Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

THREE

The door opened barely a minute after Cloud finished knocking. A woman in a green dress and white apron held the door, her blond hair tied back in a bun as she gazed at us with a pair of tired, light blue eyes. She didn't seem surprised to see us. And, oddly enough, she didn't look a thing like Aerith despite being her mom. She urged us inside without a word, and we followed her into the house.

"Cloud, right?" she said.

He nodded. "Yeah. And about Aerith..."

There was a round wooden table in the center of the room. Elmyra sat down at it and sighed. "I know. Shinra took her from here not very long ago. They have my daughter now."

"They were here?" I asked.

"Had to be while we were in the pillar," Cloud said. "Tseng had her with him on the platform, remember?"

I did. "Yeah. But why did she leave here with him?"

"It's what she wanted," Elmyra explained.

"I don't understand," I said.

Cloud looked at me. "You heard Tseng—Aerith's an Ancient. That's gotta be why Shinra's after her."

"It's true," Elmyra added. "She's the last one."

Barret blinked. "What'd you say? But ain't you her mom?"

She shook her head. "Not by blood, no. I adopted her about fifteen years ago. I love her as if she were my own, though. In that respect and in every other, she's my daughter."

"I know exactly what ya mean," he told her.

"I can see that," Elmyra said. "Anyway, it's a fairly long story, and it may take some time for me to share it with you, so please have a seat. It all started during the war with Wutai..."

We all sat down around the table as Elmyra told us her story, and I found myself fascinated by it in spite of the terrible circumstances that had brought us here. Worry for Aerith and Jessie gnawed relentlessly at me, but there wasn't much I could do about it right now. And knowing more about why Shinra wanted Aerith so badly and who and what she was might help us save both of them.

"My husband, James, had been sent to the front lines," Elmyra said. "Shipped off to fight in the war. He built this house, actually. When we were engaged. Said he wanted to give his new wife a proper home. And we moved in right after we got married."

"It's wonderful," I told her, and I meant it.

She smiled. "Thank you. What was your name?"

"Tifa," I answered. "And the big guy over there's Barret."

"Well met, Tifa," Elmyra greeted me. "James and I have put a lot of work into this place over the years. Aerith always loved to help around the house, too. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My husband had left to fight against Wutai. We'd been married for five years by then. One day, I got a letter saying he was coming home."

I understood. "You must've been so excited."

She nodded. "I was, very much. I went to the station to meet James the day he was supposed to return, but... he never came. I wondered if his leave had just been postponed, and that was what I told myself. But deep down, I couldn't help fearing the worst."

"What happened?" I asked.

"I went back to the station every day, to wait and pray, hoping that he'd come home. And that's how I met her. She and her mother were at the station one day. Aerith was crying, and her mother was wounded. I think she'd been shot—there was so much blood on her dress. She was dying, laying on the steps leading to the platform."