the maiden who travels the planet | section 2

[myfairlady]

☆ original source

Chapter 4

Until now, Aerith thought the Lifestream had no scent.

The way her soul perceived was sort of done with five spiritual senses - Hearing was how she felt the remnants around her and, sight was how faint or weak energy was perceived as images. It was true she could touch things too but in this world, you could say it was just an extension of sight.

There was no need to eat so clearly, there was no taste. She just knew when her sense of smell was working, even when there really was no scent. Even the blood that was on Dyne was only symbolical so there was no smell in this world. Aerith thought briefly about how sad it was that even flowers wouldn't have had any scent here.

She came across another soul.

It had the smell of something rotting. It was as if it wasn’t completely decomposed but yet, released a strong unpleasant smell as if it was starting to rot away. It was the kind of stench that made you frown.

It was the only spot that the Mako was weak. It was an area where the Mako was distorted as it flowed past it, unable to reform because of getting stuck there. An old man was there.

"Well well, that's a face I remember."

Just like his past life, the man wore an expensive suit that was tailored to fit his character. At a glance, Aerith could feel that he too retained an image that was almost as solid as hers. But the only things clear were his expensive clothing, shoes and ornaments. His face was very faint. He had chubby cheeks, a moustache that had been tidied up and he talked with a shaky voice just like that of an old man.

"Your name was... Doesn't matter. You're the girl that has the Ancients' blood flowing inside you. Am I right?"

"It does matter."

But Aerith had no intentions of telling him her name. The person before her was the former leader of Shinra Inc, President Shinra, the absolute authority of a corporation that surpassed and dictated the nations.

"I see, so you fell down here too. You're dead like me? In the same place?"

The President continued unable to hold back the joy in his tone. "We're reunited in the end as if we've been sent to another life together. The Planet really knows how to make arrangements. I really feel like I've gained something out of this."

"Gained something?"

It meant the same thing that Dyne said at first. But in Dyne's case it was mostly only cynicism towards himself. The old man was completely different. Aerith sensed from his thoughts that President Shinra was seriously thinking the way he was.

"You don't understand do you? The Ancients are more stupid than I thought. Well, that's why you refused cooperating with Shinra Inc so much. My my, what a pitiful and miserable life."

"How rude. I don't remember being miserable at all."

The old man let out a chuckle at how angry Aerith was as if he just made a fool of her.

"Not knowing one’s gains and losses is happiness in a way. But try to think about it. After escaping from Hojo's facility together with your mother, your life has been in the garbage dump slums for fifteen years. When the Turks found you, you could have lived a luxurious life on the upper levels of the plate if you came back to us. At that time, Hojo was dreaming of some other experiment and so I gave the instructions to keep an eye on you. But if you took the initiative of deciding to cooperate with us then I would have welcomed you and given you special treatment. So what do you think now? After living in the slums, crawling around like a bug, getting involved with Avalanche and dying without knowing what luxury is, can you still say that your life wasn't miserable?"

"...That's really a conceited point of view, weighing how fortunate and how unfortunate others are."

"I’m a self-righteous person. If you look at it fairly I'm sure there is no human being that gained more than me."

A sneer came to his face and the President continued to remonstrate.

"With my wits, I managed to expand Shinra, a company that only started off by producing weapons, to the size it is today. Discovering the possibilities of the uses of Mako energy and developing the Mako reactors that drew the energy out was the turning point. The Mako provided power to the public, raising their standards of life and also made them my slaves. After getting their hands on such a life of convenience, it became something like an addictive drug to the ignorant people and took over their minds. And we, the Shinra that controlled that energy expanded the scale of our company in an instant. With some simple advertising we could gather all the top talents we wanted. Dreams of planning the construction of a Metropolis, a space exploration programme... They would all do it all for me. I could use them. They served me like servants to a king. The public couldn't see what was happening. Even the media that drove the public could only follow Shinra's command as we monopolized the Mako energy. Shinra had taken over the country and I had ascended on a throne in which no one would ever criticize me no matter what I done. I could trample all the fools, have unlimited wealth and dictate as the ruler of the world! I wouldn't mind living a longer life but, never mind that. So, what do you think Ancient? Do you understand which of our lives gained more now? Or rather, how miserable your life was?"

"Hmmm... Maybe?"

What Aerith did understand was that the happiness the old man before her had was far different from what she was thinking. The happiness he spoke off was all relative things. He wanted to be in a position where he had more gain than anyone else. As a result of that, the Shinra Inc's thoughts of absorbing the Planet's life remained with him even now. He was like a helpless soul that couldn't feel happiness anymore than those that were less fortunate than him could.

