Cloud set the bowl of oatmeal down on the table before dropping into his chair. Taking a spoonful, he winced slightly after just the first bite. Aerith really had been right, eating it without berries was dramatically worse. Unfortunately, after he'd made it back to the city last night, all of the fruit stands at the market had been sold out. It was better than stale bread though, so at least there was that.
He took another bite and then reached for the remote, flicking the television on before idly scrolling through the channels looking for something interesting. Settling on some cartoons, Cloud was just getting into the show when it abruptly cut out, an image saying 'Breaking News' filling the screen before a moment later the President's face appeared.
"Citizens of Midgar, today is a momentous day!"
Immediately reaching for the remote to turn off the television, Cloud hesitated with his finger on the power button. Yes, he hated the man and didn't want to listen to whatever garbage he had to say, but burying his head in the sand wasn't going to help either. With great reluctance, he pulled his hand away, watching the screen to learn what made today so special.
"Our scouts have finally located a nearby village where the Ancients live, no doubt the source of the blight ravaging our lands since shortly after the Barrier fell."
Cloud was on his feet before the man had finished speaking, his heart racing. They'd found Aerith's village? How? All he knew was that she was in danger and he had to warn her.
"Even as I speak, our brave soldiers are preparing a diplomatic mission to demand they cease their hostile actions towards us. If they refuse to comply, then we will have no other choice than to take forceful action of our own."
The story was clearly a lie. He knew there would be no negotiations, the President's goal was to wipe out the village, nothing else. Wolfing down the rest of his breakfast, Cloud grabbed his new sword but didn't tie the sheath around his waist—he needed to be able to run. Doing just that, he took off, slamming the door behind him as he raced out of the house without bothering to lock it behind him.
This early in the morning the streets were thankfully mostly empty, allowing him to reach the nearest gate in no time at all. Without hesitating, Cloud barreled through it. Whatever force the President was sending would likely take a while to arrive, so the faster he could make it to the village to warn them, the more time they'd have to prepare.
Despite having made this trip just the other day, it was still astonishing how closely the wasteland around the city resembled the desert from his childhood. Cloud could remember the trees that had surrounded the city after the Barrier had fallen, and now they were simply gone for as far as the eye could see. The heat wasn't quite as bad, at least, although he imagined as the situation continued to grow worse it would eventually reach the same high temperatures as in the past.
Putting on an extra burst of speed, Cloud shifted his focus to the ground in front of him. It was a little awkward running this quickly while holding his sword, but once he reached the forest he'd be forced to slow down so he wanted to take advantage of the mostly flat ground while he could—not to mention the temperature would only continue to rise as the sun climbed higher in the sky. As he ran, a nagging sense of worry continued to eat away at him. Unable to quite place it, Cloud did his best to shrug it off, assuming it was related to his concern for Aerith.
The farther he got from the city, the more plant life began slowly springing up around him. Small, scraggly plants grew larger, then changed into bushes, until eventually the ground underfoot was no longer sand but instead covered in grass and a wall of trees stood before him. The image made Cloud realize that while this wall was natural—unlike the one around the city—it almost served the same purpose: signifying that he was now entering their territory.
Not letting that stop him, he pressed on, the rich, familiar scent of the forest hitting his nose as he passed under the tree branches. The moment he entered the woods, two locations entered his mind, one slightly closer than the other. Cloud had no idea how any of this worked, but what he did know was that the farther point was Aerith's village while the other was her secret cave. It was the only reason he'd been able to find the hideout the other day, and he wasn't about to question helpful magic.
As he'd expected, it was much harder to run through the trees and the sword really wasn't helping things at this point. For a brief moment, he considered leaving it behind, but he was too worried that if he did then he'd never find it again. Cloud wasn't even sure why he'd brought it along at this point. What was he going to do with it anyway, fight off the entirety of Shinra's soldiers all by himself? His brief lapse of attention cost him as his foot clipped a tree root jutting up out of the ground. With a loud crash, he collided with a different tree and bounced off, hitting the ground with a muffled groan.
He lay there dazed, pain radiating outward from his side throughout his entire body, staring up at the leaves above him. What was he doing? The Cetra didn't need him. They were almost certainly far more capable of dealing with Shinra than he was. He was only a single boy, already struggling to manage to take care of himself. Why did he think he'd be able to do anything on a larger scale like this?
