Cloud woke to the sound of a bird chirping. It didn't stop either, only repeating the same series of noises over and over again. As nice as he was sure the sound could be, right now all he wanted was for it to stop so he could roll over and go back to sleep. His attempts to try and drown it out by pulling his pillow over his head failed miserably.

Groaning, he sat up before looking to see if Aerith was also struggling to sleep. Her bed was empty. The glowing Materia—he realized he'd misheard the word initially, it didn't have an 'l' on the end—was also gone, so he guessed she'd taken it with her. Enough light was shining in through the blankets that it wouldn't have been needed anyway.

He dropped back down, staring up at the blanket hanging above him as he thought back to the previous night. Aerith clearly hadn't thought it was a big deal for them to sleep in the same room, but Cloud had struggled to fall asleep, unable to stop thinking about the fact he was sleeping in the same room with her.

"Hey, fighting is great and all, but so are girls!"

Zack's words from the competition had decided to resurface, and Cloud was still unable to get them out of his head. He knew his friend wasn't wrong, he'd just never really understood what he was talking about. Then last night had happened. Aerith was fun and sweet, and her excitement was contagious. It always felt like she was having a good time, and that, in turn, made Cloud want to as well. He never would have thought that staring up at the sky of all things could be fun, but with Aerith at his side, it had been.

Waking up to her screams in the middle of the night had been horrifying. At first, he'd thought someone had found them and was attacking her, but the dim light had only revealed her tossing and turning in her sleep. She'd looked so lost and alone after he'd woken her that she had almost seemed like a different person. He'd even wanted to give her a hug to try and cheer her up, but she'd said she was fine and he didn't want to make her feel weird. It had taken him a while to fall back asleep afterward, not for the same reason as before, but because he was still worried about her. Only once Aerith's breaths evened out had he finally managed to doze off himself.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," Aerith said, her head poking through the gap that lead to the main room—nearly causing Cloud to jump in alarm. "How'd you sleep?"

Doing his best to contain his groan, Cloud shifted back up into a sitting position. He was not a morning person. "Pretty good. Just wish that bird didn't have to be so loud." It was still going.

"Hey, don't be mean to the poor wood thrush. It has a beautiful voice."

Cloud didn't disagree, he just wanted it to chill out a bit. "What about you? Have you been up for long?"

"Hmm? Oh, I slept much better the second time. No dreams, thankfully. I've only been up for a bit, getting some stuff set for later. You ready for breakfast?"

At the mention of food, his stomach decided to growl, making its thoughts on the matter known. After how much he'd eaten last night, Cloud wouldn't have expected to be hungry already, but apparently, that wasn't the case. "Yeah, eating sounds good. We're supposed to go get it ourselves, right?"

Aerith grinned back at him, a mischievous twinkle in her green eyes. "What if we just had more pie instead? There's still plenty left."

"Dessert for breakfast? Is that a thing?"

"Well, there's no one to stop us. Besides, it has fruit in it."

Based on her response, he gathered this wasn't a normal thing, but once again, Aerith's enthusiasm swept him along. "Alright, sure." If he was being honest, the pie had been so delicious it wasn't hard to want to eat more, regardless of the time of day.

He crawled back into the main room to join her, the remaining half of the pie already out of the basket and sitting in front of Aerith. Together, they made short work of it, each taking two of the remaining slices and finishing them off in quick order. Cloud tried his best to savor the final bites, but it was still gone all too quickly.

"Don't we still need to get stuff to bring back?" Cloud asked once he was done and Aerith had packed the glass tray back into the basket.

"You mean the fruit? Yeah, we can take care of that on the way back home. There's something else outside I want to show you first though."

Following her out of the cave, Cloud watched as she crouched down and picked something up before returning to her feet and turning to show it to him. It was a plant of some kind, growing in a pot instead of the ground.

"Here, I wanted you to have this."

He looked at the pot in her hands hesitantly. "What is it?"

"It's a leftover plant from when I was relocating a few to add some color around the hideout. As long as you give it sunlight and water, it should do fine, even staying in a pot if you can't plant it anywhere. I hoped it might give you and your parents a bit of extra life in your house."

It felt like the air had been knocked out of him. His mom! How could he have forgotten? She was supposed to have gone to the doctor, but he still didn't know what was wrong with her, or if she was even better. Meanwhile, he'd been here, laughing and playing around with Aerith without a care in the world.

"Cloud? What is it?"

