Start Date: June 18, 2024
Windwillow

The bold segments are flashbacks

Final Fantasy VII: The Next Horizon

Chapter Two: Reigning Peace... Somewhat

The discovery of artificial souls had had less of an impact on the more remote towns such as Nibelheim and Mideel. The larger economies were the ones that had swelled, but though they hadn't become large cities both Nibelheim and Mideel had begun to improve their lot in life. Nibelheim had always been a pleasant place to live, and with the deployment of WRO troops to Mt. Nibel the monsters had been kept at bay enough that tourism had begun to take hold. The town remained somewhat quaint, but the development of commercial airship travel had enriched its society with an influx of new ideas and technologies. It had become somewhat of a scholar's retreat, actually, with Christian Newberg's bookstore having expanded into a large library that serviced the entire town. The Newbergs' shop had become a fully fledged district in the village filled with bookstores, libraries, and other fonts of knowledge becoming commonplace.

What was once the Shinra Mansion was now Vincent Valentine's home. It had been expanded considerably to reflect its owner's growing passion for the arts, complete with whole music rooms (for when he studied various instruments) to a small art studio (for when the artistic bug struck him). The Mansion's library had been greatly changed, and instead of scientific tracts and medical texts Vincent had filled it with a variety of books that ranged from history to, of all things, romance. Vincent's life had continued to advance as well. Tatiana still came to him for lessons, as did a number of other children, and he even had a small shooting gallery where he taught citizens marksmanship. While he hadn't found any romantic partners he had written and published a few books, not just his friends' memoirs but also extensive histories of world culture that he gleamed from the number of texts that used to reside in the library.

Vincent had already released a number of books. His first, which contained the memoirs of his friends, had been well received but it was his subsequent works that garnered the most attention. Not only did he publish a number of historical tracts, he'd also written a mystery/thriller series that starred an intelligent detective named Lucrecia who solved crimes and fought mysterious arcane forces from the netherworld. They were the most popular novels in Gaia by the time that the half decade mark had come, and not only did he have his own personal home library Vincent also served as head librarian for Nibelheim's own library. He had researched a number of fields, ranging from history to science and technology, and his own personal experiences as a Shinra operative had given him plenty of first-hand knowledge to draw from when writing books about their work. Now, Vincent had become the preeminent authority in history for the village and his aptitude was only surpassed by the Mist Dragon's studies at Cosmo Canyon.

Scene One

Tatiana was sixteen now and wore a set of blue jeans and a white crop top, with brown shoes and a pixie cut hairdo. She had grown considerably since the war and was becoming quite the social butterfly, but she was still reluctant to break away from Vincent. The young teenager was an aspiring musician, specializing in both the piano and violin, and it was projected that she would join Nibelheim's orchestra when she turned eighteen at an age when few could match her aptitude.

Tatiana eagerly dashed through the halls of Vincent's home, tearing through the building in search of Vincent and she found him in his art studio surrounded by a dozen eager students. Vincent seemed to be utterly engrossed with the children, mentoring them while asking for opinions on his own pieces, and it pissed Tatiana off. It was only recently that she had been seemingly replaced by the other children, and seeing her mentor focus solely on them was too much for Tatiana so she angrily stormed out of the mansion. With her friend seemingly spurning her, Tatiana tearfully returned to her father's bookstore to seek his relief. Instead she found him in hot negotiations with a group of foreign publishers, a task at which she was unable to drag him away from.

With tears in her eyes and bile in her heart, Tatiana rushed up to her room, threw herself on the bed, and upon grabbing her pillow used it to muffle her angry screams before turning her attention to a picture on her bedside table, the one that had always made her cry. The photo depicted her with a beautiful eleven-year-old brunette, her best friend Adriana. They'd played often when they were younger, but she'd been stolen from her during Dolly's assault on Nibelheim five years prior. Her death severely impacted Tatiana and her grief caused her grades to drop for several months after the war. Tatiana's parents, unable to cheer her up, finally resorted to calling in Vincent.

He joined her in her room nearly a year after the war's end and found her curled up in bed, rolled into the fetal position as she struggled to restrain her tears. Vincent softly shuffled up to his friend and pulled her into a stern embrace, and when the girl had stopped crying he brushed the tears from her eyes and smiled at her. For a man who had once been an assassin and used to carry a large gun, to Tatiana Vincent's smile was so reassuring and soothing that it wiped away her pain.

"You should be strong," Vincent murmured. "You are strong."

"It's... so sad..." huffed Tatiana. "I loved her..."

"Then be strong for her. I once lost an important friend as well, but by connecting with my other friends I was able to drag myself out of despair and back into the light," Vincent said warmly. "It's painful, I know, but the only way you can make your friend happy again is for you to be happy. The loss of a loved one is always hard, but it isn't impossible to overcome."

"H-How..." Tatiana sniffed weakly. She cast up her puppy dog eyes at Vincent and a tear dropped from her face. "How did your friend die?"

Vincent's eye twitched and it seemed like he immediately became an entirely different person, rising and coldly patting Tatiana on the head as he turned to leave. The pain of losing Lucrecia was one thing, but knowing that she would forever suffer in penance was even worse. She would forevermore repose inside her lonely cave, wracked with guilt and pain at what she perceived to be her sins while he himself could do nothing about it, a fact that heavily weighed the gunman down and stuck with him from morning to bedtime.

"I lost her..." Vincent said ominously, "but she didn't die."

"W-What does that even mean...?" whispered Tatiana.

"It isn't your business to poke into my personal life," Vincent said coldly. "You wouldn't like to read that story."

"But, I thought we were friends!" Tatiana insisted. "Don't friends tell each other when they hurt?!"

