A/N: I originally planned to tell the story of FFVII in three parts, similar to the way the game is split into three discs. But as Meteorfall: Legacy surpasses novel-length, I've decided to break it into smaller chunks. So, what does this mean for you? Well, it means that there will only be a few more chapters in Legacy. After that, I'll probably go back and do a sweeping edit of the second half. Once that's done, I'll begin work on Meteorfall: Ancient, the second part of the series. Next up is a Tifa chapter, then one last Fran chapter. While it won't be a gap of five months this time, it still might be a while, so thanks in advance for your patience! As always, comments and criticisms are welcome. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Aeris nearly wept with relief when they reached the rocky spire rising out of the barren plain. Since Cloud had pointed it out two days ago, it had called to her like a beacon, promising warmth, and rest, and safety. Now she'd finally arrived. She hoped she wasn't too late.

In the dark, it was hard to find the hidden path up to the fort, but Red XIII managed to track Cloud by his scent. Aeris wished that Cloud could have waited for them, but she understood his fear. She followed the soft orange glow of Red's swishing tail over smooth boulders, up steep slopes, along jagged cliffs. They'd spent all day marching west, away from the mountains.

They might have made better time, but they'd been ambushed by a highwayman shortly after sunrise. He was an intimidating figure; encased in black armor; sitting atop an enormous, scaled beast that was all fangs and claws and spiny spikes. He was probably used to helpless travelers who would shrink back from his hefty war-hammer and blustering threats. He was certainly used to guns; he activated an electro-magnet at his waist and laughed heartily as Barret's bullets whizzed harmlessly around him. But he wasn't used to magic. Aeris had cracked the ground beneath the creature's feet, causing it to stumble and rear in terror. It threw its rider and bolted, leaving the man to the mercy of Red XIII. Red's vice-like jaws had crushed his throat, black iron gorget or no.

Sometimes it startled Aeris that she could so easily conjure magic. To her, it seemed as natural as breathing, but she knew it wasn't nearly so easy for the others. Barret had given up on actively using materia, instead building the small orbs into his weapons to improve their effectiveness. Red XIII had the necessary power, but his spells were often sloppy and unfocused. Even Tifa was frustrated by the use of magic. Tifa, who was so capable, so quietly confident.

With a sickening jolt, Aeris remembered the last time she'd seen Tifa. Fresh blood had framed her too-pale face. Her breathing was shallow, her pulse erratic. Even after Cloud's emergency treatment, she wouldn't wake. Aeris needed time and peace-of-mind to begin healing Tifa in earnest, but, on the western slope of the mountain with SOLDIER just behind, both had been in short supply. They had decided that Cloud would carry Tifa to safety and the others would catch up as quickly as they could. At the time, Aeris had thought it was the only way. But after marching non-stop for almost two full days, she had begun to wonder if they'd made a terrible mistake. I could have healed her, she decided. I caved in the tunnel; it would've taken them hours to break through. I had enough time. Mother, I hope I'm not too late.

The fight with the evil rider had cost them valuable time and energy, so the sun had set by the time they came to the foot of the rock spire. None of them had wanted to stop when they were so close, but it was dangerous going in the dark. Aeris put her foot in an invisible cranny and tumbled face-first onto the rocky ground. A huge hand hooked under her arm and pulled her to her feet. She thanked Barret, but he only grunted in reply. The march had been harder on the big man than anyone else. He puffed like a bellows, but never voiced so much as a single complaint. Aeris prayed that they could stop soon; she didn't want to have to waste precious time reviving Barret from a heart attack.

Suddenly, she bumped into Red XIII from behind. His four paws were set squarely, ready to spring. His head was down and his hackles raised as he growled at something ahead.

She had just enough time to ask, "What is it?" before a dazzling light flared to life on the path ahead. Aeris cried out and brought up an arm to shield her eyes, but she was already blinded. Somewhere to her left, Barret launched a stream of blistering curses.

"Halt!" cried a voice. "Identify yourselves!"