Without thinking, he grabbed Aerith's hands around the pot, staring intently into her worried eyes. "Which direction is back to where I arrived? I have to get back home. Right now."

"What? But—"

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain." The look of hurt confusion on her face was killing him. "I promise I'll come back and tell you more. Just point me in the right direction, please."

Sniffling, Aerith shoved the plant into his hands before turning and pointing to the edge of the clearing opposite the pond. "It's that way." Her voice was soft and too quiet. It cut deeply into him, forcing him to look away from her.

Taking the first step away from her was horrible. Especially after how they'd parted last time, Cloud didn't want to just up and vanish again, but he had to get back to his mom and make sure she was okay. It didn't get any easier once he passed into the trees and knew he couldn't look back and see her anymore, but he pushed on, clutching the pot tightly and running as fast as he safely could.

He was somewhere in the middle of the forest when the transition happened, a jarring, disorienting blur of one foot leaving grassy roots and then the other coming down on hard, desolate sand. Even though he hadn't been in the clearing on the other side, somehow he'd still returned to the exact same spot outside the city gate. Not sparing a second thought for how that was possible, Cloud hurried through the gate and into the city streets—noting the surprising lack of any posted guard.

Whatever the reason for that was, he certainly wasn't going to complain as it only made his life vastly easier. As he began making his way through the streets, Cloud made sure to keep his attention focused behind him, but thankfully no one seemed to be following him this time, or even paying him much attention at all. Whoever his pursuers had been the other day, it seemed like he'd successfully managed to evade them.

Reaching his house, he set the pot down safely off to the side of the door before shoving it open and rushing inside. Once again, the lights were off, but this time, as they slowly flickered into life with the flip of the switch, his world came crashing down around him.

His mother's sprawled body lay motionless in the center of the room.


Cloud dropped heavily into the waiting room chair, exhaustion weighing him down like metal chains. Pretty much the only good news was that his mom was still alive. The doctors had tried to be encouraging, but it wasn't hard to read the truth in their eyes—her condition was extremely serious.

"Hey, Cloud," Tifa said softly, taking the seat next to him. "How is she?"

Immediately after finding his mom on the floor, the first thing Cloud had done was rush to Tifa's house. He knew there was no way he'd be able to get his mom to the clinic on his own and thankfully both Tifa and her father had been home. As soon as they heard what had happened, they'd helped Cloud carry her to the nearest clinic where the doctors had instantly rushed her into the emergency room.

From there it had been an insufferable day of waiting as hour after hour passed without any news. Several nurses had tried to lift his spirits, but Cloud didn't want to hear reassurances that everything was going to be okay. He wanted his mom to come out from under that horrible glowing red light with a smile on her face, telling him that everything was okay now and that they could go back home.

"The doctors said she's in something called a coma. She's alive but apparently can't wake up. It's some kind of new illness and she's one of the worst cases they've seen so far."

"I am so sorry Cloud."

"Thanks. I . . . I don't know what to do . . ." It was a struggle not to break into tears, but he didn't want to let Tifa see him crying.

"My dad's taking care of all the paperwork, but he wanted me to tell you that you're welcome to stay with us if you want."

Cloud wanted to stay here, with his mom, but a nurse had told him that unfortunately wasn't possible for more than a night or two. "Are you sure? My place is close enough. I can take care of myself and I don't want to—"

"Cloud, it's fine. We want to help you. Besides—"

He looked over as Tifa abruptly cut off, wondering what had happened. "Tif?"

"Is . . . is that Sephiroth?"

To Cloud's surprise, their gang leader had indeed just stepped through the front doors and was making his way directly toward them. What was he even doing here? Had he somehow heard about what had happened?

Coming to a halt directly in front of him, the older boy held out his hand. "Cloud, you need to come with me."

"Sephiroth, now really isn't the time. Cloud's mom is in bad shape and—"

"That's exactly why I'm here," Sephiroth said, cutting Tifa off. "My father might be able to help with a solution."

Cloud was on his feet in an instant. "Take me to him."

Sephiroth turned, but before Cloud could follow after him, Tifa caught his arm. "How do you even know about his mom already?"

"Is that really important right now?" Sephiroth asked, looking back at them over his shoulder. "Do you want the help of Shinra's top scientist or not?"

Pulling free of Tifa's grip, Cloud nodded fervently. "Yes. Please. Thanks for the offer, Tifa, but I'm going to save my mom and go home."

