The sky overhead threatened to pour as Rufus T. Shinra's casket was lowered into the ground. It seemed like everyone who had ever worked at Shinra was present, and then some. Tseng was not there, of course, but Cloud and a number of his friends were, including Tifa, Cid, Barret, Marlene, and Aeris. Reno stood next to Reeve, unsure of his feelings for his now-deceased one-time rival, well aware of the ground beneath his feet as he pondered Rufus' fate in the Lifestream. Thunder softly rumbled above them as the prayer ended and flowers were tossed upon the casket, including the few sprigs of foxglove that Reeve had brought with him. Reno could tell that Reeve was holding back for his sake, and it made him uncomfortable; silently, he broke from his partner's side and wandered off.
         Rufus' grave was alongside his father's and mother's, a magnificent site adorned with arches and a tall obelisk; in the wings to either side of it were the final resting places of a handful of executives and Turks. Reno strode up to the graves of the Kawaguchis: Tseng and his son, born as Yoshiro, later known to a select few as Veck, only to finally die as Tseng himself. A stone representation of Leviathan, the Water God of Wutai whose summon materia had once been in his possession, curled around a tall column that sat between the headstones of father and son. He recalled the war, and how furious he had been when that materia had been stolen from him by a Wutaiese spy he had unwittingly come to love, but it was not until recently that he had learned just what that materia meant to the people of Wutai. It was traditionally given to the strongest warrior in the land, the victor over the Five Gods, and had been lost for several decades before surfacing in Cosmo Canyon, where it was eventually given to him. This was but one of many things he had learned in the past few weeks by listening to the Lifestream.
         "Reno? What're you doing over here?"
         He turned around to see Aeris, hands clasped behind her back and head tilted in an inquisitive manner.
         "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about things. And what brings you here?"
         "Nothing, likewise." She stared at the two headstones. "Well, actually, I've been meaning to ask you something…"
         "Let me guess. It has to do with how I learned how Rufus died."
         Aeris nodded. "It's one thing to be able to hear the Planet—anyone can do that, depending on how strong the life energy is where they're located—but for a long time, I thought that, as the last Cetra, I was the only one capable of actually listening to it, making out individual voices."
         "Really? All kids born in Cosmo Canyon are trained by the Elders in Planet-reading. The vast majority of them eventually stop, but even those who keep it up tend to lose the ability as they grow older. I took it up again recently, but it's really hard to do. I have to strain to pick out voices."
         "I never had that problem. Throughout my entire life, I could hear the Planet all the time. Since I had no control over it, I had to teach myself how to ignore the Planet's voice so that I could carry on normally."
         "Damn…"
         "Reno, can you listen to the Planet right now? I'd like to see how you do it."
         "What, you mean here?"
         Aeris giggled. "A graveyard's a good place for it, don't you think? Besides, you might hear something interesting."
         The smile that crossed her lips at that moment was a little suspicious to Reno. Intrigued by whatever Aeris was hinting at, he sat cross-legged on the ground, directly in front of the Leviathan column, and placed his palms on his knees and closed his eyes. The Planet's murmur came to him quickly, but as usual, the challenge lay in picking out an individual voice, or even just a phrase or word. After what seemed like several minutes of sitting like this, a faint but familiar voice came to him, saying, "----Lucrecia's cave."
         What? he thought.
         "Don't let him get there."
         Who?
         "Thanatos."
         Thanatos? You mean—
         "The Reunion ends with her."
         Her who? Lucrecia?
         "Where is she?"
         Jolted out of his session by this demanding voice, his eyes shot open and he turned around in the direction from which it had come. There was a newcomer at the Shinra family's gravesite, one which had caused the gathered crowd to shrink back collectively. He was tall and wore black leather; his silver hair was short, with long bangs framing his lean face. Reno got to his feet, instinctively drawing his Electro-Prod as the man slammed a concrete angel with his fist, smashing it to pieces. "Where is Mother?" he roared again.