Before Aeris could say anything, another voice rang out. "Stand down, Sergeant!"

"But, Captain…"

"I said stand down. We've been expecting them."

"You mean this is Avalanche?" the sergeant said, his voice filled with awe.

"What gave it away?" Barret said dryly.

"I'll bet it was the girl," growled Red. "They must see fire-beasts and steel-armed giants every day."

Aeris was in no mood for jokes. "Is Tifa here? Please, I need to get to her. She doesn't have much time."

The light swiveled down, out of her eyes. As her vision adjusted, she could make out two figures silhouetted against a softly lit opening in a cliff face.

The taller of the two gestured back towards the opening. "This way." Aeris scrambled to follow, with Red and Barret at her heels. The opening led back into a narrow, winding tunnel that sloped gently upwards. The tunnel was stone like the exterior path, but worn smooth by the passage of thousands of feet. Their way was lit at regular intervals by flickering candles, some jammed into cracks in the stone wall, others simply melting into a puddle on the floor. The captain climbed steadily, but slowly. It was all she could do not to shove him out of her way. Doesn't he know Tifa's life is at stake? She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

At times other tunnels branched off to the left or right. Some led downwards, others struck straight out, but their tunnel just kept climbing. They must have been headed to the top of the spire. Finally, the tunnel began to level off.

"Here," the captain said, stopping at a small alcove in the stone wall. Aeris stepped into the alcove and looked up. Dim light filtered down a vertical shaft about thirty or forty feet tall. A single rope dangled down from the top of the shaft, knotted periodically to provide better grip.

She thought of the calluses she'd just managed to peel off and groaned inwardly. "Is there another way?"

The man shook his head. In the orange candlelight, she saw that he wore a tattered blueskull uniform. The left sleeve, where Shinra men wore the patches that denoted their rank, was torn off entirely. In place of the blueskulls' grisly, grinning mask, he wore a helmet adorned on both sides with crudely painted wings. "No tunnels go higher," he told her. "But there is an elevator we use to haul up supplies. Food, ammo, that sort of thing."

Red XIII huffed. "Another indignity. Hauled up like a sack of grain. The things I'll suffer for humans…"

Barret laughed and slapped the big beast on his back. "I ain't climbing no rope, neither! Come on, fleabag, we'll suffer together."

"Well, I'm climbing," said Aeris. "I'll meet you guys at the top."

The captain nodded and led Red and Barret back down the way they'd come. Aeris rubbed her palms together, then seized the rope and began to climb. At first, she tried to lock her ankles around each knot and shimmy her way up the rope, knot by knot. But she soon found it was easier if she pressed her bare feet against one wall and her back against the opposite. So wedged, she could use the rope to almost walk, inch by scraping inch, straight up the shaft.

By the time she reached the top, every muscle in her body burned. Fresh blisters had raised on her palms. Cramps drove invisible wedges between the bones of her feet, spreading her toes painfully apart. When she finally scrabbled up out of the hole, it was all she could do to stand with her head bowed, back bent, and hands on her knees. Once she'd recovered, she lifted her head to examine her surroundings.

She was in the center of a large cave, lit like the tunnels with a few strategically placed candles. The flickering, back-and-forth struggle between light and dark made it tough to judge the size of the cave. More knotted ropes hung from black holes in the ceiling. A round hole in one wall let in cool night air, and the ropes swayed gently in the breeze. Aeris tried to imagine climbing one of these free-hanging ropes. The thought alone redoubled the ache in her muscles.

A rough, wooden table stood in one corner of the cave. There were several crude chairs set around the table, but only one was occupied. An old man leaned back in his chair, eying her suspiciously from beneath his wide-brimmed hat. An old hunting shotgun lay across his lap. His posture was casual, relaxed, but Aeris thought it was no coincidence that the gun's double barrels pointed straight at her.

Instead of shrinking back, she took a bold step forward. "I'm looking for Tifa," she declared. "Where is she?"