"Cloud!"

Cloud ignored her as he hurried after Sephiroth, his body thrumming with energy now that a path forward had opened up. Everyone knew how incredible Sephiroth's dad was—the man responsible for giving the city the power of mako. Someone that smart had to know of a way to save his mom. Sephiroth was walking fast enough Cloud was almost forced to jog to keep up, but he didn't mind. The faster they got to Shinra Tower, the faster he'd be able to finally do something.

The sun was low on the horizon by the time they reached the center of the city where the tower stood. There was a loud hum of energy before the entire building lit up, nearly taking Cloud's breath away. He'd always seen it from a distance before, and this close, he realized it was much taller than he'd thought.

"Have you ever been inside?" Sephiroth asked, turning to look back at him.

Cloud shook his head.

"Then stay close. It's easy to get lost if you're not familiar with the layout and I don't want to have to hunt you down."

Stepping through the large, glass doors, Cloud froze in place as he saw the interior. It almost reminded him of the first time he'd crossed the Barrier, if only in the sense that it felt like he'd just walked into a completely different world. Two massive staircases on either side led up to a second floor far above, but the sight that truly captured his attention was the plants.

He ran over to get a closer look and immediately noticed something was off. Not only was the dirt they were planted in dry sand, but the leaves somehow reflected the light. Reaching out, he gently pinched one between his fingers and realized the entire thing was fake—it was made out of plastic.

"What did I just say about not wandering off?"

Cheeks burning, he spun around to face Sephiroth. "Sorry, I've just never seen a plant on this side of the Barrier."

"Yes, well, they're pretty boring. Come on, my father is waiting."

Cloud followed him to the base of the nearest stairs, noticing that the two of them seemed to be getting a lot of attention from the passing adults, who would stop and stare for a moment before continuing on. Once the two of them reached the top, Cloud found himself breathing a little harder, even though he felt like he was in pretty good shape. There were just so many stairs and this was only the beginning.

"How far up are we going to have to climb?"

Sephiroth blinked before one corner of his mouth curled upward. "No more climbing, we're taking the elevator the rest of the way, not the stairs."

Cloud wasn't sure what an elevator was, but if meant not climbing more flights of stairs then he was all for it. He walked with Sephiroth over to an area with four doors where the other boy pressed a button on the wall between two of the doors. A moment later, the one on the right automatically slid open and Rufus Shinra stepped out. Behind him, the other members of the Turks filed out, chatting and laughing as they walked past without giving Sephiroth or Cloud a second glance.

"Calm down," Sephiroth said, stepping into the strangely small room on the other side. "Come on, we're going up."

Realizing his fists were tightly clenched together, Cloud relaxed them and hurried after him. Was this the elevator? It seemed more like a small room, but considering the Turks had just left, it clearly had to have some kind of secret. Once he was inside, Sephiroth pressed another button, this time one on the upper right side of a huge number of them. The doors swung shut and then Cloud's stomach lurched as he felt pressed down for a brief moment.

"What . . . just happened?" he asked, looking around.

"We're moving up. Elevators travel between floors, much faster than we'd be able to walk. We should be almost to the top in a bit."

"Wow, it's like magic."

"No, it's physics."

True to his word, the elevator came to a halt after a short wait, this time sending Cloud's stomach flying in the opposite direction as before and making him feel like if he jumped he could maybe touch the ceiling.

"Almost there," Sephiroth said, stepping through the doors as they slid open once again.

The hallway they entered was completely different from the one down below, proving they really had traveled somewhere else. Hurrying after Sephiroth, they came to a halt outside a door about halfway down the hall.

"Alright, this is his office. If you finish talking before I'm back then just wait for me outside, I shouldn't be long."

"Wait, you're not coming in with me?" Cloud asked in alarm.

Sephiroth shook his head. "I have something else I need to take care of. You'll be fine. Don't think of him as someone famous, but rather as . . . a kind old man, willing to help you."

Nervously, Cloud pushed open the door as Sephiroth turned and returned the way they'd come from. The room inside was surprisingly sparse—just a desk and a chair filling the space while the walls were covered in boards with various notes and pictures drawn all over them. Seated in the chair was a man with a familiar face, although one Cloud had only ever seen before on television.

"Ah, my boy, it is so good to finally meet you! My son has told me stories of how you're his right-hand man in the battles against the Turks. I hear you even distinguished yourself in the recent match and were the primary reason for winning! Impressive, quite impressive indeed."