Shoving the negative thoughts away, Cloud took a deep breath before jumping to his feet. Yes, there wasn't much he could do on his own, but what he could accomplish was warning Aerith of the danger. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. He picked up his sword and set out in the direction of the village once again, this time slowing down a bit more and not allowing his mind to wander.
Once he finally reached the village, it was tempting to take the shortest route directly through it to reach Aerith's house, but Cloud forced himself to skirt around the edge instead. There were plenty of people going about their daily activities and the last thing he wanted was a large commotion at his presence. Even so, it was agonizing to be able to see her house and not head right for it. Thankfully, it didn't take him very long to circle around and reach a point where he felt comfortable making a break for the front door. Reaching it seemingly without notice, Cloud pulled it open without bothering to knock. It was rude, he knew, but the situation was too urgent to wait.
"Was that the front door?" he heard Aerith's mother say from the direction of the kitchen. "Hello? Who is it?" she called out.
A split second later, Aerith appeared in the doorway leading to the dining room, her mouth dropping open as she saw him. "Cloud? What are you doing here? You're covered in dirt, is everything okay?"
Even though he'd only just seen her the other day, Cloud found his breath taken away and it wasn't solely because of his frantic run. There was something special about Aerith, something no one else he knew had. While he struggled to catch his breath enough to speak, both of her parents also stepped into view, mirrored expressions of wary concern on their faces.
"It's Shinra," he finally gasped, looking into Aerith's eyes. "Somehow they learned of the village's location. They're on their way right now with a bunch of soldiers. You need to get out of here!"
Aerith slightly cocked her head to the side and then laughed lightly. "Cloud, I've already told you, no one can find us here. We're perfectly safe."
"Unless they follow someone who can," her father whispered in horror, staring at Cloud with wide, alarmed eyes.
There was a brief moment of absolute silence before a scream from outside shattered it.
The scream shook Aerith to her core. It was so completely foreign, so out of place in the eternally calm and quiet village. Almost immediately following the scream came a loud crack, similar to the sound of thunder although she knew it had to be something else since the sky was perfectly clear today. Many more screams followed the strange noise as mass panic seemed to set in.
"Gast, take the children and run," her mother said firmly, already moving for the front door.
Her father stepped forward and caught Ifalna's arm, bringing her to a halt. "No. I'm not leaving you and I'm certainly not bringing this traitor along." He gestured to Cloud, anger written clearly on his face.
"Dad!" Cloud wasn't a traitor, she knew that for a fact! He'd come here to warn them, not to harm them. At the same time, she could also somewhat understand where her father was coming from. Cloud had come with the best intentions, but in doing so had inadvertently caused exactly what he'd been trying to prevent.
"I didn't . . . I was just . . ." Cloud was stammering, his eyes wide and full of panic as he looked back and forth between the three of them.
"We don't have time for this!" Ifalna said, pulling her arm free. "No one else in the village will be able to hold the Humans back so that there's time for the others to escape. Do whatever you feel you need to with Cloud. Aerith, you're coming with me, we'll find someone to get you to safety."
Aerith wanted to protest, but she recognized the tone in her mother's voice and knew there was no room for arguing. "Don't you dare hurt Cloud!" she told her father with a stern look.
"Hurt him? Of course I won't, I'm going to take him and circle around the village separately so that if he tries to give away our position it won't hurt anyone else."
Relieved that her father wasn't planning anything serious, Aerith hurried after her mother—shooting one last look at Cloud and trying to give him a reassuring smile. As soon as they stepped outside, she could see people fleeing toward the eastern side of the village—away from the direction the loud noises were coming from. A short distance away, Seoda and her parents burst out of their house, frantically looking around before hurrying over to join them.
"What's going on, Ifalna?" Seoda's mother asked, her body shaking like a leaf in the wind. "Are we under attack? How? I thought we were supposed to be safe here!"
"We were, but something unexpected happened," Ifalna explained, speaking quickly. "The village is no longer safe. I'll do my best to hold the Humans off, but I need you to take Aerith and flee."
Seoda's father frowned. "Flee? Where are we supposed to go?"
"Anywhere but here. Duskbell, Riverhollow, Thorntide, even the capital, just go!" Aerith's mother turned to face her, reaching out to firmly grip her upper arms as she looked directly into her eyes. "I need you to be strong, little flower, okay? Your father and I will catch up with you when we can."
