A/n: Hattress:So here it is; the final chapter. Special thanks to those of you who have followed the story through all 13 chapters, we really appreciate it. There will be more to come with Aradia's story, so be sure to keep checking up on our profile. Part two will be up in a month. The Hare and myself are taking a little break to work on our own individual stories.

Hare: Yeah, this is it. The last chapter. Then we're taking a month off. Check back on August 1, 2010, folks. We'll have the first chapter of Part 2 up and ready for your viewing pleasure.

D/c: (and the last one for this part, thank god) Hare: You know it by now, I would hope. Aradia belongs to Hattress, FFVII belongs to Square Enix, and I have Nothing. Nadda. Zilch.

Chapter 13: Epilogue

Aradia stood with the other Tsviets as she looked down at the man that they had used to place the HJ Virus in Patricia. "I don't like this. It's wrong." She told them.

"It's getting us out of here." Rosso told her. "Don't complain. You want to feel the sunshine as much as I do."

"We all want to see the outside." Argento told them. "But now is not the time. We have more work to do and other Restrictors to overthrow."

"Of course," Azul said, "This really is a waste. He would have made a wonderful fighter."

Aradia glared at him.

Weiss shut Azul up with a look. "Is he unusable, Shelke?"

"He's of no use to us now." Shelke said. "After the prolonged connection with the SND, his mind is nearly completely shattered."

"It's a shame." Rosso said, nearly lamenting. "He worked so hard for us."

Aradia sighed. She turned her eyes on the man lying on the floor, near death while the others had a technical discussion about how they were uploading the virus. They would know, in three days time, if it worked or not. If it didn't, Weiss would be dead and Nero inconsolable. If it worked, they could take out the others and be free.

In the end, it was all about time. Weiss knew that when they escaped, she would leave the Tsviets. She couldn't live this kind of life anymore. She didn't want to live at all, but she knew that she could no longer continue her existence with these conditions. Rosso, Azul, and Argento turned to leave first. Weiss clapped a hand on Aradia's shoulder before following. Aradia eyed Shelke once more, watching as she disconnected from the man's mind. Aradia chose that moment to turn and walk out of the Throne Room. Weiss was waiting for her.

"If all goes well, Ara, you'll have your freedom from all of this." He told her, smirking slightly. "I suppose you would turn me down if I offered you a place at my side."

"You know I would." Aradia told him. "I don't want to fight except to defend. I'm tired of bathing in blood. I'm tired of the monster that I've become. I want to live a normal, human life, Weiss. You have to understand that."

Weiss nodded. "I do. None of us will come after you once we break free. You have my word. Do what you need to do. You know that you'll always have family here if you ever decide to come home."

Aradia smiled at him and caressed his cheek. "I know." Aradia walked off to find something to occupy her time. She walked into what was usually Rosso's domain. Since she and the redhead had found their camaraderie in their desire to see the sky, she had been allowed in here without retribution. Aradia sighed as that man's face entered her thoughts again. "My friend, do you fly away? To a place that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow. No matter where the winds may blow." She smiled as she spoke the quote aloud, going into the full verse for her own comfort. "My friend, your desire, Is the bringer of Life, the Gift of the Goddess. Even if the morrow is barren of promise, nothing shall forestall my return."

She felt her heart clench as she remembered that those were his last words as he fell from that platform in Modeoheim. She sighed and hugged herself as she fell to her knees, the grief over taking her, even nine years later. "Legend shall speak, of sacrifice at world's end. The winds sail over the water's surface, Quietly, but surely." Over the years, those lines, those poems, had given her solace and comfort, because he was the one that drilled them into her head. He was the one that quizzed her on them. He was the one that had taught her the beauty of his dream.

"That is beautiful." Rosso said, walking up. "I've never heard you speak those lines before, Ara. Are they your own?"

Aradia smiled as she remained where she was. "No. No, those were excerpts from a poem I was taught in my few months above. A story called Loveless. It's about three friends and their pursuit of what is called the Gift of the Goddess. My mentor drilled it into my head, and since his death, I've used them to comfort myself."

"I'm sorry, Ara." Rosso said. "I know that you have changed since your time above, and even more so since your return."