         "You fixin' for a fight?" Reno called. "If so, then get lost."
         The silver-haired man turned around and grinned. "Why? Are your friends here? Should I send you to meet them?"
         Reno blinked and averted from the man's gaze. He had the strangest sensation, like he had been in a very similar situation some years before. Then he remembered: it was in Gongaga, in the graveyard where Reeve's parents were buried, back when he was tailing AVALANCHE with Rude and Elena. Recalling what Sephiroth had done to him there, he dared not look upon the man again. That was when he heard Reeve's voice.
         "Everyone, get out of here! Now!"
         Reno looked at the scene again to see that Tifa and Rude were each locked arm-to-arm with the man, and that save for them, the other former AVALANCHE members, Elena, and Reeve, everyone else was busy escaping the graveyard. Aeris was already running toward the scene.
         "So that's Thanatos," Reno said to himself, drawing out his Electro-Prod. "Hope we can take him out here and now."

*****

         While they all had managed to drive him out of the Shinra Military Cemetery before any serious damage was done, they were unable to do away with Thanatos, who escaped. Rufus' burial was hastily completed without the large crowd from before, with him, Cid, and Rude manning the shovels. A meeting was held afterwards at Seventh Heaven, where Reno told them all that Thanatos' goal were the last remaining Jenova cells, in Lucrecia's cave, which made sense to him and his other former traveling companions. Lucrecia was not only Sephiroth's human mother, but also a carrier of Jenova cells, which had prevented her from returning to the Planet after her death. Everyone decided that something needed to be done as soon as possible, and that the first step would be to secure the cave.
         It was the following day, and Cloud was thinking about all this as he sat amongst the flowers in the old Sector Five church. Barret had left Edge the previous night to scout out the cave, though his cover story was that he was, in fact, visiting the slowly rebuilding Corel. He wondered what lay in store for Barret, and indeed, for the rest of them, in dealing with the last of the Jenova cells, and the last of the silver-haired S-Classes. A Jenova-free world was finally within reach. Was this truly the beginning of the end of all their fighting?
         "I thought I'd find you here."
         Cloud glanced back at the church's main entrance to see Vincent striding toward him, down the center aisle, his red cloak—the edges of which had slowly become tattered since his awakening two and a half years ago—flowing behind him like calm ocean waves.
         "You've been looking for me?"
         "Only just started. Seventh Heaven was to be my second stop, provided that you weren't here."
         Cloud sighed. "What's wrong with a phone call? Didn't you buy a new PHS some months ago?"
         "Yes, but I'm still not used to such devices, so I keep forgetting I have it on me." Vincent reached the foot of the flower bed and stared down at the lilies. "Cellular technology wasn't around when I was a Turk."
         "Ah. So what's going on?"
         "I heard about Thanatos, and Lucrecia."
         "I see…"
         "Cloud, I…" Vincent trailed off. It seemed to Cloud like Vincent didn't know what to say next, though he had a good idea of what was on the former Turk's mind. "I will be leaving soon."
         "Figured as much."
         "Before I go, I need to give you something."
         Vincent walked around the flower bed to the front pew where Cloud sat, and stood before him, his right hand searching for something beneath the folds of his cloak. When at last he removed it, Cloud's eyes widened at what it now held.
         "Where'd you get that?"
         "Tseng found it, and placed it in my care."
         "And now you want to give it to me? Are you sure? You remember what happened last time…"
         "How could I forget?"
         "Vincent, I don't know…"
         "You've changed since those days, and besides," Vincent said, taking Cloud's right hand in his metal-covered left and placing the Black Materia into it, "I trust you more than anyone."
         "It feels more like you're testing me."
         Vincent pressed Cloud's fingers around the black orb. "It's the truth; I do trust you. Not only are you my friend, but I can tell that you no longer feel the influence of Jenova, that crisis which the Cetra unwittingly brought upon themselves."
         Cloud stood, the Black Materia tight in his grip as he did so. "What are you talking about? You mean they summoned the meteor that brought Jenova here?"
