[The world feels a little steadier this much closer to the ground, even though the green things all around him seem to shudder beneath his weight — fitting, likely, for the alien strands of DNA woven into his own, though Sephiroth is spared that cruel thought thanks to his hazy cognizance.

He cannot say that she is right, nor wrong. Has the flow of time stalled so much during their time here that it cannot continue as normal, should they return? Or is destiny set, unwavering, and this only a temporary departure from what is guaranteed to happen? No one knows — and he can spin that as a comfort, or hang himself up on the what-ifs until they suffocate him. But in the end, none of them can say for certain.

But if things did change— if there was a chance—]

I was already planning on leaving SOLDIER. That won’t change. But Shinra should be held accountable for all it’s done.

[His eyes lift to hers, inscrutably cold but oddly assailed, all the same.]

Will you tell me what happened after Nibelheim? I was supposed to have died.

[But quite obviously, he didn’t.]