She had no intentions of pointing that out. If that was the end point of his satisfaction then it couldn't be helped. He couldn’t take his hands off the wealth he had scraped together and like rubbish, it was rotting away releasing a stench. As if stuck in a drain - the ugly old man didn't know that he wasn't freed from the misery of his ambitions even after dying.

Always seeking for someone to compare himself with, the President was dissatisfied seeing how responseless Aerith was.

"It was so foolish of me to compare myself to such a stupid human. I'm not in a good mood. I'm pretty annoyed. Leave quickly if you don't understand what I'm saying."

"I'll do that."

This old man couldn't be saved. On the throne where his desires rotted drifting away, he was going to remain there until he reached the end of his long years and his ego disappeared.

Just when Aerith turned her back towards President Shinra and was about to return on her journey...

Something strange happened. A queer wave separate from the Lifestream, rushed into the Sea of Mako shaking it violently. It was an ominous wave like a great pulse.

"What is this?"

Hearing the screams of the old man, Aerith spun round.

All she could see was the figure of the President being drawn away into the distance. Gradually, the speed picked up extremely fast.

He wasn't on a current. The old man was dragged away as if he was caught by gravity, picking up speed as he dropped. He was heading somewhere in the Sea of Mako, drawn away.

Leaving a long trailing scream of terror behind, President Shinra disappeared.

Aerith felt the pulse again. She knew what it was clearly this time. It was the same wave of the one who ended her life in the Forgotten City.

That man was lurking somewhere in the Lifestream.

"Sephiroth..."

The silver haired apostate angel smiled thinly as if taking away the wicked souls to hell. This time Aerith knew the danger wasn't over.

The Holy she had summoned was being suppressed just as it was about to work. The Planet's scar from long ago... Sephiroth was in the Northern Crater that was Jenova's "Promised Land", waiting for the moment when he would be reborn as his original self.

The Ultimate Destructive Black Magic Meteor was on the move. The devil's hammer that would descend from the distant heavens to smash the Planet was summoned.

Chapter 5

Cloud was falling into the Lifestream.

He wasn’t falling into it as the dead or as a soul. He was falling into the Sea of Mako alive, in his living body. He was going to pass out.

In the Northern Crater, he found out that his memories were false. He was just a doll who the mad scientist Hojo had transplanted Jenova cells into. A being made to merge with Sephiroth for his resurrection. But as a failure, he was an inferior clone that wasn't even given a number.

He was thrown out like trash in Midgar. Then he met Tifa. He met his "real" childhood friend, Tifa Lockhart. That time, with Jenova's power to duplicate memories, the memories that Tifa had of Cloud was instantly transferred to him. The missing parts were then filled with his own memories of being in Soldier to complete it all. That was how the patched up personality of Cloud Strife, based on the young man that existed in Tifa's conscious, was born. While that "Cloud" held many contradictions about himself, he built up a fictitious character so that he wouldn't be doubtful of himself. That character was himself.

However, the disguise was going to be stripped away.

It started to fail a long time ago. After coming into contact with many Sephiroth clones, the resonance inside Cloud's conscious uncovered many suspicions. Before long after Aerith's death, the dam he had built holding back his suspicions started to overflow. Using the anger he had towards Sephiroth and the goals he had in mind he somehow managed to suppress it but, that only lasted until he met the original Sephiroth.

In the Northern Crater before Sephiroth who had Jenova at his core, Cloud's brittle character fell apart. Right after that, even his conscious came under his control as Cloud himself handed over the key to summoning Meteor, the Black Materia.

Cooperating with the one enemy he hated and being made to turn against his own goal of stopping Meteor, Cloud's character completely collapsed. His false mosaic ego shattered into pieces and in his empty conscious, only the despair of how he was no one but a failed Sephiroth clone remained.

And so...

Now no longer of use, Cloud crossed into the Planet through the Northern Crater, - abandoned into the Lifestream.

With his ego lost, what was going to happen if the highly concentrated Mako, containing the aggregated memories of the Planet, entered his system?

He was equal to a dried up sponge soaking up a liquid. His blank conscious and vast nonsensical memories were all going to be buried away. This state in which someone was expected to be extremely intoxicated was commonly refered to as "Mako poisoning."

