Chapter 98, εуλ0019 (continued)
"Mommmm," Marlene whined. "You're doing it again."
"Oh… sorry." Aerith shrank herself back down to size. She'd been unconsciously raising herself to the same height as Marlene, to be able to look her in the eye; but it drove Marlene absolutely nuts, saying it didn't feel like she was the real Aerith.
She didn't know why she was so surprised that Marlene had grown so tall – after all, Zack positively towered over her. It made for an interesting fit when they made love, he covering her or she riding on top; but the massive solidity of his form made her feel protected, safe. Not that there was anything she needed to be protected from in this place, but she liked the feeling anyway.
Able to look any way they wanted, they often played dress-up for these occasions. Aerith today had created something not entirely dissimilar from her ordinary outfit – a mid-length pleated dress (pink, of course) with pink boots, higher than the utilitarian black ones she usually wore. It crossed behind her neck to leave her back bare, and it was overlaid with a white sleeveless blouse of sorts, linked by ribbons to detached bell sleeves, and split upwards to her breasts to let the pink show underneath. A dark pink shoulder shawl completed the loom; she'd run white ribbons through her braid, even giving her hair a pinkish tinge.
The only thing truly missing was her trademark pink ribbon. She didn't feel she needed it, not with Zack himself near.
Marlene, on the other hand, had gone far more whimsical. Her outfit was composed of a strapless, short-legged jumpsuit covered in citrus, of all things, bright patterns of oranges and lemons. A sheer overskirt, divided to flow behind her, ended in a solid foot of the same bright material, flowing behind her as she walked. It was accessorized with bands of linked metal, forming a belt, bracelet, armband, straps on her sandals and even the clip in her hair, which held half back as Marlene had worn it as a preteen. The shape was somewhat like Tifa's regular black outfit, but the decoration was pure Marlene.
She'd also briefly made herself a crown of yellow flowers, but claimed they didn't feel right and let them dissolve into mist.
"Not right?" Aerith asked.
"Not right… yet," Marlene corrected herself. "Like I don't really understand what the flowers are really saying."
"I thought you said you did?" Aerith asked, perplexed.
"Mostly," Marlene explained. "I've been trying to focus on the connections, not their voices, like you told me. What you started when I was a kid, Mom – well, it worked. Even if I don't understand all of it yet."
"I'm glad to hear it," Aerith said. "It was the only thing I could do at the time."
"It was enough," Marlene assured her. "But now it's a lot less about what the Planet tells me, and more of what I make of it."
There was more, something that she'd figured out on her own but hadn't been able to tell her mother. Puberty had greatly expanded her Cetra senses – Aerith had experienced that too – but Marlene was still a virgin, and that was something the Planet itself was after her to change. Telling her to experience the fullness of pleasure, desire, everything that life had to offer. And though Marlene was nervous, she was curious, intrigued, nevertheless. The thought of actually being with a man that way… what would it be like?
"We were so worried about you, the day you almost drowned," Aerith continued. "I know what you were trying to do, to get deeper in the Lifestream… but you'd gotten too far in for us to reach you."
"Cloud found me," Marlene replied automatically, as if she hadn't told this story three times already.
"I'd hoped he would," Aerith told her. "You know, I felt a resonance from him, the first time we met. It was buried deep inside him then, but it was definitely there – his capacity for feeling. For love." If only I could have done something other than die to bring it into the open.
"I'm teaching him slowly," Marlene assured her. "Don't want to pile on too much." It was for much the same reason that she hadn't told Cloud and Tifa the truth of her parentage – it was a delicate operation, trying not to overload his fragile heart, in case it just might explode. But for Tifa's sake, as well as Cloud himself, she was determined. "He's getting there, though. He works on the flowers on his own."
"Cloud?" Aerith laughed. "I never would have thought."
"It helps he's got stronger personal bonds nowadays. You know, like Dad did," Marlene explained. Those bonds were what let Cloud heal and love more just a little every day. If anything, Cloud needed a relative lack of freedom to keep him whole. The freedom he had was the freedom to choose his own chains, metaphorically speaking; the ties that bound him to the world.