"It is because we are friends that I don't wish to burden you," Vincent murmured as he gently brushed the hair from the child's face. He rose to leave, though when his hand touched the door he hesitated and bowed his head. Tatiana didn't need to hear all the horrible details about what Hojo had done to him and Lucrecia, didn't need to be burdened by the sins that Vincent bore on his back every day. She deserved better than that. "Loss is a horrible thing, but you can't let it suck you down into the darkness. You're better than that, I know it."

"'Loss is a horrible thing...' Well, duh. What does he know about losing someone? He lost her but she didn't die? What the hell does that even mean?!" choked Tatiana. "Bastard. He should just tell me..." she whimpered as she turned over in her bed, put the pillow over her head, and again curled up into a ball. Why wouldn't he just trust her? Did he even trust her at all, if he would keep a secret like that? None of it made sense and it pissed her off. "I know I shouldn't be angry... But I can't help it..."

Scene Two

Wutai had continued to thrive, thanks in large part to the Lucky Leviathan. With Gil rolling in by the millions Godo had finally enriched the nation to the point where he was able to modernize its citizens from making reed baskets to wearing stylish clothing. The farms were run by only the most diehard adults now, with the teenagers and children busy basking in the modern world's amenities like cellphones and the Worldwide Network. However, to the displeasure of Godo and Leviathan their appreciation for Wutai's ancient culture had begun to decline and their cities had become far more modernized than they would have liked.

The Lucky Leviathan had continued to flourish... Yuffie, however, didn't do so hot. As her debt continued to climb she was forced to act as a dealer on the floor and when her outbursts finally spurred complaints she was not only removed from the floor but also as manager of the casino, to her utter fury. Although she was outraged she nevertheless found a small apartment and tried to find another means of survival but she lost her job as a bath house attendant after pushing a customer who had angered her into the hot springs, and lost a number of menial jobs as well.

Having been fired from yet another job, Yuffie slammed the door open to her apartment, slammed it shut, and commenced to wreak havoc on her own living space. She began to slam objects into walls, messed up her bed sheets and tablecloths, and by the time that Yuffie had calmed down she'd all but ruined her entire apartment. With a frustrated shriek Yuffie plopped to the ground, drew her legs up to her chest, and began to mutter still more death curses.

"What would Ma say if she saw me now...?" Yuffie whimpered. She'd lost her mother Hibiki Kisaragi when she was only six years old to a sudden illness. Her loss was absolutely earth shattering to the girl, having always been closer to her mother than to Godo. For the most part Godo raised her as best he could, though her mischievous tendencies and bumbling exploits led to a rift between the two. For most of her life Yuffie had wondered how her mother felt in the afterlife, if she was watching over her and guiding her while Godo was fumbling as a father.

"W-What if... she was used as...!" Yuffie gasped. The realization finally struck that her mother may have been a victim of Shinra's Mako reactors and the idea that her mother had been used up like a dirty tissue only filled her with even more rage. The heartbroken ninja staggered to her feet in almost a drunken stupor and as her emotions continued to build Yuffie angrily lifted her left arm and slammed it so hard on the dining room table that it caved in before dropping back to her seat with her head in her hands. The idea filled her with more than rage, now, instead adding in a healthy dose of despair and self-loathing to the party.

"I never should have let her leave us...! It's all on me, isn't it?! Yuffie shrieked. With Yuffie continuing to panic, Madeen manifested from out of her summoning materia and laid a hand on her summoner's back in the hope that it would calm her down. When it failed, the Eidolon sighed and threw her arms around Yuffie in a desperate attempt to soothe her, but her mania only continued to escalate. While it wasn't necessarily surprising, it was distressing to see her mistress so torn up about a fate she could barely even fathom enduring. It just hurt.

"I'm sure she's waiting for you, girl..." murmured Madeen. "She's there waiting to-"

"You don't know that!" Yuffie shrieked as she shoved Madeen away and curled into the fetal position. This had been the first time in ages that she'd thought of her mother, and with that first thought being the dread that she'd been consumed the ninja's mania seemed to escalate as usual... but instead of anger, it was outright grief. "Dad's just a lazy good-for-nothing excuse of a father! He threw me out on the streets to die, that son of a bitch!" she roared. "There isn't any way for you to know if she's still out there!"

As Yuffie continued to break down Madeen quietly faded away and left her mistress to stew in her own emotions. The thoughts wouldn't stop coming. The dread wouldn't go away. What if she had been used as fuel? She would never be there to keep her from castrating her father in the afterlife. Believing that she probably would, Yuffie had always assumed that Hibiki would be the voice of reason that would finally reunite her with her father for all of time. That had been her only hope.

"That was too boring!" Yuffie moaned, being a six-year-old child who had just left a kabuki performance with her parents. She hadn't taken to it well at all, often forced back into her seat when she tried to make a fuss, and it pissed her off royally that the young ninja had been treated as such. As she walked she angrily kicked at the ground and stomped her feet in childish rage. "What kind of play is that supposed to be?! Everyone was so stiff and stuff!"

"It isn't a play, it's art," Godo scolded.

"Well it seemed boring to me!" Yuffie snapped.

"Just because you can't appreciate it doesn't mean that it's boring!" growled Godo.

"Ooh, you big meanie!" huffed Yuffie as she continued to batter at her father's legs as they walked home. "I am so misunderstood! Gawd!"

While Yuffie and Godo bickered she vaguely realized that her mother had fallen behind and when the young girl turned back she watched Hibiki fall straight on her head and Yuffie immediately shrieked out in terror and hurried over to her mother's side, with Godo close behind. It was shortly after this that Hibiki was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor and had less than a month to live. Crushed, Yuffie stayed by her mother's side for almost the entire month. When she noticed that her father was often absent, however, it stoked her ire and was in fact the origin of her conflict with Godo. While he was there when Hibiki died, Godo said nothing to Yuffie and she claimed that she never heard him apologize to her. In her grief, she barely remembered anything but seeing her mother look so at peace before she broke down and threw herself on her mother's body.