With his mind being infringed beyond the point of recovery, Cloud floated within the Lifestream. Before long, his living body that shouldn't be in the Lifestream, was ejected through one of the natural Mako energy geysers into the nearby coasts of Mideel. With his character lost, he was now a crippled person in confusion.

***

Aerith knew one of the reasons why there was a place that the Lifestream couldn't approach. That place had a barrier that Sephiroth setup. The disaster that would fall from the skies, Jenova, brought with it a meteor that created an enormous scar on the Planet due to its impact. Now that place, where lots of energy was gathering to heal the scar, had become a cradle for Sephiroth's resurrection. The flows of life all around were drawn into the unnatural swirl, preventing a discarnate entity like Aerith from approaching it.

Aerith was eager to talk to Cloud as his living body flowed out of the swirl. She had been trying to while his body was being carried to Mideel. But with his mind shattered and filled with despair, Cloud couldn't hear Aerith's voice. No matter how much she cried out, her voice wouldn't reach Cloud just like the time when they were separated in the Forgotten City.

Helplessly watching Cloud's body return to the surface, Aerith stood in the sea of Mako in dismay.

***

"How can I save Cloud? How can I stop Meteor? I didn't think that Holy would be held back. At this rate, the Planet's going to end up the way Sephiroth wants it... What can I do? Tell me, Cloud..."

Aerith cried as she thought about the shattered Cloud that even her prayers wouldn't reach. His wrecked character could no longer be fixed. If he wasn't Cloud in the first place then, who was he? Knowing him only as a former member of Soldier, there was no way she could guess. She embraced the feeling of helplessness that she couldn't put into words.

"Cloud... I miss you. I miss the real you..."

Her whispers and thoughts became expanded into waves and spread out in the Mako.

Her memories of being with Cloud came to mind again. Her impression was that even though he wasn't very social, there was some cheerfulness about him.

"I felt something odd about him but, was everything really just made up and part of his false character? Cloud wasn't real at all? ...No, that can't be true. There were things that only Cloud could think of. Things that he done because he was Cloud. He was never an empty vessel to begin with!"

But she couldn't figure out the truth. Her thoughts just went in circles. Aerith delved into her memories again. Memories that showed Cloud's individuality. The way he walked. She remembered all his actions one by one...

Most of those thoughts merged into the Sea of Mako and awakened a character. The character recognized the image she recalled and "he" woke up.

"Aerith... Is that you?"

At first, Aerith couldn't remember whose voice it was because it was so sudden. Panicking, she turned round and saw a nostalgic face she hadn't seen for five years. He was her light taste of first love. He was also now a very dear friend who she hadn't seen ever since she heard nothing from him. He had the same character she saw in Cloud. Zack who had blue eyes that proofed he was in Soldier appeared before her. He had an image inferior to Aerith's solid image.

"Zack! Does that mean you're dead too?"

Although usually Aerith wasn't the one to ask obvious questions, it was the first thought that came to mind and she spoke out as if it was a reflex. Besides that, it was odd that such a seasoned and highly skilled Soldier would die. Even though she didn't know his whereabouts, she was sure that he was safe and living peacefully somewhere... She blamed herself for blindly believing in such a thing. This cruel reality was a strong shock for her.

""You too?"... Does that mean you're dead too, Aerith? Well, I was going to say the same thing anyway and then... How should I put this... Give my condolences?"

"You haven't changed one bit."

No matter what happened, Zack never lost his cheerfulness. As if saved by his cheerful personality, Aerith smiled weakly. Even though she knew that he was a member of Shinra's Soldier, it was that part of him that was charming to her.

"Lots of things happened. All terrible things. It all started when I was dispatched on a mission to the rural Nibelheim."

"Nibelheim?"

"Yes, do you know about it? That time, I was together with a very famous Soldier that was known as a hero. He suddenly went mad..."

"You mean Sephiroth, don't you?"

Aerith swallowed her breathe. She believed that there was a meaning to why Zack appeared. She had a feeling it was linked to something.

"That bastard really is famous. Or was it because you read about the huge Nibelheim massacre in the news?"

"You were there at the time, Zack? Then what about Cloud...?"

"Woah woah, hold it there! How do you know about Cloud too? And is he safe?!"

"You know Cloud too. There really is a Cloud, isn't there?"

The two of them quickly exchanged what they knew. And then Aerith knew. She knew that Cloud wasn't just a cloned doll made for Sephiroth. She also knew why she saw Zack in him now.

Zack also knew. He knew the current state his close friend was in now. The friend who got involved together with him in the incident as they got hunted down by the Shinra. He also knew that Sephiroth was going to be resurrected and become a threat not just to Nibelheim but to everything on the Planet.