It was something that Aerith had only come to appreciate about Cloud once it was too late; it was the reason she could never have taken Tifa's place in his life. Though once a part of her had wanted to – and she wasn't proud of the fact. But Tifa had been the one who had held his heart from the beginning.
A dark-haired girl swirling in a blue dress, and a shy boy wanting nothing more than for her to notice him – never realizing she already had.
Aerith herself wondered if, all along, her only true freedom had lay in death – a shortened life, full of pain. And though overjoyed to be reunited with Zack, she still regretted the sacrifices that had to be made.
Turned out, she hadn't wanted absolute freedom either.
She'd contemplated that on her journey to the Forgotten City to meet her destiny. That, and many other things. After the Temple of the Ancients, she'd realized she could no longer depend on Cloud; she'd had to find the courage to do it on her own.
"How's Barret doing, anyways?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. Emerge from her melancholy thoughts.
Marlene brightened. "He's doing well. Really well. Working on even more advanced biofuels," she assured Aerith. "Still with M. They're good together. Seem to keep each other in check. Oh, that reminds me – Grandma said to tell you that she talked to the Fairs again today. They didn't really know what message to leave – they're still so overwhelmed that they even have the option – so they just said to tell you and Dad that they love you."
"I guess… tell them the same." Aerith smiled, but it was bittersweet. One of her hurts was that she could not contact Elmyra directly; nor Tifa, for that matter. The closest she'd gotten was reaching through a drop of water to brush against Tifa's soul, just long enough to hear Tifa say, you were always there for him, thank you before the connection broke.
(In contrast, Denzel had finally been able to enter the Lifestream, albeit with Marlene leading him; the result had been a joyous meeting, as Aerith threw her arms around the man who had grown up from the boy she'd sent to Cloud. Denzel had been a little in awe of Zack at first, until her beloved's charm worked its magic. By the time they separated – with Denzel promising to bring his girlfriend as soon as he learned to cross over on his own – Zack and Denzel were firmly buddies.
Afterward, Marlene had confided how glad she was that she'd ended up with a brother; though Aerith hadn't admitted to Marlene her role in bringing Denzel to the family, she'd had to acknowledge to herself that she hadn't considered that aspect. So worried about Cloud at the time, she'd barely bothered to contemplate Denzel's effect on the rest of the family. She liked to think she thought her choices through a little better nowadays.)
Loneliness seemed to have been her burden, for most of her life and beyond. Maybe that had been her primary lesson from the Forgotten City. Or was it mere aloneness? We are alone with our pasts. With our ghosts.
Our pasts make us who we are… but she and Zack had so little true past to call on. So who, exactly, was she? She knew she still had more to do, she and Marlene both, but wasn't sure what it was.
"You're past the point where I can help you," Aerith said sadly. "Not with life, and not with the Lifestream."
"It's okay, Mom," Marlene said, putting her hand on Aerith's arm. "Tifa's there for me. So are all my friends."
"I'd expected to be safe with Zack…" It was the excuse Aerith had made so many times before, but it never failed to fill her with guilt.
"Mom. I understand. I really do." Marlene smiled. "I'm glad Barret found me. He's been a wonderful parent."
"It's still a loss," Aerith objected; and though Marlene was silent, her expression said she couldn't disagree.
Aerith thought back to the train graveyard. Haunted by ghosts. Tifa had been so frightened, seeing only loss in their empty eyes; but Aerith had seen the memories. The possibilities those memories created. That was, until, she'd faced her own ghosts of loneliness, separated from the others and tormented by painful visions woven by Eligor, until Tifa and Cloud found her once again.
Possibilities…
Was it that with which the sky had so frightened her? But weren't possibilities something she had come to appreciate? The Cetra belief was not in fated destiny, but a future of potential, a future that can be changed.
The future is not set in stone.