Shortly thereafter Hibiki was laid to rest inside a special tomb near the holy pagoda of Wutai. Yuffie visited often at first, though when her father stayed behind to do his work her animosity only continued to escalate to the point of hatred. When Wutai lost the war and was ordered to surrender all of its materia, Yuffie sat in front of her mother's grave with tears in her eyes and vowed that she would make Wutai flourish once more - for Hibiki. She stole Aero and Aqua, taught herself to use them, and departed for the eastern continent to steal materia for her counter attack.

Yuffie silently removed her four materia from her gauntlet and laid them on the ground in front of her. She first noted the Heal materia that she'd used a decade earlier to help a petrified Cloud, and spitefully noted that he had never thanked her. She moved to Madeen's materia, held it in her hand, and quietly stashed it back inside her gauntlet. The lion lady couldn't help her now. When Yuffie moved to Aero and Aqua she laid them in the palm of her hand and stared at them intently. She could see the magic stir behind the spheres, but more than anything else she felt the anger build from when she'd first determined that she would steal them, to make her father proud. To make her father proud? What about her mother? As Yuffie clenched down on the orbs she laid them close to her heart, let out a sob, and tightly clenched the materia to her breast.

"God, Ma..." Yuffie sobbed. "Please be waiting for me..."

Scene Three

Perhaps no place on the Planet had grown more than Cosmo Canyon had with the influx of growth that artificial souls and Esper Brands had provided. The desolate wastelands surrounding the village had become beautiful plains, along with rivers and lakes as well as large forests like the one that had up until recently been inaccessible. New wildlife had been transplanted, new fruits and vegetables introduced, and so the world had ripened for the people of Cosmo Canyon. Because it was at the epicenter of artificial soul research Cosmo Canyon had been especially gifted in the boons of the new science. Each of the citizens provided a sample of their memories and emotions, and by inserting them into the ground they'd grown from a wasteland into a gorgeous paradise. The discovery of artificial souls had been wondrous for the Planet, large tracts of once uninhabitable land now having been replaced by lush plains.

With its thousands of inhabitants providing yearly samples of their emotions and memories, Cosmo Canyon was the epicenter of Gaia's rejuvenation. The science of Spiral Spheres had been rediscovered and, with the aid of Esper Brands, fossil fuels had ceased entirely. It had become a hub for scientific and spiritual research, and was now one of the most prominent university centers in all of Gaia with schools specializing in New Age medicine and botany. The Mist Dragon's library had expanded and the Study of Planet Life had been enriched, but through all of it there remained that one nagging doubt about the morality of their actions.

While Red XIII had at first been reluctant to allow artificial souls to become so widely used, when he saw the progress being made both in Cosmo Canyon and Kalm he reluctantly relented and allowed his world to return to its one-time glory - and beyond! Even then Red XIII kept his own residence somewhat spartan and free of the constant advances in both technology and environmentalism. His reluctance to the project remained, but he'd been overruled by the city's councils time and time again and so the elder, once a long-time proponent of environmental growth, had become more and more worried about the morality of creating artificial life and using it to revitalize Gaia. Unknown to Red XIII, Minerva had found the project promising and had allowed it to go forward but as time passed and the world blossomed her doubts began to mirror his. While the Lifestream had swelled with countless memories and experiences, it could never supplant the thirty percent that still remained naturally. The denizens of the Lifestream may have had company, but they weren't necessarily pleased that they were essentially speaking to living dolls.

Scene Four

The artificial soul initiative had been developed five years earlier during the period of Cosmo Canyon's reconstruction. It had been championed by a group of several scientists, but the Mist Dragon and Red XIII had never shared their enthusiasm for the project. The project worked simply: The Lifestream was an aggregate of memories, emotions, and dreams from the beings who had walked on its green earth. Because the Lifestream had been drained, the idea was that by injecting those same nutrients into the ground they could revitalize Gaia. By implanting small tubes into the ground, fortified by the memories and thoughts of the people of the Canyon, the same nutrients that the Lifestream provided were injected into the drained soul reserve and strengthened its power. While no sentient life could come of it, the flora of the world was greatly affected by the artificial souls and within a few years the world had regenerated from a wasteland to a paradise filled with water, forests, and vibrant mountains that held up the skeleton of a withered world.

However, still haunted by the moral implications of the project, Red XIII and Ji-Min remained almost alone in not donating their own memories. They also held that their own memories were too tainted to contribute any good to the world. Red XIII returned to governing the city while Ji-Min threw herself into her research and expanded into a number of different disciplines, her interest in world history being especially strong. At Red XIII's request, Ji-Min had delved into the many untranslated texts left behind by the ancient residents of Cosmo Canyon. The uproar over the oncoming extraterrestrials had left the Canyon divided, though almost all citizens opposed nuclear power. It was the question of welcoming the aliens that had driven a wedge between the city's population. While most wanted to welcome them, a sizeable minority dreaded their return and believed that they were coming to conquer the world.
The Mist Dragon had called Red XIII into her office one day, having told him that she had found important information about the soon-to-be-coming visitors. They united together inside Ji-Min's office, where she produced a number of ancient scrolls that were written in an archaic script no one could decipher. She, however, had managed to decipher them and by using the ancient script found in the oldest of tomes, Ji-Min had learned the ancient language of the inhabitants of Cosmo Canyon.