The man stayed silent, examining her with dark, glittering eyes. Aeris thought of Zack, and the way he faced a threat head on. She kept her back straight, her shoulders back, her eyes locked on the old man. I'm not afraid, she told herself, trying not to look at the shotgun, glinting lethally in the candlelight. At last, the man let out a grunt, and the terrible weapon swiveled away from her. He jerked his thumb towards a yawning crack in the cave wall next to him.

Aeris wasted no time in darting through the dark opening. He can probably hear my knees knocking, she thought as she passed close to the sentry. The tunnel was narrower than any of the tunnels below. In some places, she had to turn sideways and shimmy between the two walls. As she went, the tunnel grew tighter and tighter. It seemed an odd place to bring wounded; it would be impossible to get them through without bumping them against the wall. She began to wonder if this was really the right way.

The tunnel ended so abruptly, she nearly walked face-first into a jagged rock wall. The familiar icy jaws of panic seized her. The sentry tricked me, she realized. It's a trap! She spun around to race back to the entrance when her foot struck something out of place. Aeris knelt to examine the floor, her heart beating itself against her ribs. There was a sheet of plywood on the ground, covered by a layer of dirt and loose pebbles. She'd been so distracted, she'd walked right over the board without feeling it underfoot.

Aeris cursed herself for letting fear get the best of her. She hated being afraid; it made her feel stupid and helpless. She was supposed to be better than that. She dragged the plywood aside and cursed again at what she found beneath: another one of those damn ropes, hanging down into a shadowy hole. At least the hidden room didn't look too far below. Resigning herself to the pain, she took the rope in both hands and lowered herself into the hole.

As she descended, the blisters on her right hand tore open, leaving a bloody stain where she grabbed the rope. Halfway down, she glanced towards the floor. It was only about six, maybe seven feet beneath her. With one hand throbbing and the other burning, she let go and dropped the rest of the way to the floor. It was a short fall, but she hit the ground with startling force. Her ankle turned beneath her, and she crumpled into a heap, biting her lip against the new pain lancing up her leg.

Her vision blurred as tears stung her eyes, but she brushed them angrily away. Can't just lie here, she scolded herself. Tifa needs me. But she couldn't seem to gather her legs beneath her. She propped herself up on her arms, grunting in frustration, but she couldn't gain her feet.

"Aeris?" A gloved hand appeared out of the gloom. She took hold, allowing him to pull her upright. Once standing, she swayed dangerously. She leaned into his broad chest to keep from toppling over. His mako eyes glowed, like green spotlights searching her face. But it wasn't Zack. "How did you get here so fast?"

"We walked," she answered, allowing him to half-lead, half-carry her over to a chair between two beds. Once she was safely seated, Cloud sat on one of the beds.

"You walked?" he repeated incredulously. "You must have walked all night."

Aeris nodded. "And all day. We had no choice."

"Hm."

"You can admit it; you're impressed."

Cloud smiled, a small, shy smile so different from Zack's wide, joyous grin. "You need rest."

"No," she lurched to her feet, waving off Cloud's attempt to steady her. "I have to get Tifa. Where is she?" A black thought struck her. "She's not…?"

"She's right there." Cloud pointed at the bed on the other side of her chair. Aeris blinked. Between the shadowy half-light and her blurry, watery eyes, she hadn't even noticed someone was in the bed. Sweat beaded on Tifa's chalk-white skin. Her breathing was so quiet, so shallow, that Aeris had to strain to hear her wheezing, halting gasps. Beneath the lids, her eyes were still. She had an IV in one arm, the tube connected to a bag that had been stuffed into a crack in the wall, but it was doing very little. Tifa's hold on life was as weak as Aeris had ever seen it. She could almost see her spirit slipping away.

Swallowing a sob, Aeris drew a materia out of her pocket, drawing it back and forth over Tifa's body, looking for the worst injuries. Cloud was saying something, but she ignored him. It wasn't hard; her vision had narrowed to include only the prone figure in the bed. Everything else was only so much noise.