Aerith bit her lip, her vision going wobbly as she struggled to hold back tears. "Come with us, I don't want to leave you behind."
Pulling her into a quick hug, her mother stepped away with a sad smile. "I know, but as the Elder I have to. Otherwise, they'll just continue to follow us and we'd be putting other villages in danger. I'll be right behind you." And then she was gone, running toward the village center and leaving Aerith behind.
"Come on, Aerith, we need to do as the Elder says," Seoda said, lightly tugging on Aerith's hand as she followed after her parents.
Aerith allowed herself to be pulled along, her eyes focused on the retreating image of her mother until she vanished from sight behind a house. The rest of the trip to the village outskirts passed in a blur. Their group grew larger as it went and more families joined them. Everyone was scared, although she was able to tell that Seoda's father was doing a good job of keeping people focused and moving.
As the daughter of the Elder, Aerith knew she should be doing more to help, but she couldn't stop worrying about her parents and Cloud. While her mother was certainly more than capable of taking care of herself, both her father and Cloud were Humans without access to magic. Her only hope was that even if they were somehow captured, Cloud would be able to keep her father safe by explaining they weren't Cetra.
Eventually, their group reached the far, eastern edge of the village where one of the main paths connected all the way back to the center. Down it, Aerith's attention was immediately captured by the sight of her mother facing away from them. On the opposite side of the circular plaza were dozens of shapes in black with strange metal objects in their hands that Aerith assumed were some kind of weapon.
With a large, sweeping gesture, Ifalna thrust her hands forward and even from this far away, Aerith could feel the wind around her shift slightly as her mother cast an incredibly powerful Aero spell. The Humans went flying in all directions, one even crashing through a window of the house behind them. Despite things seeming to be going well, Aerith couldn't shake off a strange sensation of déjà vu that struck her as she watched.
Faster than she would have liked, the Humans scrambled back into position, although there were noticeable gaps in their ranks now. Ifalna threw her arms out to both sides, clearly indicating that she wasn't going to allow them to pass, but the sight caused Aerith to gasp in horrified surprise. This exact scene had played out in one of her childhood dreams, back when she and Cloud had been in the hideout and he'd woken her up.
A clap of the thunder rang out.
Time seemed to grind to a halt as her mother's body jerked backward unnaturally. A blossom of red flowered outward on her back in a horribly familiar shape before she collapsed limply to the ground.
"NO," Aerith screamed, her voice laden with pain as tears poured down her cheeks and her heart fractured.
And the ground shook with her cry. Massive fissures formed throughout the village, causing houses to collapse and trees to topple over—the very Planet seeming to howl in anguish alongside her. The Humans were screaming as well, desperately running around as they tried to escape the falling debris and avoid being swallowed up by the ground.
Aerith couldn't bring herself to care as she watched the devastation in numb shock, her eyes focused on a circle in the center of it all that was untouched where her mother's body lay motionless. Once the rumbling finally died down she tried to take a step towards the village, only to find someone holding her back. Turning, she realized it was Seoda. "Let me go," she said numbly.
"Aerith, it's not safe," Seoda said, tightening her grip. "We need to get out of here and meet up with your father and any other survivors." There was a tremor to her voice, as well as a faint note of awe. "And that last spell, that . . . that wasn't the Elder, she'd already been hit. But no one else in the village could cast a spell that powerful. I think . . . I think that was you."
The words took a moment to fully sink in, but once they did, Aerith couldn't deny their truth. She had used magic.
"Holy shit, what the hell just happened?" Reno asked, staring with wide eyes at the remains of what had seconds ago been a village. One moment it had seemed like a warm, welcoming place to live if you ignored the sound of gunfire, and then the next it had been eaten by the ground itself. That wasn't an entirely accurate description since there were still visible signs of where houses had been, but the entire place had all but been leveled.
Even the unflappable Tseng seemed somewhat shaken as he took a moment to clear his throat before responding. "Clearly, the Ancients are a greater threat than we realized. I don't think anyone expected they'd be able to use magic that powerful, much less that they would willingly unleash it upon their own village."
"If we hadn't stayed back we'd have been caught up in that," Elena said, far more quietly than she usually was. Reno couldn't blame her, he was still having trouble processing what had just happened.