"A number of records state that ancient gods once descended from the stars to teach mankind in many fields, such as mathematics and agriculture. Then, the gods returned to the heavens claiming that they had more people to teach. I posit that these are the same extraterrestrials that we've been hearing so much about," theorized Ji-Min. "There is one certain reference to a scholar named Shinra, however, that I found quite pertinent. He had discerned a method of transplanting the energy of something called a 'Farplane' and created a form of limitless energy. What scares me the most is that I found notes between the margins by a fellow named Hojo."

"He had something to do with...?! How appalling!" choked Red XIII. Hojo had dealt with Jenova and brought humanity down that rabbit hole, but he'd never known that Hojo was involved in the research into Mako. Sure, it was a likely scenario, but Red XIII had thought - had hoped - that Hojo only came in afterwards to deal with Jenova, not create the project itself. "To think that he had any involvement with the development of Mako... It's bad enough he mucked with Jenova, but he interfered with Mako energy as well?!"

"My theory is that the technology came from the extraterrestrials. However, the actual result was different from what was intended. The original technology could extract memories from the... Farplane, or whatever... and give its user the ability to summon the likenesses of their loved ones to the mortal world," Ji-Min said cautiously. "Shinra, however, co-opted the technology and used it to drain the Planet. The original intent was to draw on the dead to comfort the living."

"God..." Red XIII gasped.

"And there's a certain document that I found listing your grandfather Bugenhagen as one of the original scientists in charge of the Shinra corporation. My guess is that when he learned of the perversion that the company was employing," she said warily, "he resigned and departed to Cosmo Canyon to research the Study of Planet Life. He became a scholar as such he was because he knew that there had been a misappropriation of the extraterrestrials' technology."

"Then... Wait. Why didn't Grandpa use the technology himself, to see his own family?" asked Red XIII.

"Hmm... Well, did he ever speak of them to you?" asked the Mist Dragon.

"Well... No..." mumbled Red XIII.

"That might be the answer... He had memories he wanted to forget, not retrieve, and he had so much regret for his youth that he was afraid to confront the ones he had lost," the Mist Dragon theorized. "Doubtless he had his disagreements with his parents, and perhaps he lost contact with his siblings. If he had never come to terms with them in life, seeing them in death might have been too unbearable to reach for."

"I would love to see my parents again... But I don't know if my father is even there. He's been petrified down below the Canyon for decades, and there's no telling whether he truly passed on. If he never reached the Lifestream, I could never see him again..." sighed Red XIII. His father, the brave Seto, had protected Cosmo Canyon for ages and was now ensnared by the poisons that the Gi Tribe had injected into his body. Would he even pass on at all? "And what if my mother is gone as well? What if only Grandpa awaits me in the next world?"

"Is that enough?" Ji-Min asked briskly. "Shouldn't it be enough?"

"It... Well... I hadn't spoken to my mother Kisara for months before she passed. She never divulged the truth of my father's sacrifice..." Red XIII moaned.

The last time he'd seen her was on her deathbed, when the proud lioness lay curled in a ball atop a blanket as she awaited her oblivion. Back then she had accepted her fate so peacefully, but now knowing that she kept the secret from him was heavy weight for Red XIII to bear. She'd lied to his face for nearly his entire life... How would anyone possibly bounce back from that, make amends with the woman who smeared his father's sacrifice and told him that a hero was a villain?

"What would I say to her? What would she say to me? She lied to my face for years. What kind of absolution could I even find?" gasped Red XIII.

"They're waiting for you, Nanaki..." crooned Ji-Min.

"You don't know that. You don't have anyone waiting for you," replied Red XIII testily. Upon gathering himself the elder bowed his head in penance and let out a feeble whimper. He knew that it wasn't the Mist Dragon's fault, and it certainly wasn't her business to interfere with his own family drama. "I apologize... I shouldn't have said that. But, as an immortal Eidolon... What would happen when you die?"

"I..." stammered Ji-Min. "I would simply cease to exist, I suppose..."

"That's horrible!" croaked Red XIII. "Wait... Wouldn't you want to return to your world to speak to them?"

"I would love to see Rydia again, but across the dimensional barriers that isn't possible," sighed the Mist Dragon, laying her hands to her breast to still her aching heart. She'd taken on Rydia's likeness, but she still missed the joyful times that she spent with her favorite summoner. All the times they'd talked and smiled, laughed and cried, were now so faint as to be nearly nonexistent. "Our memories will forever remain in my heart, but..."

"Well, what if you tried using the artificial soul technology to implant your memories into the Lifestream?" asked Red XIII. Ji-Min startled at the thought and quickly her brain began to cycle through the possibilities that the idea would have offered her. Seeing Rydia again, even just as a beloved memory, certainly had its appeal. "Then, you use the science as it was intended to see her once more."

Ji-Min chuckled and wiped a tear from her eye, having been deeply touched by her friend's kindness. But there was still no telling whether her memories would be able to manifest Rydia. After all, Rydia was literally worlds away across a dimensional barrier that no earthly force could bridge. The Mist Dragon had often wondered how Rydia had matured, whether she'd ever found love. She'd certainly hoped so, at least. If only she could see her summoner again, she reasoned... if only...

"Even so... I... May take you up on your offer, Nanaki," Ji-Min said with a feeble smile. It might end up being worth the effort. Simply ruminating and festering in her own despair would serve no logical purpose. If only she could see Rydia, then everything would suddenly become worth it. She would finally have Rydia back, to have and hold, even if just as a pleasant memory. "Please, make the arrangements so that I can contribute my memories of my own world."

"Of course!" chirped Red XIII. "That will take no effort at all!"