Tifa's ankle was broken, but that was the least of her problems. Her pelvis was fractured, and her femur had snapped up close to the hip. Fluid from the IV was keeping her alive, but it was doing nothing to stop the blood from pooling in her leg. She drew back the blanket and hissed at the sight of the swollen, purple flesh. Worst of all, though, her skull had been stoved in, and fragments of bone were pressing on her brain. Aeris' stomach turned when she remembered the way the SOLDIER had swung Tifa around like a rag doll, smashing her into the jagged stone wall of the mine. It was a miracle she still clung to life.

"A Cure materia isn't enough," she muttered, more to herself than to Cloud. "I need something to drain the blood from her leg if I'm to heal it." She was dimly aware that Cloud was leaving, probably to find her the right materia. "Bring a blade, too," she called after him. "And as much gauze as you can find."

While he was gone, she did what she could to repair some of the damage. She didn't dare try to set the femur, not when Tifa was already hemorrhaging, but she could heal the crack in her pelvis. That at least helped to slow the bleeding. When Cloud returned, he dumped a pile of materia onto the bed with Tifa.

"That's all they had," he explained, although Aeris didn't know who "they" were. It doesn't matter, she reminded herself. Focus on the task at hand. She rifled through the small, softly glowing orbs, looking for one that could do the job. Eventually she settled on a small, transparent materia about the size of a marble.

"You got a blade?" she asked Cloud, and he produced a small, rusty razor. It would have to do. "All right, cut along here," she traced a finger down Tifa's leg. "Just deep enough to break the skin."

"Me?"

Aeris showed him her shaking, bleeding, cramped hands. "I can't trust myself to do it. I need a pair of steady hands. If you're not up to it, I can get Barret down here."

Cloud said nothing. He turned back to Tifa and smoothly sliced her leg in one straight, clean cut. Immediately, the blood welled up, thick and dark in the dim light. The materia Aeris selected was see-through, but tinted green like a glass bottle. As it drank up the blood, though, it darkened from a clear, verdant green to the color of thick moss, until it was as black as the blood itself.

The magic stopped. The blood was suddenly flowing everywhere, spilling out over her hands. "Gauze!" she called, terrified by the urgent demand in her voice. "Gauze gauze gauze!" Then Cloud was there, pressing white cloth down on the wound. The gauze turned red faster than she could believe. "Not too hard," she warned, thinking of Cloud's incredible strength. "I haven't repaired the femur yet." He grunted his confirmation, switching the gauze with quick, deft hands.

She focused on the materia, suddenly dead in her hands. Forcing a deep breath into her lungs, she shut it all out. She didn't smell the blood. She didn't feel the pain. She didn't see the black blood flowing in runnels over the pallid flesh. But she heard the voices. The problem was apparent right away: the materia was full. It had been designed to soak up and hold liquid, probably to easily transport large quantities of water. Aeris threw the useless materia across the room in frustration.

Cloud looked up at the sudden movement. "What the hell are you doing?"

Aeris didn't have time to explain. "We need a different materia." I need something to suck out the blood, she thought desperately. A materia that does more than just contain. A spell that'll use the blood, instead of just holding it.

"Bats." She reached into her pocket for the materia she needed. It wasn't hard to find; it was the size of an orange. When she pulled it out, it glinted like gold in the candlelight.

Cloud used his arm to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, leaving a thin, dark smear across his forehead. "Bats?"

"In the mines," she reminded him, gesturing for him to remove the gauze. "There were these fat black bats with no teeth. They used magic to suck your blood right through the skin." She held the large materia an inch away from Tifa's leg and focused the magic. The blood floated up towards the sphere, as though drawn by a magnet. The blood came not just from the wound, but straight through the skin in a fine, misty vapor. Aeris remembered how much it had hurt when the black bats sapped her strength. If it hadn't been for her materia absorbing the brunt of the magic, she might not have survived. As the blood drained from her leg, Tifa's face didn't so much as twitch. Aeris couldn't decide whether to be relieved or horrified that Tifa was beyond that pain.