"Zack... What should I do so that Cloud will know about the truth about himself? Can you tell him that he's real?"

"It's impossible for us to do it. The only one who can do it is that girl that was there with us in Nibelheim, Tifa. If the memories she has could draw out the memories in Cloud then maybe..."

"That's going to be hard. But I won't give up. I'm sure there's a chance."

Aerith's face brightened now that there was hope. "When that's done, Cloud and the others will be able to do something about Sephiroth. They'll be able to remove the obstacle that's suppressing Holy.

Before long, the chance came.

***

Under pressure with the Meteor drawing near, the Planet released its massive biological destructive Weapons and the flow of the Lifestream was disrupted by their activities. The amount of energy that surged up onto the surface was never seen before. Gushing out into Mideel, Cloud who was peacefully resting there with Tifa nursing him by his side, both of them get swallowed up into the Lifestream.

Both of them were engulfed by Mako as they fell into the Planet. For Cloud, it was the second time but for Tifa, it was her first experience.

Aerith risked everything she had in this golden opportunity.

She desperately tried to talk to Tifa who was about to get intoxicated by the highly concentrated Mako. Guiding her conscious, Aerith took her into Cloud's closed heart.

In truth, Aerith really wanted to do it herself. But she couldn't carry out the task. That's why she entrusted Tifa with it. She entrusted Tifa with all the feelings she had for Cloud in her heart. She entrusted them to the one that was going to "live" together with Cloud...

And so, Tifa accomplished the task. Collating her own memories with that of Cloud's, she looked for the things that only the real Cloud could know. Proofing it all, the closed door was opened. Not leaving Soldier allowed Jenova's power that was implanted in Cloud to copy the Soldier traits of his close friend, Zacks. Drawing out the deep memories that were firmly clammed up inside all of that, she reconstructed his original character instead of the fake character he created to protect himself.

"You did it, Tifa. Thank you... I'm a little jealous of you but, do take care of Cloud and the upper world."

Tifa embraced Cloud tightly as he returned to his senses. Aerith watched as both of them returned to the surface while smiling like an affectionate mother.

It was a dazzling sight for Zack.

"Man, you know Aerith. Out of all the girls I've gotten along with, you truly are the best. After that mission, we could have stayed the way we were and might have been able to continue to go out with each other after I returned home. I hate Sephiroth. And I hate Shinra who's been hiding all the stuff they've been doing."

"Someone who's gotten along with so many girls can never become a lover."

"How mean. I'm nice to everyone."

"And that's your bad point. You're not simplistic and awkward like Cloud."

"Is that what you liked, Aerith?"

"Who knows. Things might have changed after five years."

"Heh."

Zack put on sad face as if he was sulking but then smiled carefree. It was the unchanged smile that Aerith knew from when they were young. When she was seventeen, it was what attracted her to him.

"It's not over yet but, I'm going to sleep for a while. It seems there's nothing I can do just now. But whenever you feel lonely, call me Aerith."

"Only if I get really lonely. Goodnight, Zack."

Giving a wave, the First Rank Soldier sank into the Mako. Believing that his role was not yet over, Zack settled down to sleep to save up his energy.

Aerith wasn't going to sleep. Because she was Cetra, she didn't seem tired at all.

She was happy. She was happy that she now knew the real Cloud and was able to watch over him, even though it was just for a short while.

Chapter 6

"Hahaha..."

Aerith stopped in her tracks as she heard laughter that sent chills down her spine.

Even as Cloud and the others fought to find a way to break into the Northern Crater on the surface, she continued to travel through the Lifestream, trying to find some tear in Sephiroth's barrier or some opening that would let her free the suppressed Holy. But she found none. Having fully unveiled Jenova's powers, Sephiroth was firmly protecting the Crater that was going to become his cocoon, especially from any forms of approach by the Lifestream. By doing so, he could avoid the will of the Planet that had grown wary of Jenova for all these years and, hide from the eyes of the Weapons that were born to expel any foreign bodies from the Planet.

If Holy didn't work in time then... Just as Aerith began thinking about the situation, the laughter echoed again.

A new soul had just fallen into the Sea of Mako. It was a hunchbacked man in a lab coat who had a face filled with thin nervous veins and a deranged laughter - Originally under the authority of Shinra, he was a mad scientist that performed unethical human experiments repeatedly. Hojo slowly turned his attention to Aerith.

"Professor Hojo..."