Scene Five

Edge's position as the unofficial capital of the world was well earned, as many of Gaia's greatest minds and most important people congregated there. The usage of Esper Brands was most prevalent in the city, and most citizens had at least two Brands each. The discovery of nuclear power had skyrocketed the city's interest in the science and most of its populace was in favor of using the split atom for power. While the interest in support of nuclear energy was high, so too was the fear of the encroaching extraterrestrials. It was in Edge that they first floated the idea of creating super weapons capable of standing up to the extraterrestrials. The concept had been hotly debated for months and the city seemed to be at a total standstill, a fifty-fifty split on the matter. However, there were some scientists who had already secretly begun to research weaponization of the energy although it was officially banned. As paranoia built higher and higher the people had begun to be swallowed in their own fears, their own xenophobia and the concept of loss of control seizing their hearts.

The idea that humanity was inferior to another sentient species was, to many people, a crushing thought, and many refused to believe it. They maintained that the data was propaganda designed to divide the world into several different camps, and believed that if they were coming that they would pose an imminent threat to the Planet. News reports varied from channel to channel, though it seemed that a good majority of the news outlets were devoted to paranoia and conspiracy theories.

Hana, meanwhile, had thrived considerably since the end of the war. Now twenty two years old she had finished college and moved on to medical school. While she studied to become a doctor she had trained constantly with Cloud and Tifa, and by the time the five year mark had come she had become nearly as powerful as they were. She didn't have much reason to flaunt her power, however, and she never became known to the public as a hero, so she similarly was unable to convince the skeptics.

But there was another, now.

Tina Midori was the newest discovered Esper and resided with Tifa at Seventh Heaven. She proved to be a very difficult house guest, however, being just as rebellious as her predecessor. Rather than being... well, pleasant like Hana was, Tina was nothing but an engine of destruction and had been responsible for countless incidents that thankfully, and amazingly, had somehow had no casualties. She'd actually been interred in an isolated complex for two years and had come out of the mess even more volatile than she was before. Tina was fifteen years old and had been identified as an Esper two years earlier when she accidentally froze her parents' house into solid ice when she had been particularly irritated at them, shortly thereafter returning it to normal only when her father promised to pay more attention to her. Unfortunately, in "returning it to normal," Tina ended up burning down half her neighborhood. Tina was quickly identified and sent to Junon at first, but proved so difficult that she was hoisted onto Tifa's shoulders.

It was a difficult rearing of the girl. The young Esper was too unstable to go to school with her peers, yet so frustratingly stubborn that she couldn't hold down a part time job either. Tina mostly remained inside the bar and read graphic novels, especially liking the action comics. She was reserved, irritable, and childish, and had often forced Tifa to forcibly restrain her when she had become particularly angry. Cloud, who was still busy with the Strife Delivery Service, could offer little help. Both Cloud and Tifa were sternly against the use of nuclear energy and were outraged at the idea of weaponizing such a dangerous energy and they advocated against both as much as they could, though as time had passed their status as heroes had begun to diminish and their influence similarly dimmed. So, with little power to influence the people all the two could do was gnash their teeth and pray for the best.

There was a cheerful note to their relationship, however. Shortly after the Andromeda War, Cloud proposed to Tifa and they were married in a small ceremony attended by their friends and family, including Hana. Although Cloud still worked as a courier he often stayed home to spend time with his new wife, given that because he was self-employed he could take as many vacations as he fancied. Tifa had expanded Seventh Heaven to several locations across Edge as well, and while she continued to act as barmaid, mixologist, and bouncer at the main establishment she trained and hired an efficient staff to man the other bars. In addition to designing her cocktails, Tifa had also expanded into writing recipes and had put a number of hearty dishes on the menu at her Seventh Heavens ranging from hot pork chops to chilled soup.

Scene Six

It wasn't only that Cloud, Tifa, and Hana resided in Edge.

So, too, did the four former Elemental Archfiends of the Blue Planet. All four of them had settled in to a routine, and as opposed to five years prior all of them had meaningful employment. Still, despite the fact that Cagnazzo and Scarmiglione were under control, their two partners kept them on a short leash. In fact, they'd stuffed them together under the same roof. Scarmiglione ran a casino in the Pleasure District of Edge, where ladies of the evening and drug dealers often plied their trade. Fortunately for his customers, however, neither were welcome inside Scarmiglione's "Golbez Grande." Rather than stick with his former, snakelike persona, Scarmiglione had cleaned up to become a legitimate business owner and ran a strict but orderly administration, but to ensure that they were both under control Cagnazzo acted as his head of security. The other two Archfiends kept close tabs on the duo, who were thoroughly discouraged from relapsing under threat of imminent bodily harm.

Barbariccia finished law school and enrolled in the district attorney's office, where she steadily worked her way up from law clerk to head prosecutor in her section of Edge. She had become well known and feared for her abusiveness on the stand, often slipping up suspects and badgering uncooperative witnesses. Her style was abrupt but efficient, a take no prisoners mentality where she sometimes used less than kosher methods to convict the right defendant. If they weren't the right defendant, however, Barbariccia had matured enough to fight for their right to an appeal.

Rubicante had risen from apprentice to partner at his financial firm and now held sway over thousands of employees. Because he had always been chivalrous he remained grounded, and unlike a good majority of leaders Rubicante kept his people's interests in mind, treating them fairly and with appropriate mercy. Not only that, he made a damned good Gil of it, too, because he'd earned himself his own high rise, a private limousine, and had taken up Golf to hobknob with other executives. He, like the other Archfiends, seemed to have finally found his place to call home.