"Think we should run rescue ops?" Rude asked, looking over at Tseng.
Tseng appeared to think for a moment before he slowly nodded. "Elena and I will focus on getting our surviving troops out and taken care of. I want the two of you to see if you can find a remaining Ancient for us to bring back. Just . . . be careful, now that we know what they're capable of."
With that, the man turned and began walking toward where the main force had been when the village was still standing, Elena close on his heels. Once they were out of earshot, Reno turned toward his partner with a sigh. "We always get stuck with the fun jobs, huh?"
"Eh, someone's got to do it," Rude said with a shrug.
They stepped out from under the trees and slowly made their way into the remains of the village. The destruction was incredible. Shattered glass crunched underfoot and Reno would have been shocked to find a building with a single intact window. None of the houses had managed to escape unscathed—hell, only a handful were even somewhat standing—and even if the Ancients were the enemy, he hoped no one had been inside when the magic went off.
In the distance, he could hear the faint sounds of the surviving soldiers, but otherwise, the day had gone shockingly quiet. He hadn't realized how noisy the forest had been before—largely because of all the birds—until they were all gone. The eerie silence set him on edge, nothing at all like the city of Midgar where it was loud at every hour of the day. As they passed one ruined house after the next without any sign of life, he grew more and more certain that this was a complete waste of time.
"Help! Anyone, please help us!" a man's voice called out from down the path to their right.
Reno glanced over at Rude. "Think it's a trap?"
"Possibly. Best to assume it is."
Together, the two of them cautiously made their way over, coming to a halt when they found the source of the noise. An older man was struggling to try and lift the wall of a house off of someone pinned beneath it. He spun around to face them as they approached, looking between them warily.
"Please, you have to help me save him," the man said, gesturing to the half-concealed body. Whoever it was seemed to be younger, probably around Reno's age. "The house came down on top of us and he pushed me out of the way, saving my life."
Reno rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, sure. You people can level entire buildings, but lifting a piece of wood is too much? How stupid do you think we are?"
"I'm not a Cet—an Ancient," the man said, clearly exasperated. "I can't use magic."
"Right," Reno drawled, dragging the word out. "Like we'd believe that. You certainly didn't come here with us, and you expect us to believe a Human was living here with all the Ancients? Don't make me laugh."
"Look, I understand your skepticism, but it's the truth. You work for Shinra, right?"
Reno shared a look with Rude, raising one of his eyebrows. "You think the Ancients know about Shinra?"
Rude shrugged. "Who knows? Wouldn't surprise me, but I'm not sure it matters. He's coming with us whether he likes it or not."
"I—Alright, yes, I'll go with you. After you save Cloud. He's the one who brought you here in the first place, isn't he?"
Reno's head snapped over to look at the man. "What did you just say? How do you know that name?"
"He's telling the truth," Rude said, having walked over and leaned down to get a closer look at the trapped person. "I'd recognize that hair anywhere. Looks like he's still breathing too."
"For real? What do we do?"
"Guess we bring him back," Rude said. "Wouldn't feel right just leaving him here like this."
Reno didn't think they owed Cloud any favors, but he also didn't hate the guy. "Yeah, sure. Whatever, I guess."
Bracing himself, Rude took a deep breath before heaving the beam upward, allowing Reno and the older man to grab Cloud by the legs and drag him out. Once he was safely free, Rude let go with a grunt—the remains of the house crashing back down. Cloud had definitely seen better days, and the bruise on his head looked pretty bad, but the steady rise and fall of his chest was enough to show he was hanging in there. He could certainly take a beating, Reno had to give him that.
"Alright, mister Not-An-Ancient," Reno said, grabbing the man's upper arm and pulling him after him. "Let's get a move on, our boss is going to be very interested to hear what you have to say."
Hojo dropped into the seat opposite the prisoner, looking him over with curiosity. "Imagine my surprise when I learned that the only captured Ancient from the operation turned out to not only not be an Ancient, but instead turned out to be an ex-Shinra researcher. We all assumed you were dead, Gast, but here you are, alive and well. Can I take that to mean you've been living with the Ancients for the last twenty-some-odd years?"
"Well I wasn't living alone in the forest, that's for sure."
Resisting the urge to grind his teeth, Hojo forced himself to smile. He'd forgotten how much he and Gast had used to butt heads back when they'd first started their research. "Of course not. I have to say, I'm surprised they allowed you to stay. Or were you more like an exhibit, so Ancients could come from all over to see the foreign Human?"