"Ah, the daughter of the Ancients. I see. As long as the Cetra has the will power they can exist in the Lifestream without letting their conscious be scattered. They only lose their ability to be human... Hahaha, very much like Jenova and Sephiroth you could say."

"Don't put me together with them. And you still don't remember my name."

"That doesn't matter. It's far more appropriate to call you the last remaining Ancient than any other name so that it reflects your true unique nature. Oh yes, your difference in my samples coupled with my numbering would have been sufficient enough to distinguish you..."

"Are humans and all living things just test subjects to you? You still can't change even you’re here as a soul?"

"Hahaha... Kyahaha!"

As if he was told a funny joke, Hojo laughed out loudly as if he was possessed.

"...Heehee, heeheehee. No, I have changed. I've changed a lot long before I fell into this Lifestream. You don't understand do you? Ah, this lab coat is in the way."

Hojo wrapped his fingers on the lab coat he was wrapped in and tore it off vigorously. The image of his lab coat was torn into thousands of pieces, flying away wildly like feathers, exposing the body of flesh that was hidden underneath.

"...!"

Aerith gasped. The body before her was not human but was composed of Jenova's cells, a sight that she had seen many times. Hojo had grown tired of experimenting on the bodies of others and had turned himself into a subject for his corrupted experiments.

"Heeheehee. In other words, I'm no different from a sample now. Even you never imagined that had changed this much, did you?"

"What have you done... Have you given up your humanity, Professor Hojo? You've violated your soul so greatly you’ll never be able to return to the Planet..."

"Lifestream... The cycle of life... Will of the Planet... All of it is no more important than nail clippings to me. What's truly important to me is to find out how far science can go in surpassing nature and the Planet's system. If I can satisfy my supreme ambitions and insatiable curiosity then I have no regrets of losing my humanity. I don't care what happens to the Planet as long as I can proof my theories about the being of Jenova!"

The thoughts that Hojo emitted was pure madness and it wasn't like the madness that Dyne needed to be intoxicated. Unlike President Shinra's ambitions, the end point of his goals was of certain destruction. Hojo was like a living corpse. He had become a slave to knowledge, possessed by his own madness for science, with no regard of life or his future.

"Now this proofs I have far surpassed Gast who was recognized for his talent, even though he tried to flee from science like the coward he was. If Gast was in charge of the Jenova Project now, he surely would never have reached this stage... Haha, yes. Professor Gast was your father, was he not?"

"...Father realized that the Planet was more important than science."

Aerith found out when Tifa and Cloud’s memories merged with the Lifestream when they fell. She also found out that it was Hojo who shot her father when he tried to stop him from taking her as a newborn sample.

"Ha, that was the limits of Gast. Stopping and not doing what remained to be done was blasphemy to science... Heh, it’s time for our talk to end."

Without showing the least bit of guilt, Hojo turned his head in the direction of the Northern Crater in the distance.

"My son- Jenova's ruler is calling. He’s asking for more life energy. Hahaha, I shall offer myself. Then he will become one with me, the one who he hated the most and looked down upon. This will be our reunion."

Hojo, who had merged with Jenova was drawn away just like President Shinra that time. Laughing happily with madness, he was sucked towards the bottom of the gravity well.

"Let me give you one last piece of advice, Ancient. No matter what you do, it's futile. It's all part of this Planet's system. Many foreign entities from the skies fall into the Planet's life cycle unknowingly and now Jenova’s in there. So where does its soul go? Even if you try to destroy it, it will never disappear. It has merged with the Sea of Mako, drifting through every part of the Planet through the Lifestream. One day, you will all have to live as part of Jenova. Hahaha... It's only a matter of how soon that will happen."

"I will never let that happen!"

"You too will understand someday. Hahahaha-!"

Leaving only his sneering laughter, the thing that was Hojo disappeared outside Aerith's conscious. And then Hojo became a sacrifice to Sephiroth with an expression dyed with joy and madness. Until the last moment before his soul was worn away, he showed no regrets or shame.

Aerith knew that Hojo's death meant the end of Shinra. In that case, Cloud's decisive battle drew near.

She started to run. If Hojo could die to support Sephiroth then there must be something that they could do to save the Planet.

That's what she believed.

Chapter 7

Cloud and his companions defeated Sephiroth.

Sinking into the Planet's scar and absorbing the Mako energy, the original Sephiroth was revived with his wounds fully healed. In the battle that unfolded afterwards, the will he inherited from Jenova, his own ambitions and the strong thoughts he had inside him granted him formidable power but, the humans still managed to crush him in the end. Sephiroth's physical body was destroyed and full of wounds, he retreated.

