Lifestream

Without warning, the sound of an explosion rang throughout the chamber, and much of the water covering Lifestream shot into the air in a geyser-like blast. The green flow of Lifestream began to grow, spilling upward, filling the pool. Tifa spun to face it, realizing in sudden panic that Lifestream must be reacting violently to the energy released when it had destroyed Jenova. If it was as bad as it looked, she had maybe two minutes to get out of the Forgotten City. Suppressing the wave of terror that threatened to overwhelm her, Tifa returned to Cloud's side.

As she reached out to him, wounds suddenly opened up in his body. His left arm filled with gashes and blood suddenly erupted from his chest, quickly turning his shirt into a mess of red. His eyes opened slowly. "I'm here, Tifa," he breathed faintly. She saw it, a glow in his blue eyes that told her that his mind was okay. Not wasting any more time, she hoisted him to his feet, almost dropping him twice, and half-led, half-dragged him away from the pool of Lifestream. His right hand opened, releasing his iron grip on the Black Materia, and showing that the hand was nearly destroyed. Tifa grabbed the Materia and threw it backwards into the now-overflowing pool of plasma before dragging him onward.

As fast as she was able to, Tifa climbed the stairs of the Forgotten City, Cloud's head draped over her shoulder as he shook it, trying to clear it. Blood ran into her eyes, blinding her for an instant. She blinked it away and moved onward, aware of the blood that by now completely caked her body. She hoped that not too much of it was hers. Immediately, she took that thought back. She hoped not too much of it was his.

Cloud was moving now. Though he still leaned against her for support, his left arm hanging bobbing limply at his side, his feet stumbled up the steps of his own accord. Their speed increased as they fought their way upwards. Lifestream was moving faster too. The plasma swirled and continued shooting upward out of the pool, quickly sweeping across the floor and filling the room. By the time Tifa and Cloud had reached the top of the stairs, the bottom half had been submerged. Racing up the next twisting flight of stairs, the two barely made it to the tower at the end of this staircase, past the area that usually housed a large fish, before Lifestream had completely filled the large hole in the tower's floor and was flowing out.

The two raced downward to the outside of the tower, and Tifa stared in stunned dismay. Fifteen meters below, the stone floor of the Forgotten Capital was covered with Lifestream. They were trapped. Before they could even ponder this turn of events, the entire city seemed to shake. It was all Tifa could do to keep her balance and keep Cloud from falling into Lifestream as the tremors continued. The huge shape of the airship Highwind shot across the sky and slowed to a stop above them.

Despite the distance, Tifa thought she could make out the figure of Cid on the deck of the huge vessel, deploying some machine. A moment later, a long rope dropped from the ship, coiling its way downward towards them. As the rope fell towards them and the Lifestream from inside the tower began to flow to the floor outside, Tifa grabbed Cloud, holding him in front of herself and jumped. The air whipped by her as she reached for the shaking rope.

It was maybe a centimeter beyond her reach. As her hand reached futilely for the rope, they began to fall towards the endless sea of Lifestream building up beneath them.

It couldn't end like this! Her mind recoiled from the idea that they might still die, after everything they'd fought through to survive. It didn't end. Cloud's right hand suddenly shot forward to grab the rope. Amazingly, despite its mutilation, the hand held firm, Cloud's muscles clearly straining with the effort. Tifa wrapped her arms tightly around his body, holding on with what little strength she had left, and the rope began to pull them up.

They still wouldn't make it, she realized. Directly in their path, maybe half a second away, was a huge tidal wave of Lifestream. Its crest rose above her head, illuminating Cloud and her with its strange green glow as it prepared to break. Without even thinking about it, Tifa found herself praying to whatever powers guided her, begging for a little more time. She had done this many times in the past. This time, though, her wish was granted.

The wave of Lifestream abruptly halted in midair. Tifa stared at it in surprise. It wasn't moving. Energy still swirled around frantically inside of it, and Lifestream itself seemed to convulse with pain. The wave held firm. The rope lifted Cloud and Tifa past the top of its crest and into the air. Once they were past it, the wave suddenly broke, resuming its course as if it had never stopped.

As they rose higher, Tifa saw Lifestream sweeping on. It raged on, continuing its destruction of the Forgotten City. Tifa felt a twinge of pain at seeing the last tangible evidence of Cetra civilization in the world swept away. Lifestream seemed a tempest of destruction, a force of nature - uncontrollable, arbitrarily destroying anything in its path. But Tifa knew better.

In her mind's eye, she again saw the gas-like tendrils of Lifestream, gathering from around the world, converging on Meteor and Holy, bringing in the Planet's compassion to save Midgar. She saw the pool of Lifestream, struggling against Jenova's infestation, fighting rid the Planet and its inhabitants of the parasite forever. And she saw the wave of Lifestream, resisting its impulses, ignoring its pain, to give Cloud and her the few seconds they needed to survive.

As she weakly stumbled over the railing to the safety of the Highwind's deck, Tifa got a nice view of the glowing sea of green plasma far below.

"Thanks for everything, Aeris," she murmured.

On to Chapter 7.

Back to Lifestream.