Yuffie opened her eyes to a deep blue sky pierced with tree branches. When her vision gradually came into focus, she saw clusters of pale flower buds among the branches. She sat up. Before her was a river, dark blue in the dim light. Its course disappeared into mist. All around her was a fine layer of snow. Farther down the riverbank, next to a small boat resting on the shore, two people were sitting side by side: her parents.

"I told myself I would keep living," Godo was saying as Yuffie approached. "I told myself I would be the leader our people needed, the father our daughter needed. I told myself that thousands of times. And at the end of every day, I kept coming to the same conclusion: the man you loved died when he lost his wife and his country. And every day I have imagined what you would think of me if I saw you again. How ashamed you would be of the man I became."

Kasumi shook her head. "You are so hard on yourself. What happened back then was beyond our control. What matters is that even when you lost everything, even when it would have been easier to die with honor than to live in shame, you still chose to live. Because of you, Wutai survived to see a new beginning. Our people must understand that."

Yuffie stopped to watch her parents from a distance. Although her father's face still bore the weariness and melancholy he had worn ever since the end of the war, in his expression there was a tenderness that she had never seen before. Watching her parents as they looked at each other in silence, she somehow felt that she was witnessing something so powerful that she was afraid to take another step, yet so quiet that a single breath could drown it out.

Godo saw her standing nearby. "She's awake," he told Kasumi.

Yuffie's mother turned around with a smile. "You, too," she said. "I'm proud of you. Even if it didn't go the way you planned, or the way you wanted, you saved Wutai."

"I did?"

"You showed our people that they had to make peace, and that you trusted them with the future of Wutai."

"Did they really take it that way?"

"I think so. Your friend made it snow all over Wutai. I don't think it could be any clearer to our people."

"Aerith. Always stealing the show at the last second," Yuffie grumbled. "The snow was a good idea, though. I would've done it if I could do cool things like that." She sat down next to her mother and stared out at the river. "So is this heaven or something?"

"No. This is just a dream."

"A dream?" Yuffie repeated. "You mean I'm not dead? I thought All Creation at full power kills the person who uses it."

"Your friend says that the Empress of Heaven decided to save you because the Planet will need you. Someone she called 'the world's enemy' is coming back, and you're supposed to be part of the fight."

"The 'world's enemy,' huh? So… you'll be around? I'll be able to see you once in a while? Aerith can make that happen, right?"

Kasumi shook her head. "It's time for us to return to the Lifestream. Your brothers are waiting. We won't be able to see you again."

Yuffie's heart sank. "You're leaving me to lead Wutai all alone."

"You're not alone," Kasumi said gently. "You gave our people a chance to take their future into their own hands. Now it's up to you to decide what role you want to have in Wutai's future."

"You have a bright future ahead of you," Godo said. "The age of war and glory is finally over. A new age is beginning, an age of hope and rebuilding. I'm sorry that I can't be with you to see it." He hesitated. "And I'm sorry that…"

He looked away, seemingly struggling with the words he wanted to say. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better father," he said finally.

Abruptly, he stood up, walked towards the boat, and began examining it aimlessly. Kasumi stood up to follow him. "Anata," she began, as if to comfort him, but she trailed off. Yuffie knew that there was nothing her mother could say. She wasn't there when Godo refused to raise their daughter. But he tried to make up for it, Yuffie realized. He always had food waiting for me when I came home. He'd apologize when he was wrong. And in the end… he died to protect me.

She stood up to follow after him. "Dad…" She trailed off. It was her turn to struggle with the words she wanted to say. "I'll still miss you," she managed.

Her father turned around. "In the next life, be my daughter again," he urged. "Give me another chance to be the father I should have been. We will be a happy family then."

"It's a deal," Yuffie promised. "Get some rest, okay? And say hi to my brothers for me."

"I will."

Yuffie turned back to her mother. "Be my mom again so I can get to know you better. There's still a lot I don't remember about you."

Kasumi reached up to touch her daughter's face. "All you have to remember is that your mother has always loved you."