Scene Seven

Despite the fact that Seventh Heaven now had more than one location, the original remained the most popular due to Tifa's fiery personality and high quality cocktails. The usual talk at the bar, however, gravitated towards the issues of nuclear power and global security, something that Tifa distinctly did not want to hear. For the most part she kept the radio on a Jazz channel and discouraged people from fighting at the bar by flexing her knuckles a few times, which typically shut them up.

One such customer, however, still drunk on tequila, lacked the common sense to do so and vocally voiced his opinion that the aliens were coming to invade and that humanity had to fight back. As he continued to rant the customer became rowdier and rowdier, and when he began to get physical Tifa slipped out from behind the bar, grabbed him from under the armpits, and slammed him hard onto the floor. When the customer recovered she took him by the scruff of the neck, stormed outside, and hurled him far into the distance.

"Come back around here again," Tifa snarled, "and I'll make you regret you were ever born!"

Now approaching thirty, Tifa had changed her hair from wearing it long to a simple undercut. As always she wore her trademark gloves, including the armored right one, though she'd streamlined her clothing in her transition to civilian life. She now dressed in much the same way that Hana had four years prior, with a set of black slacks and a tan jacket as well as a set of hiking boots and a noteworthy change to her left glove. The fully dressed left fist that had constantly battered and bruised the enemies of Gaia had become finger-less, and on her left ring finger was the golden wedding band that now tied her to her beloved.

Tina Midori, meanwhile, sat nearby on a bar stool reading a graphic novel about rubbery pirates and swordsmen with three swords, remaining largely unaffected by the gratuitous violence that she'd just witnessed. Instead of reacting with anger or concern, Tina simply flicked her fingers and a can of cola slid into her hand. She popped the top, took a chug, and nonchalantly went back to reading her book. Tina Midori had matured during the two wars and, now fifteen, was just as vibrant as Hana had been during the Andromeda War. She wore a set of black slacks with a violet t-shirt, along with a set of finger-less gloves and boots similar to the ones that Tifa wore during the wars against the parasites. With long blonde hair that stretched down to the nape of her neck and shimmering blue eyes, Tina was an irritable little brat and was so incorrigible that she could barely stand to be around other people. Or, it should perhaps be said that it wasn't safe for other people to be around her.

When Cloud entered shortly after the altercation, he strolled up to the bar and stood parallel to Tifa, stretched out his knuckles over the bar and when she bumped them they exchanged a quick kiss as Cloud slid into his seat and ordered a beer. Tifa asked Cloud what he came for, and when he jokingly said he came for the show she promptly whacked him on the head and growled that he shouldn't push his luck.

Cloud had just turned thirty-one the month before and now possessed a thin blonde stubble on his chin. While he dressed similarly to how he had during the wars, he also had changed from wearing clothing with straps and belts to wearing a sort of refined version of his SOLDIER uniform. He wore dark blue jeans and a jacket even darker than that, which lacked the pauldrons from his SOLDIER outfit, and always carried his materia gauntlet along with a pair of long sleeves and two finger-less gloves as well as his trademark sword strapped to his back as always. Most important of all was the golden wedding ring on his left hand, the symbol of his union with Tifa.

"I actually came to watch the Esper," Cloud shrugged. "It's my turn to babysit her."

"Babysit?!" an enraged Tina roared as she jumped off her seat and drew back her left hand. Cloud was well aware of the ramifications of saying what he said, however, and was fully prepared to be assaulted. It had happened before, would happen now, and would surely happen again time after time. "Bite me!" she snarled as flames crackled around her fingers and, with a single swiping motion, Tina hurled a mass of fire straight at Cloud's head.

As the smoke cleared Cloud emerged unharmed, however, having extended a single finger in front of his face. A simple flare up of his elemental fusion was more than sufficient to neutralize Tina's little tantrum, and it pissed her off. Despite how powerful she herself was, Cloud boasted a level of strength that even an Esper could barely fathom. He'd fought against legendary SOLDIERs and battled galactic parasites. Now, he certainly wouldn't flinch from a little half-ass bitch like Tina throwing a fit.

"That's exactly what I expected..." droned Cloud. Cloud lowered his finger and took a drink of his beer, then set it down and a cocky grin crossed his face. As usual it evoked a stern glare and a sharp huff from his ward, who continued to be obstinate and refused to accept most of the help that Cloud and Tifa had provided. Two years in solitude had poisoned her with hate and turned out to have been a colossal mistake now that she was mature and out in the world at large. Dealing with the brat was a massive hassle and neither he nor Tifa wanted anything to do with raising her, but Reeve's begging had been enough to convince them to babysit the little bitch.

"Wanna have lunch?" Cloud asked cheekily. Tina's eyes went wide as she immediately set aside her drink and comic book, quickly grabbed onto her backpack, and hoisted it over her shoulder. She sullenly approached Cloud, shook her head, and gave a thin smile. The young Esper always ordered her favorite burger and fries with cola, a menu that hadn't changed for years, and much like how Hana liked lemonade, Tina frequently drank a famous brand of cola and often requested a bucket load of it as payment for not wreaking havoc.

"As long as you're buying," Tina said cheerfully.

"I have to buy, remember," chided Cloud. You can't hold down a job so you're broke." Although Tina scowled she said nothing and grumpily stormed out of the bar, leaving Cloud and Tifa to talk. Cloud set down his beer and laid his head on the bar, groaned, and muttered a nasty word. The girl was so incorrigible and crazed that neither he nor Tifa had had much of a social life since they'd taken over watching the girl. "Hana lite is still Hana..." he moaned. "How the hell did we deal with the first one?"

"How is she doing, anyway?" Tifa asked briskly. "I haven't talked to her in a couple of weeks."

