

Fighting? They'd be insects, against the force of Shinra. Elmyra knew that all too well. Daddy. Tifa. Those she had so wanted to meet – and now – would they even survive this night? Marlene had come to the same, inescapable conclusion. "What if something happens? Where will I go?" – she half-wailed, terrified.

"You'll stay with me here, as long as you want – " she was in the middle of reassuring Marlene when she heard the deafening crack – and she knew it had started. Marlene SCREAMED then, and Elmyra pulled her tightly to her chest, nothing else to do but pray it would be over soon.

Explosions and crashes resounded through the night, echoing off the sector walls and the remaining plate, as millions of tons of metal collapsed hundreds of feet to the ground below. Two sectors away, ten or fifteen miles - and still flashes of light reflected off the remaining plate above, striking out at crazed angles even into the low-light of the darkened house. She turned Marlene's face between her breasts, urging her to close your eyes, close your ears, as if there was any way to shut it out completely.

It felt like forever before the silence returned, even though Elmyra knew it must be mere minutes. The warning sirens were gone too; there was no one left to warn. Everyone else had escaped, or – or –

She realized in the quiet that Marlene's cries were gone too. Looking down, she saw that exhaustion and fear had finally done their job, and Marlene slept soundly against her chest – though her little face contorted in worry, denying her the peace of complete sleep.

Elmyra took her upstairs and laid her down, covering her carefully with a blanket; Marlene snuggled into this new bed instinctively, some tranquility finally coming over her face. Leaving her warmly tucked in, Elmyra headed back downstairs, ready for her own bedroom in the back when she saw the single yellow flower, left on the table.

One of Aerith's stargazer lilies. A symbol of reunion, Aerith had said; and tonight, a memento of a reunion she never expected to happen. Even with the field of identical blossoms outside, she couldn't bear to let this one die.

Lifting it gently, cradling the stem and petals in both her hands, she placed the flower alone in one of Aerith's many small vases; Marlene could give it some friends later, she thought, filling the vase with water. It was slightly rumpled from the journey over, but Elmyra straightened out the petals, marveling how it had returned home relatively intact.

She hoped she could say the same for Marlene.

Climbing back up the stairs, she placed the vase near the edge of Aerith's desk, where Marlene would be sure to see it when she woke up. Turning, she took a last look at Marlene, now resting calmly. Last traces of distress gone. Leaning over to kiss her, Elmyra quietly left the room.

Above the plate, Denzel stared past the Shinra barricades, to where Sector Seven was gone, the tremors and quakes of the plate tearing away still echoing in his head.