It was the touch of a ghost. Yuffie couldn't feel her mother's hand touch her cheek, but she could have sworn she felt something like a gentle breeze brush past her. Her vision blurring with tears, she watched her mother turn away and climb into the boat. "Are you ready?" Godo asked. When Kasumi nodded, he pushed the boat out into the river and leaped in. They turned to smile at Yuffie one last time. Wiping her tears, she waved to them and watched as the river gently swept them into the depths of the mist.

"Hey! She's wakin' up!"

Yuffie woke with a start. "Well, now I'm awake," she muttered, glaring at Barret by her bedside.

She looked around. She was inside a large tent that looked like the ones the WRO set up as field hospitals. Many cots were filled, but the tent wasn't full and the injuries didn't look serious. She sighed in relief. Then she remembered her dream. She looked around again, searching for her father's face among the injured. Maybe he didn't really die. Maybe he was just hurt. But her father was nowhere to be seen.

As if he could tell what she was thinking about, Barret sighed. "Sorry 'bout your dad."

Yuffie sighed. "He didn't even want to be my dad sometimes. He wished he died a hero in the war." He died as my dad instead.

A nurse brought Yuffie a bowl of congee. Yuffie thanked her and asked Barret, "Are we in Wutai? The city, I mean?"

"Yep. Jus' outside the square. Reeve brought the WRO here 'soon as he heard the fight was over. He's waitin' for ya outside to catch ya up on what happened."

Yuffie ate quickly, struggled to her feet, and stumbled out of the tent. She squinted. The morning sun was especially bright with the snow on the ground. Shielding her eyes, she managed to find Reeve in the center of the square. Most of the debris had been sorted into large piles, making it easier to make her way to the center.

Reeve greeted her with a smile. "Glad to see you've recovered."

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Just over a day."

"What'd I miss?"

"Not much. We've had some surveyors take a look at the land, and the entire continent sunk quite a bit. This city is fine, but Longhua underwent some flooding. They're going to need help now that they've lost their leader. They're negotiating with people from Wutai right now."

"Who?" she asked curiously. "The Wusheng?"

"No. Just… people. Some are former scholar-officials. Some are military officers. Some are just civilians. They came from all over Wutai. They said they wanted you to help as soon as you woke up, but I told them to give you some time."

"What happened to Minazuki?"

"He's still alive. He's being kept under guard. Yvonne…" Reeve trailed off. "I'm sorry. I know she was a friend of yours."

Yuffie looked down. "Yvonne wasn't bad," she said quietly. "People treated her like dirt because her mom was a kisaeng and her dad wasn't around. She was right about Wutai needing to change." She looked up at Reeve again. "What else is there?"

"We're helping clean up the square. Nothing's been carted off yet. People have said they want to save the pieces so that they can rebuild."

"Rebuild?" The sheer thought of the task made her dizzy. "Rebuild all of this?"

"I know people who have reconstructed entire buildings from fragments. It can be done."

Her spirits lifted slightly. "Anything else?"

"The land outside the city has changed quite a bit. Go up to Da-chao Statue," Reeve advised. "You'll be able to see it from there."

"In a minute. Where's Minazuki?"

Reeve led Yuffie to a small tent beside the infirmary. The soldier guarding the tent stepped aside to let Yuffie in. Minazuki was sitting on the edge of his cot and staring blankly at the ground. Without looking at Yuffie, he muttered, "They say she died from extreme mental exhaustion."

"You mean Yinying."

"They say it was the strain of summoning Leviathan."

"I'm sorry," Yuffie said after a pause, not knowing else to say.

"I don't believe it!" Minazuki burst, glaring at her. "If it was mental exhaustion, why didn't you die with her? You summoned Da-chao and used All Creation!"

Yuffie tried to think of something to say. "Yinying went through a lot," she said finally. "She grew up without her dad, but all she wanted was for him to accept her."

It wasn't the answer to Minazuki's question, but it had the desired effect: his anger vanished in an instant. He buried his face in his hands. "It's my fault," he mumbled. "I ordered her to take the Leviathan Materia from you. I told her to destroy Wutai. I told her that if she could do that, then she would be worthy of being my daughter. I killed her."