But only Cloud knew about his retreat. Having been exposed to Jenova's cells, there were traces of Sephiroth's conscious in him - Part of his conscious resonated with it. Cloud could feel the existence of his remnant somewhere inside the Lifestream, continuing to obstruct Holy even now.

Letting only his conscious enter the Sea of Mako, Cloud went in pursuit of him. Riding through the currents, his old enemy was waiting for him. Sephiroth's soul was not yet destroyed and was still a threat to the Planet.

In the world of conscious energy, their swords clashed with each other as they confronted. Sephiroth, the strongest Soldier and the most admired person, tore his long sword across Cloud like a beam of light. But Cloud wasn't afraid. Believing that he had won, Sephiroth raised his long sword for his next strike and at that instant, Cloud struck out at him unleashing all the strength he had. His large blade slashed into Sephiroth's body during that brief opening. His attack opened up another opportunity for him as he struck out at Sephiroth again. It was an unstoppable storm of slashes - fifteen unavoidable attacks one after the other, cut through Sephiroth.

The mad apostate angel smiled boldly. But the damage he had taken was far beyond what he could endure and his spiritual body started to fall apart as he laughed. Beams of light blasted out from inside his body as if they were cutting him apart. Sephiroth was destroyed. Cloud's nightmare that had been continuing since five years ago in Nibelheim finally came to an end.

The Holy that was no longer obstructed immediately came into action.

This time, Cloud had separated from his body and was now in an absentminded state but, in the abyss of the Mako world, he saw a hand there to guide him. It was white and delicate - it reminded him of the hand that gave him a flower in Midgar. Unconsciously, he stretched out his hand...

His conscious returned to his body. Tifa’s hand grasped his as the ground below him collapsed away.

If the hand hadn't been there to guide him then he would have been at the bottom of Hades right now. It was good timing. Cloud realized that he had been saved.

But it was all too late.

Midgar was about to become the impact point for the Meteor from the skies and it was already too close to the ground. The gravitational force between the Planet and the giant meteor stirred up whirlwinds that mercilessly revolved on the plate of the upper city. As a result, the Holy energy that stretched in between the Planet and the meteor only increased the destructive power between the two instead of having the effect it was supposed to have.

At this rate, not only will the residents of Midgar taking refuge in the slums get involved but, the Planet would be damaged so badly that it would be beyond recovery. Sephiroth's plan was crushed now but, everyone knew that the worst was yet to come.

The Planet was meeting its demise.

"Lend me your power, everyone!"

Aerith cried out. Her waves of thoughts expanded through the Sea of Mako. Carried by the Lifestream, it spread throughout the Planet.

"I can't do this alone. Lets all protect the Planet!"

The cry of the last Cetra shook the countless consciousnesses that she had awakened during her journey. The entire Planet's conscious was awakened. Of course, among them was also the consciousness of those that were suspended for their atonements. With their strong wills combined together, they managed to control the enormous energy of the Planet.

"I've been waiting for this! Lets light the fuse and blow that meteor away with a bang!"

"It's the Avalanche Lifestream Division’s turn! Now that Barret isn't here, I'm the leader!"

"Nooo! I wanted to try being a leader too! That's so unfair, Mr. Wedge!"

"You guys are never serious even though you're Barret's companions. Lets take this seriously and do it for Marlene."

Under their command, countless streams of light appeared on the surface, intertwining together with the Lifestream. Then covering the Planet protecting it like a net, it slipped beneath Meteor and pushed the battering ram from outer space back. The movement of light was like a valkyrie leading her immortal army, riding across the heavens.

"Hey Aerith, did you see Cloud's finishing?"

Zack guided his energy into the second wave as Meteor was thrown back losing its force. "That was one my sword techniques too. Doesn't it make you fall in love again?"

With enough space, Holy now started to take effect. Acting as a barrier, the parts of Meteor that came into contact with it was eroded into dust and was released into space. The Meteor was no longer a threat to the Planet and was now just helplessly waiting to be destroyed.

The Planet had avoided its destruction.

Aerith's thoughts were freed.

Aboard the Highwind, Cloud saw it. So did Tifa, Barret and the others. They saw Aerith's smile that never left their memories, appear in the Lifestream and gently, it faded away as it returned into the Planet.

As time started moving again, their sadness was healed a little.

And so, the records of life that the Planet created continued.

Continued into the birth of a new era...