Cloud was caught off guard by all the praise. He hadn't realized Sephiroth thought so highly of him, or that he'd bother to tell his father about their matches. "Well, I just helped, really. Everyone did their part."

"And modest, too. But enough of that, let's get to the pressing matter at hand. I heard the news that your mother is one of the victims of this new illness that's been popping up lately. I'm sorry you have to be dealing with this."

"Sephiroth said you could help?"

The man nodded. "Indeed, indeed. Unfortunately, perhaps not directly, but I do think I have a way in which you can be the one to save her."

Cloud blinked in surprise. "Me? But I don't know anything about how to heal someone."

"That may be true, but there is something only you can do. My son told me of your incredible trip across the Barrier itself. Tell me, what do you think of the Ancients as someone who's met them in person?"

"The Cetra are just like us," Cloud said slowly, not sure where this was going or how it was relevant to his mother. Part of him was annoyed that Sephiroth had told anyone else, although Cloud knew he hadn't asked him not to. "I don't understand why you and the President say the things you do about them, it's not true."

"Oh, you poor child, you don't even realize how they've deceived you."

Cloud frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mother. Surely in your visits, you've seen the powers the Ancients can wield, their ability to cure any wound. I'm positive it would be a trivial matter for them to help her."

A pulsing green light. A swollen, red ankle returning to normal. A girl's sigh of relief as the pain in her twisted ankle faded away.

The scientist was right. Aerith's mom had been able to help her with just a simple wave of her hand. Why hadn't he thought of that before? His mother was too sick to make the trip, but he could do it a third time and then ask them to help heal her! The answer had been right in front of him the entire time.

"The fact of the matter is that the Ancients don't care about you, me, or your mother. We're all just playthings for them to toy with and then discard once they grow bored of us."

"That's not true!" Cloud shouted, stamping his foot. "They wouldn't do that. They're kind and caring. I know they'll help my mom!"

Hojo sighed loudly, shaking his head. "Oh, how I wish you were right. Go then. Return to the Ancients and ask for their help. Given the state of your mother's condition, I believe they're your only hope left."

"They're going to help, just you wait and see."

Hojo didn't seem very impressed by his statement, only giving a light shrug. "I hope for your mother's sake that you're correct. Of all the known cases, I don't believe anyone has ever recovered."

Cloud's stomach clenched uncomfortably. He didn't want to think of that. Even if it was true, it didn't matter—there was no way Aerith's mom wouldn't be willing to help, not after how kind she'd been to him on each of his visits. Now that he had a plan, Cloud was eager to set it in motion. "Can I go now?"

"By all means. I wish you the best of luck and will eagerly await the good news of your successful return with an Ancient at your side. My son should be outside to take you back down."

Cloud hurried to the door as the scientist returned his attention to the papers scattered across his desk. Stepping back into the hallway, he was glad to see Sephiroth already there. If he'd had to wait for him to show up, Cloud thought he might have gone crazy. "Let's go, I need to get back to the city gates as soon as possible."

"So he was able to help then?" Sephiroth asked, turning to walk back toward the elevator as Cloud fell in beside him.

"Yeah, although I should have been able to figure it out myself. He doesn't think the Cetra will want to help though."

Together, they entered the elevator, and Cloud watched as this time the other boy pressed the button on the far bottom left. He was ready now for the lurch as they began to move and as fast as it was, he wished it were faster.

"I've never known my father to be wrong, Cloud," Sephiroth said, giving him a serious look. "What's your plan if they aren't willing to help?"

"They will. There's no reason for them not to."

". . . If you say so. It doesn't hurt to have a backup plan. If it were my mother, I'd be ready to do whatever it took to save her. I just think you should be prepared for that."

Thankfully, the elevator ground to a stop. Cloud was through the doors as soon as he could squeeze between them, racing for the stairs. "Sure, whatever," he called back, focused entirely on getting to Aerith's house. If he'd thought people had been staring before, it was nothing compared to now as he sprinted down the stairs. He didn't care if he was making a scene, it wasn't like he'd see any of these fancy people ever again.

Once he burst through the main doors and was back outside, Cloud wasn't able to pick up his pace as much as he'd hoped. The sun had passed below the horizon while he'd been inside, casting the city into darkness only broken by the occasional streetlamp. At least initially, around the tower, it wasn't hard to see where he was going, but the farther away he got the more cautious he had to be to not catch his foot on something and go sprawling.