         "Yes, and they created the means to do so. They were far more advanced than us in the ways of the Planet, and created materia, some of which are still with us today, and others the likes of which we could only imagine."
         "They… created materia?"
         Vincent nodded. "In some ways, they were like the Shinra Electric Power Company of their time, taking advantage of the Planet's resources to advance their own civilization too far, too fast. In the midst of long and elaborate wars, it was they who trapped the Planet's most fantastic guardian forces, compressing them into small red stones, and it was also they who sought to control the purest forms of magic known to humankind, the ultimate forces of destruction and creation."
         "Meteor and Holy, the Black and White Materias. The Ancients made them?"
         "Indeed they did: two diametrically opposite forces, extracted and refined from the same whole, conceived as weapons of war. No single being had been able to get Holy to work before Aeris did. Meteor, on the other hand, has been used twice during its entire existence. The first time just happened to bring an unwanted side effect with it—the "virus". Its first victim was the one whose corpse Professor Gast named Jenova."
         "And the rest is history."
         Vincent nodded, then stared up toward the rafters. "Human civilization is a strange thing, isn't it? We tend to hold the past with higher regard than the present, but in reality, things don't change. We as a species have become less sensitive to the Planet than during the Cetra's time, but we still make the same devastating mistakes in the name of intangibles such as knowledge and power." He turned to leave, but paused and looked back at Cloud. "By the way, in case you're wondering, I have been assured that the White Materia is in good hands. Or rather, it soon will be."
         Cloud nodded as he watched Vincent go. Once his friend had left, he stared at the Black Materia again, and suddenly realized what he must do.

*****

         Lucrecia was all he could think about as he crossed the ocean on a swift gold chocobo, guiding the bird straight toward the cave where she dwelled, dead yet alive. Even after all this time, he couldn't fully understand why she had gone through with the experiment, giving birth to Hojo's son and specimen. What was the true nature of her feelings toward Hojo, and himself?
         Hojo was dead; that much he was sure of. Even if there were some Jenova cells that lingered on after he, Cloud, and Barret destroyed whatever it was Hojo had mutated into, they had been dissolved by the rain Aeris brought upon her return, becoming harmless elements to trickle down the bent beams and supports that continued to hold up the Sister Ray more than two years after its final shot had been fired.
         He snapped the chocobo's reins. No matter the outcome of this battle, Lucrecia's Jenova cells would be taken from her, and she would at long last return to the Planet. However, before he could let that happen, he needed answers.
         The Corel Desert stretched out before him as he arrived on the Great Continent, the Gold Saucer an oddly-shaped pillar on the horizon. As he dismounted to stretch his legs, he heard a loud sound, like crashing waves, from further up the coast. He turned around to see that a submarine had surfaced at an old dock several yards north of where he stood. Trying to recall where he had seen this sub before, he suddenly remembered that it had once been part of the Shinra's fleet. He'd had no idea any of their subs were still around, much less operational.
         As he watched, the hatch on top of the sub opened and Reno's head emerged. Vincent narrowed his eyes at the redheaded Turk; had he been followed?
         "Hey Vincent!" Reno called out. "Don't go anywhere! Me and Rude'll be right out."
         Grudgingly, Vincent nodded and stood still while the two Turks got out of the sub and walked up to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked once Reno and Rude were within talking distance.
         "Just our job," Reno replied as they stopped in front of Vincent.
         "Which has what to do with me?"
         "Everything," said Rude.
         "We were hired to accompany you to the cave," Reno explained.
         "I never asked for an escort. Who's your client?"
         "Spiky."
         Vincent glared at Reno. "Come again?"
         "He means Cloud Strife," said Rude. Reno rolled his eyes.
         "And why would Cloud think I needed help from you two?"
         "He's worried about you," Reno said. "Truth is, I wouldn'tve taken this job had I not been worried as well. Something tells me that this 'Thanatos' isn't like any of the others we've fought up 'till now."
