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Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, and I am not making any money of of this writing.

Chapter List
- 86
- 87
- 88
Chapter 87: Why the White Materia Didn't Glow
WEDNESDAY
TWO DAYS PRIOR TO METEORFALL
Cloud continued to kneel. He could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks, and could even hear them hitting the ground. He tried his best to be strong, as he had promised, but the hurt from this tragedy was overtaking him. True, Sephiroth had been defeated, and he was no longer stopping Holy from moving. But a high price had just been paid. He looked up at the tragic site in front of him, and continued to cry.
Tifa was gone. She was present, but she was gone. She could not see her best friend crying, nor could she hear him pleading for her to return. She would spend eternity as a petrified version of her former self. She had been warned not to drop the break materia, but she did it anyway. She had to defeat Sephiroth, and there was simply no alternative. He was going to impregnate her, and she would die in childbirth. At least she had taken Sephiroth with her this way.
But now, Tifa was a stone statue. She would not enter the Lifestream; she would effectively cease to exist. Cloud knew that, at that moment, she was not thinking nor feeling anything at all. It was worse than dying. She would not be watching over him from anywhere. There was no more Tifa.
Or so he thought.
"Oh, you big baby!" Yuffie suddenly groaned. "Haven't you ever heard of a soft?"
"A what?" asked Cloud through his tears, without making eye-contact. All he wanted to do was look at Tifa.
"A soft!" she repeated as she produced a brown cubical object from her pocket. "It undoes petrification."
Cloud, feeling his heart skip a beat, gasped so hard he nearly choked.
"It does?!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah," Yuffie replied. "You didn't know that?"
Cautiously hopeful, Cloud shook his head.
"You can find that at any old item shop," Yuffie continued.
With that, she walked over to Cloud, and helped him to his feet. She brushed his tears away.
"You don't want Tifa seeing you like this, do you?"
Cloud found it almost too good to be true. He smacked himself in the face, making sure he wasn't fantasizing.
"That thing can really bring her back?" he asked, ignoring the question.
"Of course," Yuffie said. "Unless you want me to use it on Sephiroth instead."
"No way!" Cloud quickly dismissed.
"Just checking," Yuffie said as she walked behind Tifa.
"Thank you," Cloud said calmly. He suddenly found himself wanting to cry again, only this time out of happiness. In a few moments, Tifa would be alive again. She would be able to speak, move, and, most importantly, feel again. A weight was slowly lifting from his heart.
Yuffie placed the soft in the palm of her hand, and gently placed it on the petrified Tifa's shoulder.
A green light briefly engulfed Tifa's body. When it subsided, her hair was once again brown, and her eyes were once again chestnut. She was breathing again. Best of all, she was moving her body. She was no longer petrified.
"It didn't work?!" Tifa said aloud.
She then took a look around herself. She spotted the petrified Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo.
"Wait a minute," Tifa continued. "What happened?"
Cloud simply smiled.
"Welcome back, Tifa," he said.
"I was brought back?!" Tifa exclaimed.
"By a soft," Cloud happily replied. "Courtesy of Miss Kisaragi."
And then, he could no longer hold back. He allowed the happy tears to flow from his eyes.
"Cloud," Tifa began, "you're crying?"
Cloud nodded.
"I thought I was never going to talk to you again," he replied. "I don't think I've ever been that upset before."
He then made eye contact with her, and placed his hands on her arms.
Kiss! Yuffie thought. Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!
A moment later, Cloud pulled Tifa in and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back in the same manner.
"I thought I lost you," Cloud whispered.
"I'm back, Cloud," she said.
Aw, hell, thought Yuffie. I guess a hug will do for now.
"Well," Tifa continued, "what now?"
"Good point," Cid called. "What now?"
Cloud smiled. He could not feel happier.
"I guess the first thing we'll do is get out of this miserable place," he replied. "Sephiroth's defeated. He won't be blocking Holy any more."
"Agreed," Tifa said. She then turned to face everyone else. "All in favor of getting the hell out of here?"
"AYE!" replied everyone else in unison.
"Okay, then!" Tifa laughed. "Cloud, lead us on!"
Cloud was the first to walk towards the doorway and pass through. Tifa followed him closely behind. Barret was behind Tifa. Cait Sith trailed Barret. The ever-silent Vincent followed Cait Sith. Cid was behind the robotic avatar. Jessie followed Cid. Yuffie brought up the rear.
And then, Yuffie re-entered the room. Jessie briefly followed.
"What about them?" asked Yuffie, taking one final glance at Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo.
"What about them?" Jessie replied. "They failed. This is the price they pay."
The group slowly ascended the grated staircase. The sound of eighteen feet casually clanking the grating was a relief; it meant that that job was over. There was nothing to watch out for, nor was there anything to pursue. There was only a surface and fresh air awaiting them all.