The entire time, as much as he tried to, he couldn't get what Sephiroth and his father had been saying out of his head. They had to be wrong, they had to. It took longer than he would have liked, but eventually, the familiar outline of the gate that led to his crossing point appeared out of the darkness at the end of the road. Cloud passed through without issue and came to a stop at the same place he'd first met Aerith, determined to do whatever it took to cure his mom.

Nothing happened.

He made a quick circle around the area, wondering if he was slightly off in the dark, but nothing changed. The ground remained the same barren desert, not a single tree in sight. "Please," he begged out loud, feeling slightly foolish. "You have to let me through, I need to help my mom."

The air seemed to shimmer slightly, but Cloud wasn't sure if he'd just imagined it as nothing else happened. Closing his eyes tightly, he pictured the clearing around him—the flowers on the ground surrounding him, the trees towering above, and the birds singing their songs as they flew around. It was hard to focus on it and not his worry for his mother, but he did his best. A cool breeze brushed across the back of Cloud's neck and when he opened his eyes, the scene he'd been thinking of was right there in front of him.

The forest was completely different than the city at night. There were no streetlamps to light the way, forcing him to rely on the moon and his memory of which direction the village was in. It was a massive relief when the first house came into view, letting him know he hadn't gotten lost. From there it was a simple matter to skirt around the edges of the village until he reached Aerith's house.

The lights on inside indicated they were still awake which was good news. Hurrying up to the front door, he knocked on it several times. Cloud could feel the seconds passing as he waited and waited. Did they sleep with the lights on or something? What was taking so long?

" . . . don't know who in the Planet's name it could be at this hour," he heard Aerith's dad saying from the other side of the door before it cracked open, the light from inside nearly blinding him. "Wait, you?!"

"Who is it, dear?" Aerith's mother called out.

"It seems like our special guest is back for a third visit."

"Wait, it's Cloud?"

Aerith came flying around the corner a moment later, her eyes wide. Instead of a smile at seeing him, she froze for a second before firmly planting her hands on her waist and frowning at him. "You have a lot of explaining to do after running off this morning, mister."

"Best come inside first," her dad said, opening the door wider so Cloud was able to slip inside.

"At this time of night though?" Aerith's mother came up behind her, resting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Aren't your parents worried about you coming here in the middle of the night?"

Cloud shook his head. "That's why I'm here, and why I ran home this morning. Please. My mom's in really bad shape. She's come down with some kind of new sickness and the doctors can't fix it. No one knows how to help her and I don't know what to do. You're my only hope, please, can you use your magic to heal her?"

Before he realized what had happened, Aerith had pulled away from her mom and her arms were around him, her head nestled against his neck. Unsure of what to do he hesitantly returned the hug, feeling some of his earlier panic draining out of him. He'd only hugged his mom before, but this was . . . nice. A delicate floral scent filled his nose and he guessed it must be her shampoo.

As suddenly as it had happened, the hug ended—Aerith pulling away with flushed cheeks. "Sorry. I just thought . . . I mean—I'm so sorry, Cloud. Of course we'll help, right mom?"

Aerith's father cleared his throat and her mother looked away, although not before Cloud was able to see a look of sadness on her face. "I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as you might think," she said softly.

It took Cloud a moment to fully process the words, that her answer hadn't been a resounding yes. In fact, it had almost seemed like a poorly disguised no. He felt like someone had swung a wooden sword directly into his stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Aerith's mother was kind, he knew that. There should be no reason she wouldn't be willing to help.

The fact of the matter is that the Ancients don't care about you, me, or your mother. We're all just playthings for them to toy with and then discard once they grow bored of us.

"Mom? What are you talking about?" Aerith asked, her voice quavering. She looked just as surprised as Cloud felt.

"I wish it was as easy as me simply going and helping, but it's more complicated than that, dearest. I need some time to think. Maybe there is a way, but it's going to be a challenge."

"It's late," Aerith's dad said, walking over and putting his arm around his wife's shoulders. "It's clearly been a long day for all of us. We should call it a night for now and then figure out a solution first thing in the morning."

"Please, can't you just help her now?" Cloud begged. "I don't know how much longer she even has."

"I'm so sorry," Aerith's mother said, looking away from him and down at the floor. "Believe me, this isn't a decision I make lightly, but I can't simply rush to your aid, as much as I might want to. I promise you I'll have something figured out come morning."