         Vincent said nothing. He wanted to be able to enter the cave on his own, with no one else present to overhear his words to Lucrecia. On the other hand, it was true that he knew next to nothing about this last of the silver-haired men. Still holding on to his chocobo's reigns, he coaxed the golden bird to lower itself so he could mount its back once again.
         "Let's head for North Corel."
         "You're gonna get there faster than us riding that thing," said Reno.
         "I'll keep her at a trot. However, once we get there, you're going to have to find your own way across the mountains if you wish to follow me any further."
         "Already been arranged," Rude replied.
         Vincent sighed, then lightly shook the chocobo's reins, prompting her forward.

         North Corel had changed considerably since Vincent's previous visit, way back when he and his friends were collecting Huge Materia. It now resembled an actual town, as opposed to a haphazard collection of tents and booths. While Rude headed to the Ropeway Station to pick up the black chocobos that had been arranged for him and Reno, Vincent wandered the town with the redhead, looking for Barret, who he'd heard had come here to scout Lucrecia's cave and the surrounding area. He needed to be sure that the cave hadn't been disturbed, and that he would be able to get there without running into any potential problems.
         Vincent and Reno finally found Barret near a large water tower, sitting on a crate and staring at the dusty ground, a scowl on his face.
         "Hello, Barret," Vincent greeted. "How have things been here?"
         Barret grunted and shook his head. Reno glanced over at Vincent. "What's eating him?"
         "Whatever it is, I don't like it," Vincent replied before turning back to Barret. "Are you all right?"
         "Damn jackass, puttin' thoughts into their heads like that…"
         "Huh?"
         "The people here think I killed Dyne. I told 'em 'bout what really happened in the Desert Prison, but they wouldn't listen to me." Barret shook his head again. "Truth is, when he looked at me, for a moment I thought, 'Maybe I am responsible. Maybe it is my fault Dyne ain't around no more.'"
         Vincent had not yet been awakened when Dyne died, but he'd heard what had happened through Cloud and Tifa, and knew that Dyne had taken his life on his own. "We both know that's ridiculous. Who told you this?"
         "That Thanatos guy. He was here just before you guys showed up. Tried to go after him, but he distracted everyone with his lies, and I couldn't catch up. Don't know where he went, but hopefully we're still safe."
         "I'm not so sure about that. Did you look him in the eye?" Reno asked. "And if so, did you feel anything when you did?"
         "Huh? Yeah, and I got a little shiver. Why?"
         "Shit. This is bad."
         "What is it?" Vincent asked.
         "While me and the other Turks were trailing you all two and a half years ago, I encountered Sephiroth in a graveyard in Gongaga. He read my mind, and used what he had found there to torment me. I guess he wanted to weaken me so that I'd be in no condition to put up a good fight."
         Barret got to his feet. "Is what you're tellin' us true? If that's the case, then maybe—"
         "Maybe, in addition to the details about Dyne, he also learned where the last Jenova cells are," Vincent said, picking up where Barret left off. "Reno, we have to get Rude and leave, right now."
         "Then you're fine with us tagging along to the cave?"
         Vincent didn't reply, but whirled around and started toward the Ropeway Station.

         Now that Reno and Rude had chocobos of their own, Vincent no longer felt hindered by these Turks as they traveled southward across the mountains, toward the small, deep lake that lay hidden high amongst them. Upon reaching their destination, the three let their birds loose, then walked single file along the narrow rock ledge that led to the cave behind the waterfall. Even though that usual soft blue glow greeted them at the cave's entrance, Vincent could sense right away that there was something wrong. He broke away from Reno and Rude, running deeper into the cave, and stopped once he saw that the crystal that housed Lucrecia had shattered. Cradling Lucrecia on the ground before the crystal was a tall man with short silver hair, his back to the cave's mouth from which Vincent had come. As Vincent bolted toward them, the man seemed to draw Lucrecia's head closer to his, and a bright light surrounded them. Upon coming into contact with this light, Vincent was repelled and thrown back a ways. As he started to get up, a pair of hands were offered to him, and Reno and Rude helped Vincent to his feet.