Yuffie watched the man who had thought only of the future grieve over the bitter irony of losing his child. Will he ever be able to lead again? she wondered. Or will he spend the rest of his life blaming himself for Yinying's death?

She turned away and left the tent. "He didn't even apologize for killing my dad," she said bitterly when she and Reeve were out of earshot. "Didn't say a thing about him."

"I don't think even he fully understands what he's done," Reeve replied. "He needs time to reflect. I'm sure he meant well when he first became the leader of Longhua, but he became obsessed with an idea, and that obsession would have led to destruction and death. I know it came at a terrible cost, but you stopped him."

Yuffie turned towards Da-chao Statue. "I'm gonna make the climb up."

"Alright. I'll see you around."

A few steps away, she turned around again. "By the way," she called, "just a heads up. You might be getting my resignation soon."

The brief look of concern on Reeve's face turned into understanding. "I see. Let me know what you decide."

In the square, Barret called out to Yuffie from behind. She turned, and they were all there: Barret, Tifa, Cloud, Cid, Nanaki with Cait Sith on his back, and Vincent. "What're you all doing here?" she asked.

Tifa smiled. "We're here to support you."

"You're climbin' the statue, right?" Cloud asked. "We'll come with you."

Tifa walked with Yuffie along the forest path to the mountain trail. "I'm sorry to hear about your father," she said. "Are you doing okay?"

"I think so," responded Yuffie. She told Tifa about the dream, from waking up on the snowy riverbank to watching her parents disappear into the mist.

"That's beautiful," Tifa commented when she finished. "Do you think the river was the Lifestream?"

"Maybe. You think that means it was real?"

"It could be. Why not, right?"

They walked in silence until Yuffie spoke up again. "By the way, I still don't know the answer. About what it means to be Wutaian, I mean."

"I started thinking about it myself. I thought about some of the things my mom used to do: making everyone take off their shoes in the house, cooking rice for almost every meal, signing me up for piano lessons so I could play this one Wutaian song we didn't have the sheet music for… And I went to the Wutaian New Year celebrations in Edge. I don't know how to explain it, but I think I'm starting to understand."

Yuffie remembered the New Year celebrations at Icicle Inn. "Yeah. I know what you mean. You should come to Wutai more often. I'll show you everything I know about being part of this place."

"Same. Come by my bar once in a while. We can check out the Wutaian community in Edge."

Yuffie was about to ask what she could learn from the Wutaian community in Edge, but then she remembered her aunt in Icicle Inn and the café owner in Kalm. We can't forget about Wutaians around the world, she thought. We have so much to learn from each other. So many stories to share. So much hope to give. She smiled at Tifa. "Sounds good!"

Further down the path, Cloud slowed down to walk beside Yuffie. After a few minutes of conversation, Yuffie suddenly remembered. "It's Aerith's birthday in a few days, right? This is when you usually go to the Forgotten City."

"Yeah. Good thing I went early this year."

"You said something pretty useful back there."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You said that remembering isn't just about reliving your memories. It's also about learning from the past—"

"So that you can be a better person in the future," Cloud finished. "Yeah, that sounds familiar."

"That's actually good advice."

"Really? Care to explain?"

Yuffie told him how her memory of the ancient legend about the first feng shui warriors gave her the idea to use her final Limit to defeat Leviathan. "So you have both Materia now?" Cloud asked when she finished.

"Nope. They're gone. Along with all the Materia Wutai brought to the battlefield."

"Really? You destroyed it all? You didn't think they'd come in handy one day?"

She shook her head. "After all this? We're probably better off without 'em."

Cloud laughed. "Yuffie Kisaragi giving up Materia? It must be the end of an era."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "That's getting really old!"

When they reached the foot of the mountain, they came across Cid taking a break to have a smoke. "Put that out," Yuffie ordered him. "This's clean Wutaian air."