Aradia nodded and rose to her feet, locking her fingers into the triggers of her arm blades. "Fight me, Rosso. Fight me like you used to, when we hated each other. Fight me like the Tsviets we are." She clenched her fists and turned to face her opponent. "First blood."

Rosso stepped back a few paces and drew out her weapon as well. "Beautiful. That is the Ara I remember so fondly."

Aradia fought her hardest, allowing herself to tire. Rosso did the same. They both refused to give up. Neither had landed a hit on the other's person. Aradia was a Tsviet, after all. She may not have been colored, but she was at their level. The only difference was that the Colored Tsviets had his genes. That was the most fundamental difference.

Rosso caught Aradia off guard and cut the outside of her arm open, even as Aradia moved to block. They both jumped away from each other.

"You've gotten better since we last fought so seriously, Ara." Rosso said, breathing heavily.

"You're still better than me, Rosso." Aradia said, smiling. "I've met very few who are, but you still hold a part of that title. I had hoped that wouldn't be true, but it's been so very long since we've fought so hard."

Rosso nodded and cleaned her weapon before stowing it away over her shoulder. Aradia did the same, unlocking the triggers from around her fingers.

"Soon, my sister." Rosso said. "Soon we will be free of this place, and you will be warm once more."

Aradia nodded, glancing at the artificial sky. "I hope you're right, Rosso, for all our sakes.

Aradia didn't look back as she ran from what was once the ShinRa manor. The others were moving in a different direction, and Aradia had enough doses of Mako for six months. It was all the others could afford to spare. They had bade their goodbyes and moved on to whatever it was their mission was. Aradia needed to find Zack. She knew that there was much that happened, and she was scared to learn what it was.

She wrapped her coat around her shoulders and slid her arms into the sleeves, concealing the arm blades on both of her arms. She wouldn't go anywhere without them. She slipped into a dive of a bar called Seventh Heaven. She took a seat at the bar itself and ordered a drink.

The woman behind the bar had long brown hair and kind eyes. Aradia hadn't seen kind eyes in quite some time. She wore a black tank top and a pair of shorts with combat boots. She also had a pink ribbon tied around her arm. Curious.

"Are you new around Edge, Sweetie?" The woman asked.

"Something like that." Aradia murmured. "I've been off the map for a while. I figured it was time to get back to civilization."

The woman nodded. "Well, you picked the right place to start. My name is Tifa Lockhart."

"A pleasure." Aradia murmured. "Ara. Just Ara."

Tifa smiled. "Well, welcome to Edge, Ara."

Aradia nodded and finished her drink. "I'm wondering if you can help me find someone. It's rather important that I see him."

"Who are you looking for?" Tifa asked.

"A man by the name of Zack Fair." Aradia told her. "He's a former SOLDIER."

Tifa's face fell. "You wait here. I know someone who can take you to see him."

Aradia nodded.

It wasn't seconds later that Tifa came back dragging a blond man behind her. A blond man Aradia recognized immediately. "Cloud." She murmured, standing.

"Aradia?" Cloud asked. "Is that really you? President Shinra said that you were …. Is that really you?"

Aradia nodded. "Yeah. It's me. I'll explain later. I just really want to see Zack. I need to see Zack."

Cloud scratched the back of his head. "Well … We need to talk. Tifa, I'll be back. Put her drink on my tab, will you?"

Tifa nodded. "Sure, Cloud."

Cloud nodded for Aradia to follow him. "I don't quite know how to tell you this, Aradia, but … Zack was killed."

Aradia froze as Cloud stepped up next to a bike. "What?"

"I'll explain everything when we get to where we're going." Cloud told her. "but yeah, Zack was killed."

Aradia climbed onto the back of the bike and hung her head, holding onto the seat as they road. Cloud took her to a cliff that overlooked Edge. Aradia looked up and saw the Buster Sword, so familiar, standing up out of the ground. She climbed off of the bike and walked over. She rested her hand on the hilt and her forehead against the blade like she'd seen Angeal do so many times before. "Cloud, tell me what happened."