Cloud wasn't stupid, he understood what she was saying—his mother wasn't going to be getting any help. He watched in silence as Aerith's parents made their way up the stairs and turned the corner to their bedroom, leaving him and Aerith alone in the main room.

She turned to face him, one hand rubbing at her eyes. "I'm not sure what's so complicated, but I trust my mom. I guess all we can do now is wait till morning." Aerith started making her way up the stairs, gesturing for him to follow.

"I just . . . don't understand," he mumbled, trailing after her. "This was supposed to be so easy."

"We'll figure this out, okay, Cloud? Together." She reached out and squeezed his hand quickly before letting go. "I don't understand what's going on either, but I promise you I'll do everything I can."

He nodded numbly, still in shocked disbelief as they walked down the hallway to the room he'd stayed in last time. Sephiroth and his dad had been right all along. He felt like such a fool for thinking that the Ancients would be willing to help him. And now he'd lost his last hope for saving his mom.

If it were my mother, I'd be ready to do whatever it took to save her.

Whatever it took. An idea hit him as he stepped through the door of the room, and with it a new plan—a way he could still get his mom the help she needed. "Thanks, Aerith. I've had a long, horrible day and I just want to sleep now, if that's okay."

"Of course," she said in a rush, moving back out into the hallway. "I'm really, truly sorry about all this. I'll see you in the morning and we'll figure this all out."

Once she was gone, he turned off the lights and crawled onto the bed. For his plan to work, he needed the Ancients to be fast asleep, so Cloud waited. Staring at the ceiling over the bed, he thought back to all the conversations he'd had with them during his previous visits, trying to determine how he'd so poorly misjudged them—searching for the signs they'd been lying to him all along.

It was hard for him to judge how much time had passed, but once his eyelids were starting to droop, Cloud slowly and quietly shifted off the bed before padding over to the door. First things first, he needed to get back downstairs—without anyone knowing. The door opened without squeaking—unlike his one back home—and Cloud cautiously tiptoed his way to the stairs.

He slowed down to a crawl as Aerith's door drew closer. The last thing he wanted to do was wake her up and then have to explain what he was doing. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, Cloud let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The hardest part was over, now he just needed to find what he was looking for.

"Cloud?" a sleepy voice behind him mumbled.

His heart jumped in his chest at the noise, nearly sending him tumbling down the stairs. Turning in place, he saw Aerith standing at her bedroom door, rubbing one of her eyes with the back of her hand. If he wasn't so terrified, he would have found the sight pretty cute.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He raced to come up with an answer, settling on the first thing that came to mind. "I couldn't sleep. I thought maybe some dessert would help." Lying to Aerith like this felt wrong, but he had to do this for his mom.

She shook her head softly, a small giggle escaping her lips. "There's a different kind of pie in the fridge, just don't eat it all, okay?"

Cloud nodded before watching her continue down the hall and only once she disappeared into the bathroom did he hurry down the stairs. Instead of taking a left at the bottom which would take him into the kitchen, he went straight forward—into the room her dad was always coming out of. Closing the door behind him, he used the Materia on the wall to turn on the lights. Some light would inevitably leak out even with the door closed, but if anyone came downstairs while he was here then his plan was likely doomed regardless.

The room seemed to be some kind of study. Bookshelves lined the surface of the walls and they were completely full from floor to ceiling. If he hadn't been in such a hurry, Cloud would have stopped and stared in awe. A quick circuit of the room didn't reveal what he was looking for—either on the bookshelves or the desk. Not willing to give up, he began sliding the drawers of the desk open one by one. The main flaw with this plan was that he had no idea where to look, and if it wasn't in here, then the next most likely place was her parent's bedroom which was obviously out of the question.

As drawer after drawer failed to reveal what he needed, Cloud's hope began to dwindle. With only two left, it seemed like he was going to end up empty-handed and either have to come up with a new idea, or else wait until morning to see what lie Aerith's mother would use next. He gasped in surprise as the next drawer revealed what he was hoping to find—a fist-sized green orb resting on a cloth. All that was left was to verify it was, in fact, what he needed it to be.

Closing his eyes, Cloud grabbed the Materia and concentrated on it. Like the heating one from the night before, this one also seemed to have no initial reaction to his attempt to activate it. Instead of letting that get him down, he took hope from it. Aerith had said that more advanced Materia were harder to use which meant this was capable of more than turning on lights or warming up food.