"Who're you, the queen o' Wutai?" he grumbled, but dropped the cigarette and stamped it out. When Yuffie cleared her throat, he stooped down to pick up the cigarette and stuff it in his pocket.

"You're not supposed to smoke anyway," she pointed out. "Didn't Shera tell you it's bad for your kid?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm workin' on it," he muttered.

They began the trek up the mountain trail. "By the way, I am the queen of Wutai," Yuffie told him.

"'Zat right?"

"No. I just wanted to see how it sounded. But I don't think I can be what my dad was," Yuffie admitted. "You know? There're some things you can't bring back from the past. And Reeve said the people are learning how to lead themselves. But I want to lead, even if I'm not the Empress or anything." After everything I've been through, everything I've seen and learned, everything I remember, how can I not help lead Wutai in some way?

Warm air enveloped them when they entered the fiery caverns leading them higher up the mountain. Yuffie soon caught up to Vincent, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for conversation and walked by her side in silence. But when they emerged in the daylight, Vincent stopped Yuffie and stared into her eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Your eyes."

"What about 'em?"

"They're brown. And violet."

"Both?" Vincent nodded. Yuffie held out her hand. "Can I see your phone?"

"No."

"Mine doesn't work anymore 'cause it got wet."

Reluctantly, Vincent gave her his phone. She peered at her reflection and saw that it was true: her eyes, whose color she had never been able to tell for herself, were dark brown with violet rings around the irises. She made a face and handed Vincent's phone back to him. "It's weird," she complained.

"I think it's nice."

She stared at him as he promptly walked away. "You do?" she called after him. He didn't respond.

When they reached the lookout, Yuffie ran to the edge. The city had once sat between the forests and the fields of the Lotus River valley. Now it perched on the edge of a vast sapphire lake reaching from the city gates to the mountains in the south. On the east and west horizons, the lake was bounded by more mountains. If she squinted, Yuffie could see the island Da-chao had raised to save Wutai's army when the valley flooded.

Nanaki came up next to her. "Ever seen a lake this big?" Yuffie asked him, awestruck. "It almost looks like an ocean."

Water destroys, like Minazuki said. But water is also life. It doesn't have to divide us. Maybe it can bring us together.

"Do you still want to build a train from here to Longhua?" Nanaki asked teasingly.

"Not a train. A canal." She pointed. "The farmers need to drain some of the water to get their farmland back. And Longhua still needs water."

"Are you worried they'll pollute it like they did to East Lake?"

"I think they've learned their lesson." A plan came together in her head. "The canal can connect the towns along the old road. Traveling up and down Wutai will be a lot easier than before."

"Who will build it?"

"We will," she answered simply. "We built canals hundreds of years ago. We can get Longhua's engineers to help too. And maybe the WRO can give us a hand."

The eight of them stood together in silent awe of the new landscape. It ain't what it used to be, Yuffie thought, but it's still home.

"Cid?" she called. "I think I know what I wanna be. Guardian of Wutai."

I won't take Dad's place on the throne. I'll take his place at the top of the Pagoda. We'll rebuild it, but it won't be used the same way as before. That Pagoda was for preparing Wutai for the wars that ended it. The new Pagoda of Martial Might will just be for teaching martial arts. We'll do the same for the Pavilion of Heavenly Harmony and the Palace of Earthly Peace. They won't be used for praying for victory in war, or showing off the imperial family's wealth. They'll be used for celebrating the yearly festivals and housing the new government. Mom and Dad will see from the other side, and Wutaians all over the world will know: Wutai still lives.

Yuffie reached into her pocket and found her mother's hairpin still there. She gazed at the phoenix shining in the sunlight. In Wutai, the phoenix is the sign of the Empress. In the West, it's a sign of rebirth. I wonder if Mom knew that.

Thinking of her mother from the heights of Da-chao Statue brought back a long-forgotten memory: she was little, sitting in her mother's lap and wrapped warmly in her arms, as they sang her favorite lullaby and watched the plum blossoms bloom. Now the roofs were covered with snow, just like the first verse of the lullaby.