Cloud sighed and leaned against the bike with his arms crossed. "After what happened in Modeoheim, we brought you back to Midgar. We were told that you were being executed for treason. Betraying the company. Zack lost it for a moment. I'd never seen him so mad. He made a pretty big name for himself. His reputation nearly rivaled Sephiroth's. But something happened. It wasn't a year later that we were in my home town, Nibelheim. Aradia, Genesis showed up, threw some information at Sephiroth, and disappeared. Sephiroth lost it. He burned Nibelheim to the ground and stole the remains of Jenova. Zack and I spent the next four years in what they deemed the Sephiroth Copy Project, or something like that. Some Professor Hojo headed it."

Aradia clenched her fists. "You have no idea how sorry I am to hear you went through something like that, Cloud. Believe me, I know what it's like."

Cloud snorted. "At any rate, when we escaped, we were on the run for a while. We weren't even considered members of ShinRa anymore. Just escaped specimens. Zack's record meant nothing, but he had the buster sword. Unfortunately, I was no help. I had gotten Mako poisoning because of the experiments."

"Consider yourself lucky that was all you got. "Aradia told him. "Then what?"

"We were on our way back here." Cloud said. "Zack had gotten a girlfriend before hand. Aerith. She was a real gem. We were caught right here on this cliff. So close. He fought until he couldn't lift his sword. It went from thousands on one, to just three on one, and by that time, he couldn't fight anymore. I was just coming too. I was having a hard time moving myself. I couldn't do anything to help, or I would have."

"So they're all dead." Aradia murmured. "Angeal, Genesis, Zack… What happened to Sephiroth?"

"He went insane." Cloud told her. "Tried to take over the world in Jenova's image. I had to …"

"I understand." Aradia told him. "Believe me, I understand completely."

Cloud frowned. "Aradia, where have you been?"

"The one place I never wanted to go again." Aradia told him. She hadn't moved from her kneeled position in front of the buster sword, only now she had moved to sit back on her legs with her hands in her lap. "Deep Ground." She told him. "ShinRa's Darkest Secret. The facility where they tried to create Super SOLDIERs. Where they succeeded in creating these SOLDIERs. Until recently, we were under the total control of the members of the SOLDIER 14th unit, the Lost Force. We found a way to overpower them, and we did. What the others are planning, I have no idea. I told them I wanted no part in it. I just wanted to be normal. To feel the sun again. To die in peace."

"Die?" Cloud asked.

"Genesis is gone." Aradia told him. "There's no point in me continuing on, is there? Zack and Angeal, Sephiroth. They're all gone. I'm the only one left."

"All the more reason for you to live." Cloud said. "All the more reason for you to keep their memory alive. Zack was my mentor. The greatest man in my life. He told me himself that I was his living legacy. Why can't you be theirs. Genesis and Angeal gave their wisdom to you, their experience and their dreams. Their Pride. Keep that with you."

Aradia looked up at the sky and let the sun warm her face for the first time in nine long years. "It doesn't matter, Cloud. I have six months. After that, I'm dead anyway."

"Why?" Cloud asked.

Aradia shook her head. "I'll explain another time. For now, let me rest. Go back to your friends. I'll be fine. I just need some time by myself."

Cloud gave her a skeptical look. "Are you sure?"

Aradia nodded as she removed her coat and unstrapped her arm blades. She set them aside and folded her hands, and bowed her head. "I'm sure."

Cloud nodded and left, leaving Aradia to her solitude.

They were all gone.

Cloud had said that Zack told him that Cloud was Zack's living legacy. She could see it. Cloud acted a lot like her favorite Puppy had after Angeal had joined Genesis. She remembered Cloud when she was being transported back to Midgar. He had been just like Zack. Hyper, curious, full of questions. It was only after Zack had told him to, that he stopped.

Aradia sighed as she looked up at the sky. In the end, all she could do was wait and see what happened. "Even if the morrow is barren of promise, nothing shall forestall my return. To be come the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies. I offer you this silent sacrifice." She said with a sad smile. "It's you to the letter, Zack. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help."

A/n: Hare: This is the end. For now. It will continue in a month. August 1, folks. Keep an eye out. Tell us what you think. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and special thanks to those of you who have been with us to the beginning. It's been an interesting ride, that's for damn sure.

The Hattress and her Faithful Hare.

Insanity leads to friends that will be with you for life … even if they aren't real.