The materia accepted the blood serenely, glowing as golden as ever. In spite of the harrowing knowledge that Tifa teetered on the brink, Aeris felt a calm wash over her. I wonder if this is how the bats felt. The materia magically converted the blood to energy, giving Aeris a renewed sense of vigor. But through the pleasant effects of the magic, she remembered keenly how much blood Tifa had lost already. I have to be careful, she told herself. If I take too much, it'll kill her. When she didn't dare take any more blood, she called Cloud over with more gauze.

"Ready?" Cloud nodded, staring at the broken leg before him. Aeris cut back on the magic, slowing the flow of blood to a trickle. She scooped up her cure materia in her other hand and held it close to the wound. Before too much blood could collect, she started to heal the damage. Even with the energy boost from the black bats' magic, it took all of her strength to cast both spells at once. She managed to set the bone and knit some of the torn muscle before Cloud had to press the gauze in and block her view.

Putting aside the golden materia, she focused on her healing spell. She shut her eyes and examined Tifa through the magic. Mending the bone mostly stopped the bleeding, freeing her up to repair the damaged tissue. When everything seemed in order, she told Cloud to remove the gauze. He moved his hands and stared open-mouthed at the faint scar where the wound should have been.

"Aeris," he mumbled breathlessly. "Did you…?"

Aeris didn't answer. Tifa was still unconscious, and she seemed to breathe no more easily than she had before. If anything, she looked worse; her skin was deathly pale, and cold to the touch. Aeris reached down and pulled the blankets back over, then checked Tifa's pulse. It was weak and ragged in her wrist, and no better at her throat beneath the jaw. The leg had been serious; Tifa could have died from all the internal hemorrhaging. But the head wound would kill her just as sure, if not as quick.

"Get your knife," she told Cloud.

Cloud looked up at her in confusion. "But aren't we done?"

"No," Aeris leaned over Tifa to gently probe her head. "That was just the warm-up."

The operation wasn't going well. The skull was damaged worse than she thought; several small fragments were driven deep into the slick, bloody brain matter. She couldn't heal the injury until all the bone was removed. She needed someone else, someone with steadier hands.

It was a good thing he was there. He could do anything with those small, steady hands. He could swing a sword, or pick a flower, or brush her hair. She'd always thought it was strange that hands so small could do so many different things. Those hands reached into the skull, better than any tweezers, and pulled out shard after shard. Each time he extracted a shard, he dropped it. The sound of bone hitting the stone floor was distinctive.

Clack, another piece fell.

Clack, another.

Clack, clack, clack.

All the while, Aeris healed the injury. Healing brain tissue wasn't like healing the rest of the body. If a bone healed wrong, you could always break it and reset it. Muscles were easy to tear and re-knit. There was no such room for error in healing the brain. If you made a mistake, the damage was permanent. Memories, emotions, everything that made a person who they were could be lost forever with one careless move.

More bone tumbled to the floor, clack, clack, clack.

It would be easier if she could see. The sparse candlelight fell well short of the open skull before her. The whole head was draped in shadow. To make matters worse, sweat dripped constantly into her eyes, making her squint. But every time she tried to force her eyes open, her vision swam until she was forced to squint again. It felt as though she were blindfolded, with just enough space between the fibers to make out vague shapes beyond. She needed to see more than simple shapes. It would be so much easier if she could just open her eyes.

"Zack," she said when she could stand it no longer, "I need to…" She stopped. No more bone hit the floor. No more hands reached into the head to help her. Zack was gone.

Aeris looked around the gloomy cave. Many of the candles had gone out. She was alone with the shadows. And her patient.

A faint whiff of rot brought her attention back to the matter at hand. Something was happening inside the skull. Without a source of light, she couldn't see what it was. She thought it looked like something moving.

Aeris reached for her magic, desperate to heal the brain before it was too late. But something was happening inside the skull. The brain was healing itself, but it was doing it all wrong. The tissue that grew back was shiny and black, like the spindly leg of a spider. Something was in there, something that shouldn't be. The smell of decay grew stronger. She was losing the patient.