"She's still hard at work, and believe it or not she has quite a few friends at medical school. This is her first year and it's hard for her, but with some odd tutoring tips from Blair she's at least passing all her courses," Cloud replied. Hana had, indeed, been doing well, but she was still having trouble holding down a part-time job. Most of her income came from her father's donations. "Her apartment is over on the east side of Edge... I've been there once, and it seems pretty nice."

"I'm surprised that she deigned to be friends with someone," Tifa said coyly, to Cloud's amusement. Her face immediately switched from mischievous to concerned as she prepared herself a bottle of liquor and poured a drink for both of them. God knows that both of them needed as much liquid courage as they could get between the political situation and the Esper they now watched over. "Any word on how Reeve's holding up?" she asked softly. "I don't envy being him ever, but least of all now."

"They've been calling for a vote for weeks now, and he's been dragging his feet..." sighed Cloud.

"And what does the WRO have to say about all this?" Tifa asked testily. "Can he fend off this nonsense at all?"

"He handles policy for the organization itself, but every state is a sovereign entity and he doesn't have any pull over them. And did you hear? The governor has been fast tracking a bill to start up the first plant," Cloud groaned. "Duly elected, the fool has chosen to throw his lot in with the xenophobes and paranoid conspiracy theorists, not to mention the crazed scientists who believed that nuclear energy was in any way superior to Mako. Both are dangerous. We're setting ourselves up for disaster. The super weapon idea is just outright insanity... Create our own WEAPON? Seriously?"

"And what about Cid?" Tifa asked glumly, though she sighed and hung her head, snatched up her drink, and chugged it when her answer came to her. Cid had been a thorn in their side ever since the debate first began, so obsessed with restarting his space program that he refused to see the danger that nuclear energy posed to the Planet. At a bare minimum, he at least allowed himself to be swayed by words he wanted to hear. "Forget I asked. As long as they restart the space program he's going to be behind it... What a lost cause..." she groaned.

"You aren't going to want to hear this, but his company's already started talks to design a nuclear rocket," Cloud said sadly. He quietly sipped his drink again and sighed, the weight of the situation having seized him. Bad as it was to use nuclear energy for everyday use, what kind of danger would a nuclear reactor capable of reaching space pose to the world? "Shera and Carbuncle are doing their best, but we both know from experience that that dipstick is too stubborn to convince that this is insane."

"Just great, the world's gone to pot... again. This mess is just as bad as the wars were..." muttered Tifa as she leaned back against the bar and took a chug of her liquor. It had been a colossal mess ever since the first transmission came, but over time the situation had only continued to deteriorate. "Say the aliens come here. Say we fire a gun at 'em. We're all toast, and no one seems to get the concept that if they're that far ahead of us it's either equality or obliteration. There isn't an in between."

"I'm hungry, dammit!" Tina growled as she poked her head back inside the bar.

The Esper girl angrily grabbed Cloud by the arm and literally dragged him off of his bar stool as she tugged him outside of the bar almost kicking and screaming. Tifa shook her head and turned towards another customer, mixing a new cocktail for him, but before she could slide it over her hand twitched and she splashed the drink all over herself. For a single moment, her razor-sharp senses had detected the imbalance that Sol and Luna's plan would cause and it had caused her muscles to spasm against her will and without her knowledge. It was a dark omen, one made worse by the fact that now she had to pay for the drink.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered. "It's on me... Literally and figuratively."

Scene Eight

Hana had matured significantly in the last five years, having grown into her fully mature adult body and hardened her mind by studying hard to become a doctor. The young Esper had grown by a couple of inches and no longer wore her leather vest, instead choosing to dress in a more adult fashion. Her new dress code included a set of blue jeans and a blue duster jacket with a green belt and a pair of wedge boots. Not only had her attire changed, but so had her body: She'd matured into a slim but muscular young woman, with a sizeable bust and a toned but beautiful body. In a way she was still Tifa Lockhart lite, reminiscent of her mentor but still attractive in her own way. She hadn't stopped training, either; by the time she began medical school she could transform at will and possessed even more battle aptitude than she had during the Andromeda War.

Her life had shaped up quite well, being a year into medical school after graduating college with honors. She'd taken a job as a security guard but after a few violent altercations she'd been fired so she instead went to the bar and soused herself up. By the time she returned to her apartment Hana was grossly hung over and almost barely conscious when she stumbled inside her apartment. Hana threw open the door and, in a drunken haze, stumbled towards her sofa as she left the door open, being too hung over to care if someone came in. If they did she would likely fry them anyway.

The apartment was quite comfortable, well stocked, and she had a wet bar, a fine kitchen, and a large bathtub in her well-stocked bathroom, all courtesy of her father's generous donations for having completed college. Hana woozily dragged herself over to her sofa and dropped into it with a huff, then put her fingers together and snapped them. Across the room in the kitchen a coffee machine whirred to life and when the drink was finished another flick of Hana's fingers brought it into her hand as she promptly downed the coffee as if it were the nectar of the gods. She was badly mucked up and could barely manage to keep her lunch down, in fact. Hana turned on the television and scanned through the channels, and unfortunately everything was either talking about nukes, aliens, or were shows that she'd already watched on the on-demand multiple times, so Hana shut the TV off and sunk back in her seat.

"At least I have backup..." Hana moaned. Hana flicked her fingers and a book flew into her hand, which she clapped open and began to read. As she did so she stretched out her left hand and clicked her fingers, which dropped a can of lemonade from a cooler up above that she quickly took a sip from. While she read and drank, Hana eventually began to sober up and turned her thoughts towards her mentors and their new lives together. At least they'd finally tied the knot, after over half a decade of waffling around. Her cellphone rang and, when she heard Reeve's voice and the name "Tina" Hana immediately clicked the phone shut and drank some more lemonade.