"So Jessie," Yuffie continued, "with Shinra gone, there's no more need for Avalanche. What are you going to do now?"
"I dunno," Jessie replied. "I guess I could settle down. I'm not getting any younger."
"How old are you, anyway?" Yuffie asked.
"Twenty-two," Jessie replied.
"I don't see why you wouldn't be able to find someone," Yuffie said as she reached the landing. "You seem fun to be around."
"I think I already have," Jessie said.
"Really?" asked Yuffie in surprise. "Who?"
Jessie stopped Yuffie and put her mouth to her ear.
"I like Barret," she whispered.
"Really?!" Yuffie whispered back.
"Shh!" Jessie insisted as she resumed her ascent. "I'm trying to figure out how to tell him."
"Just tell him," Yuffie suggested. "It's what I would do."
"I wish it was that easy," Jessie sighed as she reached the top of the stairs. "I'm too shy when it comes to this kind of thing."
"Fish while they're biting," Yuffie suggested.
Moments later, Cloud led the group into the room with all of the now-open pods. Fortunately, no lids were blocking the stairs. It seemed strange and relieving at the same time. Those kind of experience would never be performed on humans again. The pods would be empty forever.
"I'm so glad this reactor's done for good," said Tifa behind him.
"Me, too," said Cloud.
He quietly began to descend the stairs. He was eager to see the light of day. He was eager to feel the breeze on his skin.
"Hey Cloud!" called a voice when he was halfway down.
"What's up, Cid?" Cloud asked as he turned to face him.
"I was just thinking," Cid replied. "You don't suppose there's any more of those makonoids anywhere? Like in some other reactor?"
"I certainly hope not," Cloud replied as he turned back around and continued forward. "Twelve were quite enough, don't you think?"
"The real monster's petrified in the basement," Cait Sith said.
"You can say that again," Cloud said as he reached the bottom. "You can say that again."
Cait Sith said it again.
"You ruined it!" called Yuffie from behind.
Cloud then passed through the doorway, entering the room with the pipe bridge.
Tifa followed him, and sighed.
Cloud turned to face Tifa. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Sorry," Tifa apologized. "It's just that this was where I found my father. I just didn't have time to take it when we were coming in."
"I know," Cloud replied gently. "No apology necessary." He paused. "Now that Sephiroth is out of the way, we can start looking for your father. You'll have my support."
Tifa shook her head.
"No, Cloud," she dismissed. "You have a life to get back to."
"You'll have his support," Vincent reinforced from a couple of yards behind them.
"Thank you," Cloud said.
What bothered him, however, was Vincent's rather solemn tone of voice.
Does he know something I don't? Cloud thought as he began to cross the pipe bridge. Now that I think about it, something does feel kind of off. He looked back, scanning everyone who was following him. Something feels...incomplete.
Not wanting to hold everyone up, Cloud quickly made his way to the other side.
What could it be?
They entered the front room. The reactor's exit was visible on the other side. Just a few more steps, and everyone would be outside.
Suddenly, Cloud stopped in his tracks. Something else in his mind began to bother him.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.
"There is one thing we still haven't figured out," he replied as he turned to face her.
"What's that?"
"Why the white materia didn't glow."
Tifa hesitated for a moment.
"You know, you're right," she said. "That's been in the back of my head since we returned to the Forgotten Capital."
"Which means we need to figure out why," Cloud said. "It's probably nothing, but we have to be sure. We don't want to be proven wrong the hard way."
"We have more than a day to do that," she assured him. "We've figured out stuff in less than that. But I personally think it's nothing."
Cloud smiled, and nodded. He always found talking to her reassuring. He turned around and proceeded towards the exit.
MOMENTS LATER...
Cloud, being first in line, was the first to step outside. It was eight in the evening, but the sky was still as light as the afternoon. A gentle breeze greeted his face as he stepped forward, descending one stair at a time. He wondered if it was now time to tell everyone the truth about what would happen when Holy moved. It would only be fair, and, with Sephiroth defeated, there would be nothing to be distracted from.
Behind him, one by one, the others began to descend the stairs. As Cloud moved forward to give them room, Tifa suddenly cut in front of him. She turned, and made eye contact with him.
"What's up?" Cloud asked.
"Just something I need to tell you," she replied. "It's been on my mind."
"Go ahead," he permitted.
"Look, Cloud," she began, "I'm sorry if I seemed a little cold back there on the rim of the Northern Crater."
"No worries," he assured her.
"Cloud," she continued, "I was beyond happy to see you. But I just couldn't overstep any boundaries."
"There's no way you could," he insisted.