She fought back with her magic, tried to stop whatever it was that was happening inside the skull. If she could only open her eyes, she could see what was in there. But she didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to see the thing that smelled sweet like a swollen corpse, ready to burst at the slightest touch.

Something was happening inside the skull, and she couldn't stop it. Soft, moldy bone stretched over the opening in the skull. Aeris was too late. She had to get away, had to run and scream and never ever look back. But she was paralyzed. Dead eyes opened, and rolled up towards her. A rictus grin, tinged green like spoiled meat, stretched the features beyond recognition. Aeris stood watching, frozen in terror, as the hideous face came closer. She felt icy hands brush against her arms on their way to caress her throat. Fingers closed like cold iron, crushing the life out of her. Aeris' eyes came open at last, and saw the thing hiding in the dead skull.

Aeris awoke in a cold sweat. As she came back to herself, blessed relief washed through her. The surgery was over, and it had gone as well as she could have expected. Cloud had helped her repair the damage, not Zack. They wouldn't know until she woke how successful they were, but Aeris thought there was a good chance Tifa would make a full recovery.

Aeris groaned as she pulled herself up in the chair. Based on the painful stiffness in her neck and back, she guessed she'd been there for hours. She lifted her palms to rub her tired eyes, but stopped when she saw the tacky, dark blood still covering her hands. She didn't bother appraising her clothes; she knew they were ruined. She lifted her head with a sigh and froze. The bed before her was empty.

She could almost see the skin-splitting grin, almost feel the cold touch of dead hands on her shoulders.

"You're awake."

The voice scared Aeris so bad she nearly fell out of her chair. Her head whipped around frantically while her heart leapt up into her throat. Tifa watched the spasm quietly, without moving. She was crouched against the cave wall in an odd position. Her legs bent at ninety degrees, as though she were sitting in a chair, but there was nothing beneath her. Only her back against the wall and her feet planted squarely on the floor kept her up. She had extended both arms straight out, so that they were parallel with her thighs.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said, her voice strained with the effort of holding herself up. "I thought we should move you to a bed, but Cloud wanted to let you sleep."

Aeris' head spun. "Cloud?"

"He went out on a raid," Tifa told her. "The men here don't have much in the way of supplies; he promised to replenish what he used up on me."

"Tifa…" Aeris couldn't continue. It was too much to see Tifa squatting there, already preparing for the next fight, as though nothing at all was wrong. And now Cloud was out there, risking his life again. All at once, the tears she'd been holding back since the mines burst forth. It was humiliating to cry in front of someone so strong, but she couldn't help herself. The harder she tried to stop, the more helplessly she sobbed. It felt like several weeks' worth of pain and misery was all pouring out of her at once.

Then Tifa was there, gathering her into an awkward, clumsy hug. "There, there," she said, patting Aeris on the head like a frightened puppy. "There, there." The thought of Tifa the warrior trying to comfort her was so absurd that it turned Aeris' sobs to laughter. Tifa must have seen the humor, because she started laughing as well. The two women laughed hysterically for several seconds until Aeris' laughter dissolved back into tears. Finally, with a mighty effort, Aeris pulled herself together. She had never felt so exhausted in her life.

After a long silence, she had to speak up. "I can't do this," she admitted. The thought made her feel like crying again, but it needed to be said.

"Of course you can," said Tifa. "Cloud says you crossed the plain in two days to save my life. A woman who can do that can do anything."

"That's not what I mean." Aeris struggled to find the right words without losing her composure. "I can't go through that again, I'm not like the rest of you. I'm not a fighter. I can't just…bounce back like you or Cloud."

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "So you're just going to give up?"

"No," Aeris protested. "I just thought… I don't know… I thought it would be better away from Shinra. I didn't think we'd be tired all the time, running from one thing to the next.