"It's not my fault they found Hana Junior... let them deal with the brat," Hana mumbled. After a bit of soul searching, however, she took her phone and redialed the last person who had called her. "Sorry, just feeling a bit bitchy," Hana groaned. "What's up now?"

"She can't stay in school, every time she takes a job she assaults someone... We need someone with experience to deal with that little brat," Reeve snapped. As he reclined in his seat all the weight of the situation continued to hound him, knowing that not only was Tina a threat but he had two even bigger problems to deal with. "Since you're our resident Esper expert I was hoping you could talk some sense into the girl. We certainly can't keep pawning her off on Cloud and Tifa, making them suffer. At least talk to her."

"Fine, fine, I surrender... I'll go to Seventh Heaven tomorrow," Hana muttered. When she hung up the Esper closed her book, laid it on the table, and put a hand to her face. It wasn't like Reeve deserved to be verbally assaulted like she'd just done to him. He already had more than enough on his plate and didn't need any further problems from yet another Esper and her volatile personality. "I really am being a bitch, aren't I...?" she grumbled. "I don't want Aerith to come haunt me, so I'd better deal with the little punk in the morning..."

Scene Nine

Sol and Luna had set up Sephiroth for his plan quite efficiently and had taught him the science he would need to make his dreams a reality. They helped him not only "hack" into the artificial souls, but also gave him the idea of sucking out the worst nightmares of the people of Gaia to create his own army of monsters, including several new, nightmarish Espers and a number of puppets designed in the form of the world's most beloved family members. There was, however, a small wrinkle in the plan, one that only one of the three knew about. During a game of Battleship, Luna had repeatedly cheated Sol and in retribution he had at first poisoned her food with laxatives, but each time he tried to trick her Luna easily deduced his plans and foiled them. Finally, with no other way to strike back Sol decided to muck with his own scheme - he would give the Planet a slight advantage against Sephiroth, giving them just enough information and the power needed to foil Sephiroth's final attack.

While dreaming, Hana reclined in the bath house with Yuffie and Tifa and playfully splashed water on them, with their returning of the gesture. It was a dream that she'd had many times before, but this time it seemed to go on much longer than usual and was capped off by both Yuffie and Tifa vanishing into thin air. Hana immediately startled and rose from the hot springs, looking desperately around for the source of the problem, and she found it when Sol stepped into the bath house dressed as usual though without his sword. When Hana first saw him her immediate response was, naturally, to flare into her Esper form and attack. Her first blow was dodged, her second parried, and finally Sol caught her by both wrists and held her tightly in place. Embarrassed to be seen naked, Hana cursed and flailed as best she could, though when Sol finally released her and she jumped back Hana angrily formed a mass of lightning in both hands and readied for an attack.

"Easy, now... I come in peace," Sol grinned.

"You barge into the women's bath, see me naked, and expect that I'll leave you in peace?! You're a damned stupid person if you think I'll go down without a fight!" Hana snarled, her hands crackling with electricity as the Esper slid into a ready position in preparation to attack. Bad as it was to be assaulted, being seen naked was even more unforgivable and she had no intention of leaving Sol intact. She'd rather rip his head off, or at least beat the living hell out of him, before ever allowing his sins to pass. "I'll leave you in pieces! Tell me what you want before I fry your sorry ass!"

With a boisterous laugh Sol waved Hana off, enraging her to the point where she simply hurled the monstrous amount of lightning at him. He simply clicked his fingers, however, and not only did her attack dissipate but she found herself bound with her wrists behind her back and forced to the ground. Although she struggled as best she could, even transformed and enraged she wasn't able to move a muscle. Sol's strength was that of a deity, after all... She never had the slightest of chances of making her fury bear fruit.

"You're an ass...!" hissed Hana.

"You aren't wrong," Sol shrugged. "I'm a very difficult person to get along with, as can be attested to by a certain woman."

"Tell me what you want!" Hana roared. "I may be at your mercy, but don't count me out yet!"

"Let's just theorize here. Say there was a major crisis, one where the whole world is turned upside down! If such a thing happened, people would naturally lose hope... But by giving them hope you might just foil the villain for a little bit, and who knows? Maybe you can find a way downstairs and wander around a bit?" Sol taunted. Knowing that he would be mucking with his own scheme didn't bother him nearly as much as the idea that he would allow Luna to get away with cheating him, however. "All of this is theoretical, of course. As far as you're concerned you never saw me here. On that note..."

As Hana continued to struggle against her bonds Sol quietly approached her and the Esper began to wriggle and writhe, desperate to keep her captor from molesting her, but instead the deity reached down and laid his hand to her forehead, shut his eyes tight, and soon hoisted himself to his feet and turned to leave. When he did so Hana finally broke her restraints and lunged at him with a violent punch, but he caught her arm, wrenched it behind her back, and held her in a painful, unbreakable lock.

"Bastard...!" rasped Hana.

"Try a new train of thought, say 'Let the sun shine bright' when things turn sour, and you might just get a boost!" chuckled Sol. He released Hana from his hold and stepped back, avoiding her counter attack before slowly beginning to fade into mist. As he disappeared, Hana's rage only intensified and as he began to finally disappear she moved to swing at him, only to be thwarted again. "I'm giving you a better chance to save your world than you probably deserve. Don't waste it, girl. 'Cause, you're gonna need it."

Hana suddenly woke up screaming, letting out a loud shriek as she returned to consciousness. She laid both hands to her chest to still her quaking heart, felt the organ beat with unabashed terror, and gave a vicious scowl. With the attack passed Hana dropped to her back, wiped the sweat from her brow, and quietly returned the covers to surround her sleeping form, though she noted that her forehead - the same place where her Esper form had touched her five years prior - was still tingling.