Chapter 2: We shall not forget the flower girl or JENOVA.

"We miss you Aeris, bringer of light, savior of our world.

Without thee, we would have died, Planet would have died, and all would be lost.

Your sacrifice saved us all, we thank you so kindly.

It was not the white materia, it was you that stopped METEOR, our bringer of doom

Even though your spirit energy has been returned to the planet and possiblly grown somewhere else, we stopped Sephiroth for you. Your killer is dead. You saved us it was only a small thing for one as noble as you were.

Love,

AVALANCHE."

Tifa Lockheart looked down at the small cross with the inscription written into its wooden frame. It was in a field of flowers, in the eastern grasslands. The flowers were all of varieties, each one planted by loving hands in the warm soil.

"I promise to get you a better grave stone. This cross isn’t nearly enough for you." She smiled and sniffed back a tear. "Well, It’s been one year since we defeated Sephiroth. Elmyra’s all right. I know Clouds probably told you that a dozen times by now. This is my first time here since we did this. One day, we’ll get you a shrine or pure gold, decorated with the best of silk and marble." She stifled a tear again. "But you never wanted anything elaborate. You were comfortable with what you had and a flower. …That’s probably why the guys decided to bring you here." She smiled and paused. She looked around at the fields of flowers surrounding her and her buggy. The sun was directly in the sky, overlooking the warm grass and rows of carnations, roses, daises, and hundreds of other species. "We had a meteor shower last night. REAL close to earth let me tell you Aeris. The news said a couple pieces of it landed in Midgar." She chuckled at a thought. "I hope none of them hit your old house, what with the damage it has already.

…A real big one fell in the inner sea. Cid’s fleet took it out of the sky. I bet you Cloud already told you about how Cid is now ShinRa’s aircraft leader. He still swears like an old crusty pilot. Heh. …He’s going to be a husband soon. That’s what Yuffie told me anyway. He and Shera are going to get married next year. Yuffie, being the spy she is, caught word before the invitations came out. You’ll be getting one too." She just suddenly stopped talking. "It’s been a year since I’ve seen Cloud, or anyone, except Reeve, who’s on the news about every night. I think no one has had contact in person, save Yuffie, in this year…" She let one tear flow down her rosy cheek. "…I got to get back to work, Aeris. You understand, right? …Yea. It was nice seeing you again." Tifa put on her cowboy hat and walked to her Buggy. Taking one glance at the cross before she left, she stepped in and drove off.

***

"Good evening Jonun." Reeve, in his traditional blue outfit, stepped up to the podium in front of a black curtain and in front of a million journalists.

"It is of today, April 19, that I, President Reeve, declare Midgar off limits to everyone and everything. It is nothing but a wasteland and a danger zone. Besides, we don’t want and bad memories of the past, just thoughts of the bright future."

"Excuse me, Mr. President?" A journalist stood up.

"Yes?"

"Why all of the sudden? Is it about the meteor strikes last night?"

The whole room suddenly got up and started screaming questions.

"People! People! The reason is Midgar is the only place that has access to the Inner Sea. As I am sure you all know, a large asteroid plummeted into the cold depths of that sea last night. I’ll have my top scientist, Prof. Eaglestone of Sector 3 Jonun University explain."

The president moved a side and clapped for a tall, lean man that made his way over to the podium, the entire room clapped for him as well.

"Ahem" He cleared his throat and lowered his glasses over his nose. He had long blonde hair and dark eyes. "Calamity from the skies. The JENOVA Project. This was a monster from outer space that rode an asteroid that crashed into the area we call Northern Crater 6,000 years ago. This being, or JENOVA, was a deadly alien that carried a virus that quickly spread through the humans living at the time, the Cetra. The Cetra retaliated after thousands and thousands of them had died. Those few warriors had managed to slay the "Calamity from the sky" and buried its remains somewhere near Bone Village. About 30 years ago, a team of researchers, led by Prof. Gast and Prof. Hojo, uncovered the fossils to JENOVA and brought it back to ShinRa in Midgar. It had been proven to be of alien origin by the materials the bones were made of. Jonathan ShinRa, President at the time, justified Hojos resurrection of the alien using its DNA. After about 5 years they had perfected it and JENOVA was alive again, but contained. The DNA contained "super powers" if you will accept that very unrealistic way of putting it. Hojo wanted to try injecting the cells of JENOVA into human beings. The subjects were turned into freakish creatures. But Hojo was determined that JENOVA was indeed the answer to ShinRA’s super soldier campaign idea. After about two years of constant research, his specimen was born. By that time, Gast had quit the JENOVA project and went to work researching the Cetra and the lifestream. Hojos new partner bore him a son and a specimen. Sephiroth Hojo, the first of many successful JENOVA implanted specimens. Thus SOLDIER was born. Of coarse, Sephiroth had almost infinite power, due to how many JENOVA cells were put into him. SOLDIER’s had only a small cell input to give them a strength boost. The SOLDIER program was put to the test in the Wutai war about 13 years ago. The SOLDIERs, led by Sephiroth himself, quickly vanquished Wutai and made ShinRa’s empire worldwide. Of coarse, about 6 years ago, Sephiroth mysteriously disappeared, so Hojo made the clones. There were twelve in all. But Sephiroth came back, insane by the JENOVA in him and killed unmercifully and led to the demise of our world."

Prof. Eaglestone stepped back and Reeve went to the podium, applauding all the way. "Thank you, Prof. Eaglestone. As you can see, we don’t want JENOVA or any other aliens back. So therefor ShinRa, from last December on, will investigate and destroy any alien life form that even dares to step foot upon OUR PLANET!" The entire room cheered as he raised his fist in the air. "You may remember AVALANCHE, the saviors of our planet from Sephiroth and METEOR. They our going to investigate, terminate, and ultimately end any alien in the Inner Sea."