"I'm so tired," she finished lamely. The sight of her bloodstained hands brought back vivid memories of the long, terrible flight from the mines. "Is it always going to be this way?" she wondered aloud. "Is it going to be all impaled snakes and berserk SOLDIERs and praying for a miracle so my friends won't die?" Fresh tears loomed threateningly, but she pushed them away. "I saved you this time, but what about next time? And the time after that? I can't keep healing you and Barret and Cloud every time you get yourselves halfway killed. One of these times…it's not going to work, and that'll be that. Last night you came close, and I… It's just too horrible. It's not worth it."

For a long time, Tifa stayed quiet. Aeris found herself wishing that she's say anything, anything at all to break the unbearable silence.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked at last.

Aeris frowned. "Some kind of anti-Shinra base. Eagle Fort, or something."

Tifa nodded. "Fort Condor. Do you know why it's called that?"

"No," Aeris confessed. What's she getting at?.

"Come on," Tifa said, striding over to the knotted rope that hung down from the passage above. "I have something to show you."

Aeris groaned at the thought of climbing the rope. "If you're trying to convince me that life is worth living, you picked a hell of a way to start."

Tifa laughed. "If you'd like, I can go up first, then haul you up. I could use the exercise."

Aeris remembered Red XIII's indignant response to using the supply lift. I guess I can understand the sentiment. "No," she smiled. "I can do it." Her arms were sore, but not nearly as bad as she'd thought. In no time at all, Tifa was reaching down to help her up through the hole.

"This spire is right on top of a mako deposit," Tifa said as they moved off down the narrow passage. "About fifteen years ago, when Leo Shinra was making the most of his newly inherited power, he came up with a plan to build five new reactors world-wide. They built one on Mt. Nibel, up behind my hometown. There were two on the Azroth River; one at the spring up in the Corel mountains, and another where the river drained into the sea by Gongaga. Shinra's attempt to build a reactor on Da-Chao, the sacred mountain of Wutai, sparked the Wutai War. The fighting in the West got all the press, but a similar, if much smaller skirmish broke out at the site of the fifth reactor."

They emerged into the open cave with the sentry. It was the same old man from the night before. Sunlight streamed in through the hole in the wall, infusing everything with a soft glow. In the clean light of day, his seamed face didn't look nearly so sinister. He tipped his wide-brimmed hat at the women as they passed, and Aeris returned his smile.

Tifa seized another rope and began pulling herself up it, hand over hand. Aeris started up after her, thankful that Tifa's weight kept the rope from swaying. "Initial yield from the completed reactor was much lower than anticipated," Tifa continued as she climbed. "That fact, combined with constant resistance from the local people, drove the President to abandon the fifth reactor."

The ceiling in the cave was higher than that of the infirmary, so the knotted rope was longer. Aeris was panting with effort by the time she reached the top, and Tifa's helping hand was more than welcome. She found herself in a low, cramped fissure in the rock. A set of wooden stairs led up out of the crack. Another sentry, sitting on the bottom step, jumped to his feet and saluted.

"Glad to see you back onyour feet, ma'am." Aeris recognized the voice of the sergeant who had stopped them the night before.

Tifa returned the salute and led Aeris up the stairs. "The people of the plains and the forest along the western edge drove off the Shinra army, but they knew that it was only temporary. If Shinra ever decided to return, someone had to be there to guard the spire. So they took advantage of the tunnels Shinra had drilled to get their men quickly up to the reactor. They made this place their home."

At the top of the steps, they emerged into a bare wooden shack. A glass-less window was set in one wall, and wind howled through the gap, tossing the womens' hair.

"Where are they?" Aeris asked, counting up the number of men she had seen in the fort. "There can't be more than a half-dozen men here."

Tifa gazed soberly out over the plain. "There are five," she said. "That's all there are."

Aeris was shocked. "But that's ridiculous! This place is a strong fort, don't get me wrong, but five men can't hold it against a Shinra army! How do they expect to survive?"

"They don't." Tifa's expression was grim. "They expect to die fighting for what they believe in. If Shinra ever decides to return, they'll be crushed like five little ants. But as terrifying as that prospect is, the thought of letting this place go unprotected is worse."

