They all agree to change the town's name back to Radiant Garden, but it's Aeris' idea first, her pet project, because no flowers have bloomed here since Cloud and Sephiroth vanished and the place they all called home sank into the darkness; Aeris believes in the power of names.

This is why she calls Sora by his name, not his title, and never refers to Yuffie as a brat or a child, why she calls Tifa sister in the space between breaths, and has never once allowed herself to say Sephiroth is a monster, or Cloud a coward. And this is why Leon is still Squall to her, no matter how much he glares and grumbles: she can still see something below the surface, and Aeris believes in the ability of fragile things to grow.

But she isn't foolish, she knows that Cloud won't come back to stay, that part of Sora will always be a hero, not a man. She sifts dirt through her fingers and presses her prayers into it, tiny wishes for lilies and snapdragons, for peonies and roses. Aeris sold flowers, once, in a place on the far side of this world that never grew back.

She learned there that even the depth of her love cannot save everything; somewhere in that darkness beyond their walls there is a grave, and a loss that haunts her through all she does. Still Aeris presses seeds into the soil, sprinkles them with water and waits for sunlight. She will always believe, because no one else dares too.