Some thought the Goddess had a plan for them. Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds, beloved of the Goddess. LOVELESS, the ancient epic, descended from the words of the Cetra themselves. Marlene had reported that some now thought LOVELESS was a Cetra prophecy. But the Cetra had never worshipped gods… nor had they believed in absolute destiny.
Even if the future has been written, it can be changed.
The ending of the story is never known before it is reached.
Rather, the Cetra had prayed to the Lifestream itself, and the mysterious ways in which it worked. Before the Forgotten City, she'd known the what of the Lifestream, but not the how; so much of what was called destiny was merely coincidence; it was one of many things she'd learned in those final moments on the altar.
And still, she didn't entirely understand.
"I wonder. Was the Planet looking out for you at Corel?" Aerith mused. It was one of several unanswerable questions. Had the Planet protected Marlene when the rest of Corel was destroyed? Had it chosen Zack as her mate, to create the offspring that stood before her now?
How much was truly coincidence? Or… was all of it?
However it had happened, Aerith could at least be reassured that Marlene would never be going it alone. She had Zack's courage. His commitment to dreams and honor. And though Zack insisted Aerith was as courageous as he was – she never really felt it – she had been able to give Marlene her stubbornness. Her free spirit. Most of all, Marlene had a past to fall back on – and a future.
Marlene's confidence helped soothe her, but she also worried a bit. Was Marlene really as resilient as she seemed? She didn't have Aerith's burden, that of the last Cetra; btu she was still weighed down by knowledge, and as the trip to Gongaga had brought to light, also by hurt.
A descendant of the apocalypse, she had her work cut out for her. The Advent Children. So far, even the Planet itself had little knowledge of what they were and who they would be. Unfamiliar powers, some resurrected, some never seen before. It was Marlene's double burden – both as herself, and as Aerith's proxy on the other side of the Lifestream; finding them, releasing knowledge in the tiniest of slices, delegating as they entered further into her circle of trust; a delicate process that neither woman wanted to risk being rushed.
Speaking of meeting others…
"How's your education going?" Aerith inquired.
"Really interesting, actually. There're so many discoveries being made. Practically every class involves some aspect of working with the Lifestream. A big thing is learning to heal with materia, but also without." Something for which Marlene, of course, was rather uniquely qualified.
Aerith looked at her slyly. "And… meeting any boyfriends?"
Marlene threw up her hands, exasperated. "Mom, do we really have to have this conversation again?"
Aerith softened. "Marlene, I'm not trying to hassle you," she began. "It's only… I want you to find happiness. Wherever you can. I remember my mother telling me, find your own Promised Land." Aerith knew hers was not here, in the Lifestream, no matter the journey it had taken her to get here; it wasn't a place, not this place more than it was any other. "And you and Zack are mine."
Marlene considered her mother's words. There were still a few things Aerith kept from her… and vice versa. It just so happened this was one of them. She wasn't ready to tell what was in her heart.
Ifalna – her natural grandmother – had once said Shinra would never be able to find the Promised Land; and Marlene knew why. The Promised Land was not something that truly existed, that could be found and exploited; it was love, and her burden was to learn everything that love was all about.
"Mom, don't worry," she soothed. "I know I'll find my own Promised Land." What she left unsaid was, she was fairly certain she knew where – and who – it would be.
"I want someone who cares for you. Makes you feel safe," Aerith fretted.
"Well… at least for now, I'm looking for protectors." Marlene struggled to explain. Aerith already knew about Kunsel, of course; the former SOLDIER had passed as message to Zack that he'd be there for her, no matter what. ("It's the least I can do," Kunsel had said. "I searched for Zack for so long, but it was too late. I can't turn my back on his daughter.") Others, she'd find in time.
"What about Cloud?" Aerith asked. "I worry about him too."
"He has… mentors." The older men who subbed for both brother and father, helping Cloud find his way. "Tifa is the only protector he needs." It was mutual; Cloud protected Tifa as well, yet another tie that bound them together. It had been Aerith herself who had told her that, back when Marlene thought of her only as Flower Girl, receiving messages as feelings rather than words – until the day a ray of light shone as if from the Lifestream itself, and she understood the flower girl was her mother in truth.