"By your standards," Tifa corrected him. "But it would be way too awkward if..."
She then paused, and suddenly shifted her head forward, as if she was peering over his shoulder.
"If..."
This was not like Tifa to hesitate. Something must have gotten her attention.
"If what?" asked Cloud.
She stopped speaking completely. A moment later, her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. It was a look of sudden distress.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his heart began to accelerate.
Without verbally replying, Tifa pointed her finger. It seemed as if she was pointing to something in the distance. The look on her face seemed upset, and her finger seemed to shake.
Cloud became tense; it seemed as if bad news was coming.
Yuffie was the second to notice whatever Tifa was pointing to, as Cloud could hear her gasp in horror.
That told him right away that it was certainly not good, and he somewhat did not want to turn. Yet he knew that not turning would not make the situation any less true.
"Oh my God!" Cid uttered.
Slowly, Cloud turned around.
"Shit!" Barret whispered.
Cloud nervously turned clockwise.
"Oh no," Red XIII said quietly.
Slowly, Tifa disappeared from Cloud's view to the left, and, to his right, a pipe rising out of the ground came into view. Nothing seemed wrong with it, so the source of Tifa's horror had to be further to the right. His heart was now racing. It was no longer the comments he was hearing from his friends that bothered him; it was what he was not hearing. It was whom he was not hearing. He continued to turn, as the pipe turned and became horizontal.
And then, he saw Aerith.
She was laying on her back. Her arms were at her side, and her eyes were closed. Blood was coming from her mouth, and the skin that her black tank top revealed below her neck was bruised purple. She was completely motionless; she had been hurt very badly by Sephiroth.
"Aerith!" Cloud cried in a panic as he ran to her, followed by Yuffie. He knelt down, and looked at Vincent. "What happened?"
"See that pipe?" Vincent replied. "Sephiroth flung her into it, and she fell to the ground. She was on his shoulders, stabbing him with his own sword. It was because of her that he lost his powers and returned to normal. This was the price she had to pay for it."
Cloud locked back at the fallen Aerith. She was as still as a statue, and her chest did not seem to be rising. Reaching out a trembling finger, he placed it on her neck and checked for a pulse.
"She saved us all," he said softly.
"Cloud," Yuffie began in a shaky voice. "Is...is...she...?"
"No," Cloud quickly replied. "I feel a pulse."
At that moment, her eyes fluttered open. They were glossy, and shifted immediately toward Cloud.
"Hi," she greeted weakly, almost in a whisper. Even that took effort for her.
"Hey," Cloud replied softly as he gently stroked her face. "Lie still."
"Did we do it?" Aerith whispered. "Did we...take care of Sephiroth?"
"We did," he softly. "And we wouldn't have been able to beat him if you didn't do what you did."
Her eyes slightly widened.
"You didn't kill him, did you?"
Cloud shook his head.
"Tifa dropped the break materia and turned him to stone," he explained. "We thought we lost her, too, but Yuffie brought her back."
"Good," Aerith whispered. "Please tell her I'm sorry. That was so cruel what I said to you earlier. I should've told you I was alive right away. Right after I cheated death on the altar."
"Don't worry about it," he insisted gently.
"I cheated death," she continued. "At the altar. On the beach. In the Urchin. But not here."
Cloud felt his eyes sting. He did not want to accept that she was mortally wounded.
"Don't say that," he pressed.
But reality was reality. Her ribs were broken. She was most certainly bleeding internally, with her lungs filling with blood. Because of the fall, the was very likely to have been paralyzed.
Yuffie, meanwhile, pulled out her cell phone.
"Ambulance," she announced. "I'm on it."
"No, no," Aerith whispered. "I feel myself going."
She weakly gripped Cloud's hand.
He gently gripped hers back.
"I've used up one cheat too many," she continued. "Listen, Cloud, I knew the timeline would come back and take me. But I don't regret the changes that happened. I got to move in with you and wake up to you every morning for two weeks. I got to call you may boyfriend." She then sniffled, and a tear escaped her eye. "And then, I got to call you my fiancé." She paused. "But I guess that's the most I'll ever get to call you. Oh, Cloud, I was so looking forward to marrying you and calling you my husband."
"Aerith," Cloud whispered. Although he had made his mind up about whom he wanted to be with, his heart was still breaking. His eyes were becoming wet.
"Take care of yourself, baby," she continued. "Be happy. And Cloud?"
"Yes?" he gently asked.
"I know Tifa will take good care of you."
"Hang on, please," Cloud pleaded. He could feel a growing weakness in her hand.
"Cloud," Aerith whispered, seemingly more weakly, "I love you so much. Kiss me. I always...feel better...when you kiss me..."
He softly pressed his lips against hers. He could feel her kissing back. He continued to kiss her deeply, knowing that it would be the last time he would ever do so.
