The Church in Sector 5

Cloud lay in the flower bed in the middle of the church, still **** and miraculously unharmed, barely a scratch on him. Within his mind, Cloud felt as if he were falling infinitely through pitch-black nothingness, feeling the chilling presence of otherworldly spirits, the same kind that injured Jessie just before the **** on Mako Reactor 5.

As he fell out of the darkness and into new blinding light, he felt somehow... lighter. After a while, he had stopped falling and found himself standing in a blank white void. He took this opporunity to sit down and collect his thoughts.

"Hey, buddy," he heard a voice calling out. Cloud knew who it was. An old comrade. A comrade to which Cloud was the legacy. "You okay?" He saw a pair of boots standing beside him.

"Yeah," Cloud responded, disheveled.

"Made it through with just a couple of scraped knees back then..." the voice continued as it turned to face him.

"...back then?" Cloud answered, confused.

"Waddaya say? We doing this?" The voice kept speaking as if nothing in the world was wrong at all.

Cloud tried to get a word in. "Have we--"

The voice cut in. "Never mind about that. Right now, you need to focus on yourself." The voice sounded reassuring. "Move something. Anything."

Gathering his thoughts for a moment, Cloud shrugged. "Why not," he finally replied.

The voice's physical being had disappeared, but continued. "Good. Easy does it. Slow... and steady..." Cloud suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

Eyes closed, Cloud half-heartedly swatted it away. "Yeah, yeah..."

A new voice could be heard. This one more feminine... and further away.

"Hello...? Are you okay...?"