         "Damn you're fast—didn't know you could run like that. What happened?" Reno asked.
         Vincent said nothing, but stared at the light until it dissipated, revealing an even taller man in black with long, flowing hair and a massive sword slung across his back. He stood straight, holding Lucrecia's limp body in his arms.
         "Sephiroth," Vincent growled. "What did you do to her? Do you have any idea who she is?"
         The man in black turned around and smiled. Beside him, Vincent could hear the clack of Reno's nightstick being extended and the stretch of leather from Rude tugging on his battle gloves. "She was my mother," Sephiroth replied, "or rather, my surrogate mother, fulfilling the role that had been reserved for her."
         "Surrogate?" replied Vincent.
         "Yes. My real mother is Jenova, or did you forget that?" Sephiroth dropped Lucrecia's dead body on the ground as though she was a sack of dirt. He kicked her out of the way as he came forward. "Lucrecia was just another scientist involved with the Jenova Project."
         "Vincent…" said Reno, as if to warn the former Turk not to push himself too far. However, Vincent believed he knew what he was doing. He became aware of Cerberus resting against his thigh as he shifted his weight, but knew that his trusty rifle would be of no use to him today.
         "You ungrateful, disrespectful excuse for a son," Vincent said, his voice dripping with disgust. "She was indeed your mother, and she loved you."
         "Loved, you say?" Sephiroth said, a small smile slithering across his face. "Too bad I can't say the same for you."
         Vincent said nothing, but merely stared at Sephiroth, his eyebrows pinched and his cheeks growing hot from the pressure exherted by his gnashed teeth. A searing pain ripped through his left arm; it would soon be time.
         "You were obsessed with her, and it was that very obsession which drove her into Hojo's arms."
         "This ends here," Vincent snarled, starting toward Sephiroth.
         "Hmph," was all that Sephiroth would say beforth unsheathing an unusually dull Masamune and swiftly slicing across Lucrecia's body a few times. Vincent tried to look away, but it was too late; the sight of her blood lashing out in a trail from the long blade, not to mention her flesh, grey and pale from all those years of being preserved in crystal, spilling out from her wounds, pushed him over the edge. He fell to his knees, gripping his head and screaming.
         His cry was swiftly answered.
         Hello, my friend. Are you certain this is what you want?
         Yes. Today is the day I atone for my sins, and those of humanity and its ancestors.
         You never change. You realize that you won't survive if you go through with this.
         Of course I do. I have prepared myself for this day, and I suspect it is also one you all have long awaited.
         Very well. If that is your decision, then free us. Unleash Galian, Gigas, Hellmasker, and myself, and be assured that we will finally put an end to the Crisis.
         Thank you, and farewell.
         Chaos laughed. My friend, this is hardly the time for farewells. We shall meet again…

*****

         The pink ribbon he used to wear on his upper right arm was draped over the wooden picture frame on his desk, which held the group photograph taken outside of Seventh Heaven the day after Cloud's reunion. He wasn't there in person, but Cait Sith was, held on to tight by Marlene, who seemed to have inherited some of her father's strength. Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Nanaki, Yuffie, Vincent, and Cid were also in the photo, in various degrees of mugging for the camera. That kid Denzel was there too; he had originally offered to take the photo so that Aeris could be in the shot, but she had declined, and they switched places instead. It wasn't until now that Reeve recalled an old story about people attempting to take pictures of ghosts, only to come up with nothing once their film had been developed.
         He stared at this photo as another ghost, one Zack Winfield, sifted through stacks of paper; copies of reports, memorandums, and other documents that had been salvaged from the Shinra Building. On one side of Reeve's office was a fireplace, which was lit; every few minutes Zack would feed its flames with a manila folder thick with paper. Apparently, he had gone through Rufus' archive—and the Shinra Building—not too long ago in a similar fashion. Reeve supposed this purging of Jenova Project documents was to be expected, considering what Zack had Cloud do to the main archive in Nibelheim.