It was a terrible thing to contemplate. I couldn't do it, Aeris knew. There's no way I could just stay here waiting to die, no matter what I had to protect. "Why?" she asked. "What could possibly be worth that risk?"

Tifa smiled. "I'll show you." She went to a door in the shack and flung it open, leading Aeris out onto a sheer ledge. The glaring sun blinded her for a moment, and the rushing wind carried away Tifa's words before they reached her ears. When her eyes adjusted, she saw that Tifa was pointing to the tip of the spire above them. Aeris shielded her eyes from the sun and squinted upwards.

The rocky cliffs climbed up another fifty feet. Set atop those bluffs was the hollow metal construction of the reactor. The machinery was silent, the colossal smokestacks cold, but the whole structure seemed full of malicious potential, like the fanged skull of some long-dead monster. Fierce winds twisted through the beams and girders, over and around empty storage tanks, moaning and wailing like ghosts. The whole place had the air of a haunted graveyard.

This is stupid, Aeris decided. She'd already seen Shinra's evil first-hand; she needed no reminder. Why did she bring me up here to see this? She was about to turn to Tifa, to demand an explanation, when the clouds shifted and a shaft of sunlight revealed a flash of gold. Aeris' eyes widened. What she had at first thought was just an odd-shaped smokestack was something else entirely.

Perched atop the reactor was an enormous golden statue of a condor. It looked large enough to scoop up a pair of Midgar Zoloms, one in each razor talon. The way the light rippled over the statue's surface made Aeris think that the sculptor must have carved each and every feather by hand. On a statue of that size, it was no mean feat. The bird's bald head, bowed into the wind, was polished to a mirror sheen. Sunlight flashed off the smooth surface to stab at Aeris' eyes. She could hardly imagine the amount of wealth that had gone into the statue. Even if it was just common lead, gilded with a thin layer of gold, the cost would have been staggering. She could well understand how men could feel compelled to protect such an investment.

Then the statue moved. Aeris' jaw fell open as the great bird shifted its wings and shuffled its talons to find a more comfortable position. It wasn't a statue at all; it was alive. I was wrong, she thought. Mother, I was so wrong. Suddenly, its eyes snapped open. Beneath the pale lids, its eyes were black as pitch. In one smooth move, it bent forward, leaning down, down, down to extend its long, ruffled neck towards the two intruders. The huge, hooked beak stopped just feet from Aeris, then turned aside. She found herself staring into the bird's eye, a hole of inky black so large she felt she could step into it without ducking her head.

She saw something in the depth of that eye, some spark of ancient intelligence. The condor recognized her. It wants to tell me something, she realized suddenly. It needs me to understand. Then she saw, among the rusted storage tanks at the foot of the reactor, large rounded objects. Their smooth, speckled surface was the same golden color as the condor's magnificent plumage. Aeris understood. "You're a mother," she murmured to the bird, though the wild wind covered her words.

Satisfied that the tiny humans were no threat to her eggs, the bird withdrew the threat of its beak. It leaned back and ruffled its feathers. Just when it seemed to settle back down, it stretched its neck and screeched, a high, wavering keen that carried out over the plains. The pain and loneliness in that cry broke Aeris' heart.

She felt Tifa's hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Tifa grinning at the expression on her face. "The last Great Condor," Tifa called over the wind. "Without a male, she uses the flow of mako to fertilize her eggs. If Shinra's reactor were running, those eggs would never hatch. Worse, Shinra saw the Condor as a nuisance, an obstacle to be overcome…or destroyed."

Aeris mouth worked quietly. "I…I never knew."

The hand on her shoulder squeezed reassuringly. "We live in a world of magic, Aeris, a world of strange and wonderful things. It's all worth protecting. No matter what the cost."

Aeris said nothing. She could only stare dumb-founded at the giant, magic bird. After a while, Tifa went back inside, but Aeris stayed out on the ledge. She just sat there, watching the last Great Condor stand watch over her children.