Gast's eyes hardened as he gave Hojo a scornful look. "You know nothing of them or their way of life."
"That's true," Hojo said thoughtfully, nodding in agreement. "But you certainly do," he continued with a genuine smile. "I was hoping to get access to an Ancient from the raid, but you might just be the next best thing."
"I will never help you hurt them," Gast replied, disgust plain in his voice. "Never."
"Oh, don't be like that. Besides, I know you too well. Here, take a look at this, I think you'll find it to be quite interesting." Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a small, glass container filled with a green liquid and set it down on the table between them. "This is the result of my years of research, the lifeblood of Midgar, created by the magnificent reactors around the city: Mako."
"Gods, is that . . . You've—"
"Perfected it?"
"Corrupted it! This is an abomination, Hojo!"
"Pshaw, don't be so overdramatic. Surely you're capable of seeing its true glory."
"This is why, the cause of the desertification! You're sucking the very life out of the Planet, you're killing it!"
Hojo frowned. "Assuming that's true, which I doubt, it's a small price to pay in the name of progress. You wouldn't believe the increase in power once the Barrier fell. In a few more years time, once all of the new reactors are complete, we'll be able to propel Midgar so far into the future that it will be nearly unrecognizable! The desert won't even matter anymore! Imagine the possibilities, the things we'll be able to create!"
Gast was looking at him not with admiration, but with horror. "You're insane."
"No, I'm a genius. You disappoint me, Gast. I would have expected you of all people to understand just how incredible of a discovery this is. Now," he said, reaching into another pocket of his coat to pull out the healing sphere. "What can you tell me about this?"
Shifting around in his new Council seat, Vincent struggled to find a position that didn't feel like he was sitting on a stone. Lucrecia had never mentioned it to him, but these crystal thrones were remarkably uncomfortable. Part of him wondered if he could bring a cushion with him next time and not seem too out of place, except he couldn't see anyone else using anything of the sort. He was rapidly coming to understand that sitting on the Council was far less enjoyable than merely attending it.
"I think we can all at least agree that this latest development with Farstar is a turning point," Raena said, drawing his attention away from the chair and back to the conversation at hand. "You all know I feel we've let the Humans get away with far too much, but this cannot be allowed to go unanswered."
There was a loud murmur of agreement from far more of the other members of the Council than Vincent would have preferred.
"The village was completely leveled?" Irian asked, frowning deeply. "By the Humans?"
Lucrecia shook her head. "No, Ifalna must have cast Quake to try and hold them off in a desperate last stand, no one else in the village is capable of using magic that powerful."
"But to destroy her own village . . . It is a sad day for us all," Eola murmured, her voice full of sorrow.
"What of the villagers?" Irian asked. "And what of Ifalna's family, she had a husband and daughter did she not?"
Raena shook her head, disgust written plainly on her face. "Her husband was a Human, I wouldn't be surprised if he was somehow involved in the attack."
"You will not slander Ifalna's family in my presence!" Lucrecia screamed, jumping to her feet. The air around her was crackling with electricity, and an invisible current of wind caused her hair to whip erratically around her head.
Vincent didn't think his wife would actually attack her fellow Council member, but given the situation, he wasn't entirely sure, especially considering he'd never seen her lose her self-control like this before. She had grown up together with the village Elder and the two had been fast friends. He knew her loss weighed heavily on Lucrecia.
Scowling, Raena turned to face Irian. "Initial reports indicate that the villagers were able to make it out before the village was destroyed. Ifalna is the only known casualty at this point, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we learn of more, and that doesn't include the death of the village's hunter."
"So what are you proposing?" Lucrecia asked, still standing but no longer visibly wreathed by her magic. "That we move directly to war and escalate the bloodshed a hundredfold?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I feel the only logical response to be."
"You're the Lorekeeper, for Gaia's sake," Lucrecia replied, clearly exasperated. "How is it so easy for you to dismiss the past, to ignore the horrific consequences a decision like this will inevitably cause? I agree that something must be done, I'm just not so eager as you to jump directly to what should be a final resort."