After what felt like an eternity, he thought he felt something gently stirring inside the orb's depths. It wasn't fizzy like the light or crackling like the fire, but rather more of a comforting calm that reminded him of how it felt to be hugged by his mom. Opening his eyes, the Materia was glowing a faint green color, causing his heart to beat faster still. He held it up to his shoulder where the bruise from Rude's punch the other day still hadn't completely healed. A moment later, the orb flashed brightly and the faint ache vanished completely.

He'd found it.

Sliding the drawer shut, Cloud shoved the Healing Materia into his pocket and ran to the door, turning off the lights and returning to the main room. He'd overheard Aerith's parents talking about it on his first visit, but managing to find it was certainly a huge stroke of luck. Pausing in the doorway, he listened for a moment but thankfully couldn't hear anyone else moving around. It was time to leave. He walked over to the front door and quietly slid it open, slipping outside and shivering as the cold night air flowed over him.

The trip back to the clearing took longer than he would have preferred but went smoother than going in the opposite direction had since he was now more familiar with where to step. At one point, he did trip over a root and skin his hand, but after pulling the Materia out of his pocket it only took a few seconds for the wound to completely heal. This was going to work. He was going to be able to save his mom! All that was left was to cross the Barrier, one, final time.

Cloud came to a halt in the middle of the clearing—making sure not to step on any of the flowers—and focused his thoughts on the desert surrounding the city. Clenching his fist around the Materia, he prayed that the transition would be easier than the last. His hope seemed to prove true as the night air suddenly warmed up noticeably—the forest around him fading away.

He took a step toward the city and immediately jerked to an abrupt halt, his hand with the Materia in it somehow stuck. Turning to look, Cloud shouted in alarm—his arm ended at his wrist, his hand and the orb inside completely gone. His initial panic at the sight quickly faded as he realized that even though he couldn't see his hand, he could still feel it, and he realized the Barrier must have prevented the Materia from transferring across.

Refusing to give up now, he tugged and was rewarded with a slight glimpse of a part of his hand. Cloud braced his feet and strained with all his might to pull his hand through, feeling like he was playing tug of war with a building. Bit by bit, more and more of his hand appeared. It was disorienting to watch, but all that mattered was that he was getting closer and closer to saving his mom. With one, final tug, a loud crack filled his ears before he tumbled to the ground, the Materia now completely visible.

Worried it might have broken somehow, Cloud was relieved to find it still glowed green when he focused on it, the faint strain in his wrist fading as it activated. A surge of relief flowed through him as he got back to his feet. Sprinting through the gate, he rounded the corner of a building and collided directly with someone tall and sturdy. He bounced off, falling to the ground painfully as he made sure to keep the Materia safe. Looking up to see who he'd run into, the butt of a rifle was the last thing he saw before it impacted his face.


We start off with a tiny bit more Clerith fluff before Aerith unintentionally reminds Cloud of the situation back home. They once again have a less-than-ideal parting as he races off, torn between not wanting to just abandon Aerith like this while also being overwhelmed with concern for his mom. Unfortunately, he was right to worry, as Claudia ended up collapsing before she was able to make it to the clinic. Things go from bad to worse as Sephiroth shows up, promising help which Cloud is all too eager to immediately latch onto. Cloud also gets his first experience with Shinra Tower, which helps to show the poverty gap here, between how he and most of the citizens are living vs. Shinra's upper class. There's a bit of a joke around the elevators vs. stairs because I can't help myself, and then I do have to say I'm pretty pleased with Cloud and Sephiroth's brief conversation about the elevator, haha.

"Kind old man" Hojo plants the seed in Cloud's head that the Ancients don't care enough to help him, but his ultimate goal here should be pretty obvious: he wants Cloud to cross over and bring an Ancient back with him. Sephiroth doubles down on this, by suggesting that Cloud should be prepared to do whatever it takes to save his mom. Of course, Cloud thinks this is all nonsense, only to then find out that things aren't as simple as he might think. There's obviously some missing info here that we'll be learning about later on, but thanks to the negative thoughts from Hojo and Sephi, Cloud immediately jumps to assuming the worst. This leads to him lying directly to Aerith before he steals a Materia and runs away. Finally, to wrap things off, as if enough bad things hadn't already happened, the Materia is immediately stolen by someone as soon as crosses back over.

Everything truly has collapsed. Even though this is a pretty depressing chapter, I hope everyone still enjoyed it, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts now that the plot is really picking up.


Next Chapter: Research