By the time the kiss was broken, Aerith had gone.
Cloud placed his fingers to her neck once more. This time, there was no pulse. He gazed at her lifeless body for a few moments. Then, gently, he closed her eyes forever. He wiped the blood from her mouth. Finally, he rested her on the ground, and took his hand away.
The tears he had been holding back escaped. This was no façade; Aerith really was dead this time. She had been right; the timeline had refused to change. True, he had planned to return to Tifa, but that did not change the fact that she loved him with all her heart and had agreed to marry him. In any event, she was still a wonderful person. She deserved better.
And then, he noticed something. Out of the corner of his eye, he perceived a green glow. Cautiously, he turned his head to learn where the glow was coming from.
It was the white materia, which had rolled out of Aerith's pants when she hit the ground. And it was glowing bright green; the exact same green Cloud remembered from the original timeline.
Slowly, he began to understand.
FLASHBACK...
"I will say something if they decide to get married on that altar where she faked her death," Barret said. "That would be creepy."
Jessie lowered her head.
"What's eatin' ya?" he asked.
"I was just looking at pictures of that altar," she replied.
"And?"
"It doesn't look like anyone ever got married there," she said.
"Whaddya mean?"
"It looks like it was more for...sacrifices."
Barret ran his hand over his beard.
"Come to think of it...when Aerith was prayin' on the altar...Cloud tried to kill 'er."
"What?!" exclaimed Jessie.
"He pulled his sword out and aimed it at 'er," Barret continued. "I thought it was Sephiroth controlling him. But now...maybe it was some thin' else. Somethin' supernatural."
….END FLASHBACK
"So that's it," Cloud said as he stood up, cradling the glowing white materia in his hands.
"What's it?" Yuffie, who was also crying, stammered.
"It wasn't just a prayer that activated Holy," he replied. "There had to be a sacrifice." He then turned to face Aerith's body. "She had to give up her life. The white materia only glowed green when her heart stopped beating."
"You're saying she had to die to save the world?" Yuffie tearfully asked.
"Yes," Cloud replied. "Thank you, Aerith."
"So now we wait?" Yuffie asked.
Cloud nodded. "Now we wait."
The rest of the night wrote itself. Soon, the paramedics arrived by helicopter, as Yuffie had called an ambulance anyway. Cloud, meanwhile, accepted what fate had decided; doing otherwise would not change anything. He did not even object to them picking up Aerith and putting her in a body bag.
However, he could not return to the beach house in Costa del Sol. It was not because of painful memories; it was because it was not where he belonged. He needed to go where he did belong. But he had been through so much, he was an emotional wreck. He could not bear to go there all alone. He thus approached the person who gave him the most comfort.
"Would you mind walking me home?" he asked, in a drained tone of voice.
"Not at all," Tifa replied. She then hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.
"Thanks," he said.
They walked back to their adjacent homes in Nibelheim. Not a word was spoken, but Tifa had her hand on his shoulder the entire time. Both of them had infinity on their minds.
After all that had happened, the walk back did not seem that long. The path rounded, the mountain walls ended, and the northern entrance to Nibelheim, along with the lighted houses beyond, beheld itself. Despite his grief, Cloud found it somewhat relieving to be home.
Finally, they arrived at the front doors to their houses. It was now time to part for the night.
"Cloud," Tifa began, "please just tell me you'll be okay."
"I'll be fine," he insisted. "I was going to leave her anyway."
Tifa looked down.
"We can talk more tomorrow," she assured him. "Right now, you need to rest."
Cloud silently nodded.
Tifa then pulled him in for a hug.
"You're still my best friend, Cloud," she assured him.
A few minutes later, Cloud entered the house he thought he would never set foot in again. Everything was as he had left it, but he barely took notice. He suddenly felt an exhaustion he had never felt before. It was both physical and emotional at the same time. Right now, all that he wanted to do was sleep.
He changed into his pajamas and lay down in his bed. At first, he seemed okay. Then, things began to change. He noticed that there was nobody sleeping next to him; that was a first in two weeks. He was still expecting to see her fast asleep next to him, dreaming of their wedding day.
Realizing he would not sleep for a while, Cloud pulled out his cell phone and prepared to surf the internet. The first thing he noticed, however, was his inbox. There was one unread message.
Upon pressing it, Cloud found out that it was from Aerith; she had sent it to him before they had left that morning. The message was a selfie of her, dressed in what she had worn that day, with her back turned to the mirror, sticking her backside out to give Cloud a generous view.
Below it read: "BADUNKADUNK," with a heart emoji next to it.
Cloud put the phone down and began to cry again. He cried himself to sleep that night.
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Premonitions: Uncut