How does it go again? Yuffie hummed the melody and the words came back to her. She began to sing, her voice ringing clearly in the crisp air of the early spring:

The soaring roofs are pale with snow
Gleaming bright blue in the light of dawn
As I walk along the white riverbank
Singing of spring mornings.

The End

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the inspiration for this story:

The Joy Luck Club with its poignant stories about Chinese women and their second-generation daughters; Princess Mononoke with its deep roots in Japanese mythology, its complex conflict, and its powerful, bittersweet ending; and Kubo and the Two Strings with its rich soundtrack and its story about a boy learning who his parents are and discovering the power of memory.

Jasmine Chen's beautiful rendition of the Northeastern Cradle Song inspired the Song of the Seasons.

Addenda

Although I tried to make the story as consistent with canon as possible, there's so much material in the Compilation that it's too difficult to keep up, and there were certain things I wanted to change for the story I wanted to tell, which was the story of the end of an Empire and the fate of its last Princess. Departures (i.e. direct contradictions) with canon are noted here:

In canon, Wutai went to war with Shinra over a mako reactor. I added that Shinra was also involved in an incident leading to the death of Wutai's Prince.

In canon, Zack ended the war by capturing a single fortress. In my story, the war ended with Shinra bombing part of the city of Wutai and Godo losing to Sephiroth in a duel. Even though these two events are only mentioned once and don't really affect the plot, they are important for the overall narrative.

The city of Wutai and its monuments are described differently from what the game shows. I used ancient Chinese cities and monuments for reference.

Since Dirge of Cerberus took liberties with Vincent's Limits, I took some liberties with Yuffie's. This story's Gauntlet, Doom of the Living, and (part of) All Creation are based on Yuffie's Soul Breaks in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.

The original Japanese name of Yuffie's final weapon (officially translated "Conformer"), more closely means "archenemy," so I renamed it "Nemesis." (This also makes it deliciously ironic that Yuffie uses it to end the war.)

Square named Godo to refer to Waiting for Godot. I turned it into a short version of a number-related name, Juugodou.

Canon implies that the whole world speaks the same language. I made Wutaian a separate language. But according to my unofficial history of Wutai, the country wasn't completely isolated from the world, so even before the war, children of wealthy families, including Yuffie, learned "English" at an early age.

In the original game, the Pagoda Masters' battle styles don't correspond with their titles. I changed the Masters' abilities so that they would be consistent with their titles. Chekhov is an exception: I decided that the Master of Magic is a master of both Materia and Limits.

In the original game, Godo fights with a dao and a little trident thing. I made him fight with two dao because I thought it was cooler. I also left out his omni-change form for various reasons that are too long to write.

Bonus: There are many references to an in-progress story about Godo and Kasumi. About half done, it is already more than 20,000 words longer than this story, and I'm not convinced that it's interesting enough to justify the length. If I decide to publish it, all chapters will probably be published in fall 2019.

Bonus 2: There are some references to another prequel involving Cid: Yuffie's complaint that Cid "got high and mighty ever since he saved the world from some measly dragons," and Cid's baby with Shera. I have a brief synopsis in mind, but at the moment it's highly unlikely that I'll write it.

Closing

My thanks to the people who inspired this story:

First, my parents: my mother, whose story inspired Kasumi and Yuffie's journeys and whose storytelling voice would always bring me back to my childhood; and my father, whom I didn't understand until I learned about the world he grew up in and the struggles he faced.

Second, my childhood friends, whose struggles with ethnic identity, heritage, and parental relationships lead us all to a better understanding of who we are, where we came from, and what we can do to foster a multicultural society.

Third, A.V., R.E., and S.Y., whose discussions on tradition and cultural identity were indispensable to the development of this story's themes.

Fourth, the people I encountered at the Obon Festival in my hometown, who showed me how tradition lives on even across oceans.

And last but not least, thanks to my readers for following the story all the way to the end. Even if there is only one of you, you have my profound gratitude. Whatever your ethnic or cultural background, I hope you have found something valuable in the story. If you have, then this story was worth the effort.