"You know, I never told Elmyra," Aerith fretted. "I remember perfectly the day my mother died. At the train station." A trial in the Temple of the Ancients, reliving memories she could never lose. "I remember grabbing the White Materia as Elmyra pulled me away… it was the only thing making me feel safe…" Aerith couldn't go on.
Marlene offered a gentle smile of sympathy. "I understand," she said. "I remember how you took me away from Sector Seven, the night the plate fell."
"Your senses would have been so heightened – you'd just touched the Lifestream," Aerith filled in. "I wish you didn't have to remember that night so vividly – "
"But I wanted to remember – that was the day I met you," Marlene interrupted; a flood of warmth touched Aerith's heart. "And I was never scared. You gave me the White Materia to make me feel safe, remember?"
"I think… my own mother did something like that, too," Aerith told her. "I don't know if she used the White Materia to do it, but… she was able to block some of my fear, some of the sense of wrongness around us. Even my sense of her pain. I didn't realize that was what she did, until I was able to do it for Tifa in Nibelheim – shield her, kind of." Aerith tapped her finger with her lips, reminiscing. "I wanted to do the same for Cloud. But I couldn't."
Marlene fiddled with her bracelet, a nervous affectation. "I could probably do it for Cloud. Now that Sephiroth and Jenova aren't pulling him in the opposite direction. But I mean, should I? I don't want to overuse it."
"Agreed," Aerith replied. "Cloud needs to grow on his own. We just have to create the conduit and encourage him to listen." Marlene had explained how she treated Cloud with discretion, like gently minding the flowers; the same way materia was now grown. Just a little push was needed… not a shove. Something Tifa had always known, which was why she had managed Cloud better than Aerith could have ever hoped to.
"But you were talking a while back about the White Materia," Marlene inquired. "Like, what would it do now?" Marlene could see where the Lifestream went; she'd often wondered if it was the White Materia she was looking through. "I mean, it can't summon Holy anymore, can it?"
"I hope not," Aerith said fervently. She still wasn't sure if she herself had summoned Holy, or merely convinced the Planet to do so, but she had no desire to repeat the destruction it had caused. Still… all the knowledge of the Cetra was inside, and that was worth more than anything. When she'd felt lost in a maze, it had been the White Materia that had breathed to her, follow the yellow flowers, leading her down the road of destiny.
"Nanaki told me what his grandfather said about it. 'Speak to the Planet. Forge the connection. Get the White Materia to bond the Planet to humans.' "
"That's the true purpose of the Cetra," Aerith confirmed. "We are the stewards of the Planet. Meant to bridge the gap between humankind and the Planet – make them friends, rather than enemies." She pondered. "Well, anyone can do it, really. The Cetra just have… sort of a head start."
Marlene cocked her head. "I dreamed the moment you rejoined the Planet, Mother," she said with reverence. "I wonder if that was the work of the White Materia, too?"
"Maybe it helped?" Aerith wondered. "All I know is, I was able to cling to Cloud. For a few precious seconds." As Sephiroth had tried to use Cloud to keep himself in the world, but Sephiroth had done so with hate, rather than love. Cloud was so full of love that in the end, Sephiroth could not hold on; he broke away, to be forever dissolved within the Lifestream itself. "It was kind of like… the way you and Zack both needed the flowers at first. To see. A focal point." Neither she nor Marlene – nor Zack, for that matter – needed them any longer, though her powers were far beyond that of her lover. Now, she could access the Lifestream as a whole, and there seemed to be no limits.
"In any case," Aerith concluded, "the White Materia… It had to be used by a Cetra, free of all hesitation. In a place of great spiritual energy." Which meant that individual's Promised Land. The Forgotten City hadn't been hers, home of her ancestors or no – she knew now that her Promised Land had been in her hear, as she prayed for the Planet to care for those she loved.
As Marlene carried hers within as well. Her daughter's bonds, her strength, her offerings of love. They were always with her; they were part of who she was.