         Zack dumped a particularly large stack of paper into the fireplace and dusted his hands. "Well, that should be everything. Sorry for the trouble."
         "It was no trouble at all," Reeve replied. He gestured to a chair in front of his desk. "Please, sit down for awhile. There's something I want to ask you."
         Taking Reeve up on his offer, Zack took a seat. "Sure. What's up?"
         "You hinted at your return to me, through the wolf and later, those visions."
         Zack smirked. "Nothing gets past you. What about it?"
         "Did you do this for anyone else?"
         Zack shook his head.
         "And what about Tseng and Aeris? Reno once told me that Elena was acting strange on the day they first saw Tseng again, and during the reunion at Seventh Heaven, Cloud simply brushed off Aeris' return like it was nothing. Had Elena and Cloud been expecting them?"
         "What do you think?"
         "I can see the logic when it comes to Elena and Tseng, and Cloud and Aeris, but why did you go through me? Apart from our being born and raised in the same small town, there is no connection between us."
         Zack seemed to ignore Reeve's inquiry, and his eyes wandered from the WRO leader's face to focus on something behind his desk. "Hey, check out what's happening to the Masamune."
         "The Masamune?" Reeve turned to see what Zack was looking at. In the space normally occupied by Kadaj's sword, the Masamune was propped up against the wall, nearly touching the ceiling. Its usually shiny blade was rapidly developing a dark tarnish before Reeve's eyes, soon becoming entirely black. He touched it, finding that it had become brittle; another touch caused the entire sword to collapse into a heap of black dust. He stared at the dust, breathless; he wasn't sure about what was going on, but knew it was something positive.
         "Kadaj's sword was created with the spirit of the Masamune, which is now dead."
         "So does that mean its owner is dead as well?"
         "Yeah. Thanatos has been defeated, and in the proccess, Sephiroth and Jenova have been destroyed and their life forces assimilated into the Lifestream."
         "…I can't believe it's over."
         Zack smiled; his expression seemed almost weary. "For us, it is. You're still alive."
         "'Us'? You mean you, Tseng, and Aeris?"
         "Yeah. We're done with what we came here to do, so it's time for us to return to the Planet."
         Noticing that Zack was slowly growing transparent, Reeve felt anguished. He wasn't ready to let any of them go, especially his old friends, but knew he had no choice. "So this is goodbye then."
         "'Fraid so."
         Reeve stood and extended a hand to Zack. The SOLDIER took it, and Reeve noticed that it was not quite solid, but also not entirely ephemeral.
         "Farewell, Zack. Please send my regards to Yoshiro and Aeris."
         "Will do. Goodbye Reeve, and thank you."
         Reeve continued to hold on to Zack's hand until the latter vanished in a mass of glowing green particles. Afterwards, he slowly sank back into his chair. The piles of paper that had been thrown into the fireplace were well on their way to becoming nothing more than black ash. The past would no longer haunt any of them, not literally anyway, but he wasn't sure he was ready for such a change. He took a deep breath and got up from his desk, then scooped up as much of the Masamune's remains as he could and dropped them into the fire. Stretching his sore muscles, he closed the window blinds and returned to some neglected paperwork; it was growing late, but there were still a few things he needed to take care of. Then, the phone on his desk rang.
         He picked up the receiver. "World Restoration Organization, Reeve speaking."
         "Hey Reeve, it's Cloud. Are you busy? There's something important I need to talk to you about."
         "Hello Cloud. I'm actually going to head home soon. Can it wait until tomorrow?"
         "Yeah."
         "Come to my house first thing in the morning and we'll discuss it."
         "Sure thing. See you then."
         Reeve hung up the phone, wrapped up his work, then picked up his briefcase and jacket and turned off the light. The dying embers in the fireplace gave off a warm glow as he left the office.