Vincent was in agreement with his wife, and it seemed like a few other members of the Council seemed to be as well, but to his dismay, a large majority looked to be on Raena's side. For her part, the woman looked surprisingly calm considering what Lucrecia had just said—a small smile even forming on her lips.
"Time and time again, this Human sympathizer puts our enemies before her own people! It is my belief that our Archmage's vision has been clouded and she is no longer fit to sit on this Council. I ask for a vote, now, to have her removed!"
A shock ran through Vincent—especially as several other voices began shouting in agreement. While it wasn't unheard of for a member of the Council to be removed, it was exceptionally uncommon, happening only a handful of times in their entire history. To the best of his understanding, all of those instances had been clear cases of negligence or misconduct, not simply for having an opposing viewpoint, not to even mention Raena's blatantly known greed for his wife's role.
"Now hold on a moment," Irian called out, raising his voice to be heard over the sudden uproar. "This is uncalled for, we're sitting at the loom before even coming up with a design!"
Before Vincent could say anything, Lucrecia shook her head, looking at Raena scornfully. "Allow me to save you the trouble. If this Council is willing to go so far, then I want nothing to do with it. I voluntarily stand down." With that, she descended the stairs leading up to her seat, the entire room watching in shocked silence as she left the chamber.
Wanting nothing more than to run after her, Vincent hesitated when Irian met his eyes and firmly shook his head. As tempting as it was to leave the role he'd never asked for, he knew his wife would want him to stay, to do what he could in his newfound position to limit the consequences of the future they were rushing towards at breakneck speeds. For her part, Raena had a smug, satisfied look on her face that made him want to stalk over and hit the woman.
"Given everything that has happened, I don't believe there's any need for a vote," Eola said, slowly rising to her feet. There were tears running down her cheeks as she slowly looked across the remaining members of the Council, each of them nodding in turn. "As the Head of the High Council, let it be known: we are at war."
It's official, the war has begun. I feel like with Raena on one side and the President on the other this outcome was inevitable, so I'd imagine this isn't too much of a surprise. That said, I'm sure there were quite a few twists in this chapter that caught people off guard.
Cloud starts things off by falling into Shinra's trap. Unlike in his childhood, this time the manipulation is much less obvious and plays heavily into his desire to protect people (Aerith specifically). While this makes it much more effective, it does have the added benefit of heavily redirecting the blame away from him. Aerith recognizes this once all hell breaks loose, but Gast doesn't know Cloud nearly as well and still mistrusts him from the Materia incident so they end up going separate ways in Gast's attempt to mitigate any further damage Cloud could cause.
This then takes us to the scene that I'm sure hit everyone the hardest: Ifalna's death. It shouldn't have come as a complete surprise given that Aerith had a dream of this happening and we've established that her dreams are more than just dreams. That said, this was far less telegraphed than Claudia's death. The shock and trauma of this moment leads Aerith to unintentionally cast Quake, all but destroying the village in the process. This is the second time she's used magic so far, but it's the first time where she recognizes what she's done. Given what we've learned about Seers in the last few chapters, I hope everyone is excited to see where her arc is heading.
Reno sneaks into the list of PoVs as we shift over to the Turks reacting to Aerith's spell. Being completely unused to magic, seeing one of the most powerful spells cast like this understandably fills them with fear. While Tseng and Elena go to help the wounded and dying, the eternal pairing of Reno and Rude stumble across Gast and Cloud, the latter of whom saved the former's life as a building collapsed on top of them during their escape. They end up bringing them both back to Midgar where Gast and Hojo get to have a not so amicable reunion.
Lastly, back in Cetra Land, Raena continues to push her agenda and has built up enough support that she feels confident moving against Lucrecia. Disgusted by this blatant grab for power (and recognizing that things have gone too far to stop now), Lucrecia instead stands down on her own to end things on her terms. With her presence gone, Eola knows that the vast majority of the vote will be to go to war and reluctantly makes it official.
With that, the teenage years come to an end and the stage is set for the bulk of the story. Everything up to this point has been to establish the background for this war and where everyone stands. We're finally to the point where the story can really kick off as both Cloud and Aerith work to end this war. I'm super excited to reach this section of the story and cannot wait to share what's next. On that note, we've got a new PoV to kick off the adult arc and I imagine with Cloud being the opening for childhood, Tifa being teenage, and the name of the chapter, that it won't be too hard to guess who's finally stepping back into the story.
Next Chapter: Hero