Marlene was silent for a long time; when she spoke, it was in a hush. "Can you tell me what it was like when you… died?"
Aerith had been dreading the question, but she had known the day would come when Marlene would ask. It was only with the greatest reluctance that she began… but she did. Describing how with trepidation, she'd opened her heart and mind to the torrent of the Lifestream, how she'd been terrified of the flood rushing in, but instead she found bliss as she finally understood. How she'd made peace with everything that had been and had to be, and even as the end came, she felt no fear.
To become the dew the quenches the land,
To spare the sands, the seas, the skies,
I offer thee this silent sacrifice.
LOVELESS.
"I only hope you will not have to make the sacrifice I did in order to understand," she finished. Marlene seemed to be thinking. Aerith reached up to brush a tendril of her daughter's darker hair; on impulse, she twirled Marlene's slender purple braid. "Something my own mother once said to me. 'You were a child of true love.' And so were you, Marlene. If my and Zack's sacrifice gave you a happy life… then it was worth it."
Marlene seemed ready to cry. "I didn't want there to be any more sadness. I didn't want that to have to be the price."
"It always is," Aerith said softly. "Balance. Just like the Black Materia balanced the White." The Black Materia was still there, of course, filled with the knowledge of the Gi the way the White contained that of the Cetra. But otherwise, it was drained, depleted of power, and so buried in the bowels of the Planet that it could no more return than could Sephiroth. "But we can do our best to find a place of safety. It could be the White Materia; it could be something else entirely. Maybe that's what is meant by the Promised Land."
She looked to the sky above them. A day sky, bright and blue, not the night sky spread with stars – the sky Tifa had always loved and Aerith had learned to appreciate. Zack finally showed me the sky, didn't he? It no longer frightened her in the slightest, nor did his SOLDIER eyes, now that she understood. Not a destroyer. A protector.
As was Tifa – the woman who now raised her daughter. And there was no one Aerith would have trusted more. "I miss Tifa so much," she suddenly sniveled.
Marlene looked at her mother, gently concerned. "Eventually, I'll at least be able to carry messages, Mom. Like with Elmyra. Like the Fairs."
"At least it's something," Aerith agreed.
"How did you get to the Forgotten City, anyways?" Marlene suddenly burst out.
Of all the questions to ask… "I was able to follow over the Lifestream," Aerith explained. "Water makes it easier. Helps if mako is near as well." The ruined Gongaga reactor.
"Huh. I think that might have happened to me, too," Marlene answered. "When the Remnants took me and Denzel… I don't remember really well, but we were just suddenly there. It was scary. Even on Fenrir, it took Cloud hours to get there." Then finding Cloud in the forest, looking for a safety he wasn't able to give, until Vincent appeared and quite literally took a scared little girl under his wing.
"I can follow… almost anywhere the Lifestream goes," Aerith relayed. She shrugged. "Rufus Shinra. I can't seem to get through at all."
"I think… I might know what to do with him. Eventually," Marlene suggested.
"Cloud, too. But for different reasons," Aerith continued. "I mean, he's much more open than he used to be, but…"
"Well, I have a bond to him, too. Why don't we try together?" Marlene suggested.
"That's an idea," Aerith murmured. "You know, Zack always did try to convince me to have more faith in Cloud. I just always worry about him so much. After Meteorfall… and then when he left you guys… I could just feel his guilt. His dread. So potent, I could use it to draw a line straight to him."
"Tifa was so unhappy then, too," Marlene told her.
"The pain just rolled off them both. In waves," Aerith agreed. "I didn't know how they could stand it. It was even worse when they were apart."
"Tifa was stronger than Cloud back then. She had to be. She had us, me and Denzel, to take care of," Marlene answered.
"Tifa… She always had her own strengths. I envied her a bit, even when I loved her." Let's find a way out together. That had been Tifa, not Cloud. Her best friend, her stalwart supporter on their journey. But then there was…
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you. Or, I guess, wondering if I even should," Aerith began awkwardly.
Marlene looked cautious, but curious. "I'm listening, Mom."
"Here goes." Aerith took a deep breath. A photo on a Cosmo Canyon cliff. "I… had feelings for Cloud. Loved him, in fact." A date in a dream, where her heart broke in two, knowing her feelings would never be returned. "Part of me… Well, I even fantasized about him choosing me over Tifa. And she was so good to me. I'm ashamed to admit it, even now." Pushing Cloud into the bed of flowers, he falling to meet his destiny; and behind her, creeping up, the cold hands of her own fate.
Marelene was silent, stone-faced; Aerith was ready for her daughter's disappointed words. "I don't think you should be ashamed, Mom," she finally said. "It's pretty obvious there was something between you and Cloud, but it's its own thing. It doesn't interfere with Cloud and Tifa. It doesn't affect you and Dad."
Aerith let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "I think… in the end, I realized what I wanted most was to find meaning in my relationship with Cloud," she told Marlene. "The same I want for you. But my role in Cloud's life… I got it wrong. It was to lead, not to love." A mother, not a wife. "And Cloud… he has a promise to keep to me, too. He just doesn't know it yet."
Marlene spontaneously embraced her mother. "Let's try to reach him. Together."
Aerith nodded. They clasped hands, and they began.
Aerith led at first, meandering the way out of the space where they met. The intervening space between one world and the next; a place of liminality. Of transformation, like Phoenix being born anew from ash and flame. She passed Marlene the link, and let her direct, leading them carefully across the border and back into the world.
Aerith didn't recognize the paths they followed at first. Then she figured out what she had been doing wrong. She'd been looking for Cloud as he had been, not as he was now; looking for deep-seated hurts, she hadn't known to search for quiet happiness. But Marlene knew, seeing Cloud every day, and she could spot the tendrils that linked to him; no longer isolated threads, but an intricate web of all those Cloud held dear.
Marlene wove with surprising deftness, a reminder of how far she had come. Aerith, for her part, brought the strength of the Lifestream behind her to push just a little further every time, as they reached closer and closer to Cloud's soul.
Marlene was not intent, focused; Aerith knew her face reflected the same. She could see now, the bright light that was Cloud…
…and in a blinding wave of light, she crossed. Only for an infinitesimal moment, but it was enough; in that instant, Aerith had seen, and what she'd found made her cry for joy. Cloud, happy, in a way she'd never known him to be. Vaporous tears ran down her face.
Marlene leaned forward, breathing hard. It had not been without effort that she had bridged the gap; but the point was, they had. And if she could find Cloud once, she could find him again.
Marlene and Aerith stood and faced each other, catching each other's eyes; they broke into smiles, and reached up to high-five.
In Seventh Heaven, Cloud suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.
"Aerith?!"
Author's Note: Hello again, friends! Lots of things I have to say today.
This was the chapter I was absolutely dreading. Because it was such a mess and there was so much to include. Literally a week ago this was nothing but fifteen pages of notes (typed! Though double spaced, at least). Finally, I just had to sit down and power through it. There were several rounds of organization during which it slowly began to take shape, but I've been working on it all day today (and technically tomorrow – it's 3am right now).
More Ever Crisis! And it doesn't hurt that new content dropped tonight. Lvl 90 AND a new story AND a new character? I've been farming levels in the background the entire time I've been typing this chapter.
The First Soldier part of the game is actually my favorite. Seriously, there's some very underappreciated lore in there. And don't forget, it's a canon entry in the series – even follows the AC/BC/CC/DC naming convention. Which makes me wonder if there will be an FC. (Wouldn't it be funny if they switched gears and made that the name of the third part of Remake? I was talking on a Discord server what FC might stand for. The unofficial winner was Fucking Crisis.)
So, first things first. Aerith is wearing her Floral Gown, and yes indeed, her hair is pink in that outfit. Marlene is wearing Aerith's Citric Dress, though I changed the cut to be more like Tifa's ACC gear. That full skirt over the minidress is a Fashion Don't.
LOVELESS is referred to within as "an ancient epic". I can't remember if it was specifically referred to somewhere as the words of the Cetra. I think I made that part up, but it kinda makes sense, doesn't it?
Here's another line from Ever Crisis: "The Lifestream is the river of life that embodies all memories. At times it crosses time and space to create portals connecting to other worlds." Granted, this line is used to introduce side stories, but it's pretty potent, don't you think?
Honorable mention goes to those incredible Bahamut outfits EC gave us for anniversary. I got ALL FOUR. By the time the Tifa banner dropped, I had to pay IRL money to get her costume. It was absolutely worth it – the detailing on all four getups is amazing.
Other orders of business. A review on the last chapter complimented me on the closing of loops (hey there, you!) You will be seeing more of that over the next few chapters as everything I've been writing starts coming to fruition. There's also a lot of mirrored scenes, like Marlene and Aerith both realizing it DOES hurt to be on opposite sides of the Lifestream; there's also recurring themes, most of which are based in the canonical lore. (I've tried to give the utmost respect to the canon material. This is not an AU; not even really all that canon-divergent. I prefer to call it Supracanon or Novelization-Plus.) In fact, many of the themes were introduced in the very first chapter. I'll take a deep dive into this at the end of the story, but that's enough for now.
There's a real uncertainty in the lore about whether or not Aerith willingly sacrificed herself. In the OG, it's left open; Cloud and Tifa specifically have a conversation about this. Rebirth seems to be going in the direction of "willing sacrifice", and I don't like it. For example, her final weapon skill is Noble Sacrifice, where she KO's herself to save the other party members. The "multiverse" stuff doesn't bother me half as much – I think it's pretty clear that's covered under the idea of "possibilities" (my exploring the idea of destiny throughout this fic is part of that). But the real gut-punch of OG was that Aerith's death was sudden. In Remakebirth Aerith knows the future, so I'm kind of interested to see how they will align her KNOWING her death with the poignancy of an unexpected one. (Note to self: discuss further OG vs Remakebirth at the end).
You're probably clever enough to spot a little bit of fourth wall breaking happening. For example, Aerith referring to unanswerable questions. Guess what? The author doesn't know the answers to those questions either! I like to leave a few things open to interpretation. Did the Planet deliberately hook up Zack and Aerith? I don't know either! And the stuff about not knowing the ending until you reach it… well… that's my message to you guys. I hope I can keep you guessing a little bit right up until the end.
I was going over the script from DFFOO and that's where I got the line about paying attention to the connections between flowers even if you can't hear their voices. I have a few other "flower" lines saved up to use somewhere. These lines (they're from Aerith's Intersecting Wills episode) also refer to Aerith as "stubborn" and "a free spirit". (BTW, it's Cissnei in that game who says those things.)
I added Rufus Shinra to the Ao3 character list. This will be the final character added. In the early stages of this story, he was nowhere to be seen, but guess what? As the story evolved, it turned out I have something I need him to do. The character list is composed of the principals (Cloti, Zerith, the Seventh Heaven family) and those who have a significant impact on the lives of one of the principals.
And Aerith's confession to Marlene at the end? Well, remember this story STARTED as an attempt to resolve the LTD to my own satisfaction, so Clerith is still examined. Post-Rebirth, as far as I'm concerned, the LTD is DEAD. All you need is this: CLoud kissed Tifa; and Aerith said, "I guess I know where we stand." DONE. But the complicated feelings that I believe compose the LTD are still very much a part of this story. So I had to include the Rebirth elements, including the Chapter 14 Clerith "Cringe Date". Yes, that's my personal name for it. I just wanted to SHOUT at Aerith, "Girl, he's just not that into you, stop embarrassing yourself!" Because I love both Tifa AND Aerith, and that was just… painful to watch.
Some of the timeline follows OG over Rebirth, because of when I wrote it. In other words, the Temple of the Ancients is still way south, and Aerith got to the Forgotten City from Gongaga. So I had to make up a way she got there. It also explains Advent Children, so there's that.
Until next time. Long live all the Bahamuts!
