AN: New story! Don't you guys love me? This is not time-travel, but it does involve two characters returning to life. Just because I can't stand the thought of them staying dead. I hope you guys like it just as much as 'I Want to Live', and don't forget to Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter One

Dark the stars and dark the Moon

Hush the Night and the morning loon

Tell the horses and beat on your drum

Gone their Master, gone their son

Dark the Oceans, dark the Sky

Hush the Whales and the ocean tide

Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum

Gone their Master, gone their son...

-Gone, Ioanna Gika

"What is it, Angeal?" Sephiroth asked his oldest friend, coming to a stop beside the other man.

Sephiroth and Angeal were currently in the limitless expanse of the Lifestream. They stood together watching Angeal's only student Zackary "Zack" Fair talk with his girlfriend, the lovely Cetra Aerith Gainsborough. It would've been a very touching and normal scene... if not for the fact that they were all dead. And that right there was Angeal's problem.

"Zack shouldn't have died," Angeal said, arms crossed over his chest and mouth turned down. Sephiroth winced. Whenever his fellow SOLDIER used that frown, it was never a good sign. It meant he wasn't happy, and usually nobody wanted that.

"Neither of them, Zack or Aerith, should've," the raven-haired man continued. "They had so much of their lives to look forward to together, and instead this is what they get."

"Yes," Sephiroth agreed. "Their situation is a result of what everyone else, and we, have done, yet it is they who were punished for it."

So what would you do to give them happiness?

All of them, not just Angeal and Sephiroth, had heard that whispered question and whirled, their eyes widening. The Goddess Minerva stood before them, in all Her glory, blue eyes serious and golden armor shining in the light of the Lifestream. Beside Her stood another figure.

The woman was tall and modestly curved, with long, midnight-black hair tied into a braid. Her eyes were a piercing silver, filled with such power and wisdom, yet sadness and pain that no one could look Her in the eye, not even Sephiroth. She wore a long silk dress that brushed the floor and was the same green as the Lifestream around them. The cloak she wore was a light shade of blue, and there were golden bracelets on her wrists that jingled when She moved. The necklace around her neck was shaped like wings, shining with inner light much like Materia.

"The Planet," Aerith breathed. The last Cetra got on her knees, bowing her head. Zack followed his girlfriend's example, as did Angeal and Sephiroth.

"My Children," the Planet said, holding out Her arms. "You do not have to bow to Me. Rise, My Faithful Daughter." The Planet kissed Aerith upon her brow. Then she came to Angeal and Sephiroth. "My Sons, be at ease. Especially you, Sephiroth, for you are no longer the Calamity's Son." She helped them to their feet, giving each of them a kiss as well. Then the Planet turned to Zack, who was the only one now able to look her in the eye.

"My Favored Son," the Planet murmured fondly. Minerva walked up, tilting Zack's head back slightly.

"Zack Fair, Aerith Gainsborough..." the Goddess said, "We have heard Angeal Hewley and Sephiroth Valentine's wish. So We both have come to answer."

The Planet grew serious. "Jenova interfered in your destinies. You two were meant for great things, together. But now, Jenova is defeated yet I have still lost to the Calamity. My Children are all dead now, my Champion nearly broken."

Minerva spoke now. "Yet thanks to Angeal Hewley and Sephiroth Valentine's unselfish wish, we have a solution." Both the Planet and the Goddess shared a mischievous smile as they raised their hands.

Zack and Aerith didn't even have time to gasp before light struck their hearts. Both SOLDIER and Cetra vanished from the Lifestream, and then the two women turned to the two men.

"We have a mission for the both of you as well: should you choose to accept it, you will be able to help your friends and those you wronged..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

When Zack began waking up, the first thing that registered was that he was curled around something. Second thing was that that something was female. When one eye managed to cooperate with him and opened, Zack saw long brown hair and a light pink ribbon.

Aerith groaned softly and stirred in Zack's arms, making his stomach flutter. Goddess, why did she always have to be so beautiful?

The Cetra woke up much the same as Zack, and a light pink blush spread across her cheeks when she saw where she was curled up.

They both sat up, carefully and slowly, and looked around, hoping to see something familiar as their surroundings. They were laying on a large bed of flowers, and beyond the flower bed was the familiar building of the Sector Five church. It was a little more run-down than before Zack's death, but otherwise looked the same.

"Is this... what the Planet and Minerva did?" Zack asked curiously.

Aerith nodded, then her eyes landed on something behind her boyfriend. She gasped, green eyes wide, and Zack turned, wondering what she'd seen.

The Buster Sword stood proud and gleaming in the sunlight, looking like Cloud had never used it to defeat Sephiroth. Zack could almost believe that Cloud had come here and planted it there right after Zack had passed it on to him before his death. The SOLDIER rose to his feet, wobbling a little, and walked over to it. His hand rose to grasp its hilt, and Zack let out a breath when he finally did.

Zack yanked the Buster Sword out of the floorboards easily, putting it on his back in its familiar position. Then he turned back to Aerith, saying, "We need to talk to Cloud."

Aerith nodded. "We'll need to get to Edge somehow, then." She looked to her right and saw her staff leaning against a pillar, so she walked over and picked it up, twirling it in her hands a couple of times before smiling. It felt good to have it in her hands again. Zack smiled, and they both walked out of the Church.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Tifa absentmindedly cleaned the bar counter while keeping an eye on Denzel and Marlene. Cloud was on a delivery and said that he'd spend the night at the Church before getting home the next morning. She smiled, humming a little.

There was a knock on the door, and when Tifa looked up, coming through into the room were two people that Tifa'd thought she'd never see again.

In a flash, Tifa leapt over over the counter and took a fighting stance in front of the children, who took cover behind her, and pulled on her gloves.

One person she'd only seen once, in Nibelheim the week that her hometown had burned. A tall, broad-shouldered man with spiky black hair that reached his shoulders. A First Class SOLDIER uniform. Mako-blue eyes. And more importantly, the Buster SWord on his back, the sword that should still be in Aerith's Church before Cloud moved it to where his best friend had actually died.

Zack Fair, First Class SOLDIER, Lieutenant, Second Owner of the Buster Sword, and the one who was murdered by the very company he'd served while protecting Cloud.

But it was the second person, standing beside Zack, that felt like a sucker punch in the gut.

Long brown hair pulled back in a braid, with a pink ribbon tied at the top. A similar pink ribbon was also tied onto every AVALANCHE member's arm. Warm green eyes and a gentle smile. A pink dress that reached her ankles, short-sleeved red jacket, and worn brown boots. A staff held in her hand that was currently resting at her side.

Aerith Gainsborough, the last Cetra, the one who'd summoned Holy to stop Sephiroth, and the one who'd been murdered by said man for doing so.

"Who are you?" Tifa asked harshly. "How did you get those weapons? Answer me or I'll tear you apart!"

"Tifa, it's really us," the one who looked like Aerith said, trying to reassure the angry barmaid.

When the martial artist didn't move, the Zack look-alike said, "I'll prove it, Tifa. You lived in Nibelheim, and you were also the one who was our guide up the mountain. When Sephiroth burned the town and killed almost everybody in it, you went after him. That's where I found you, bleeding from the wound Sephiroth gave you on your chest. You said you hated Sephiroth, you hated Shin-Ra, you hated SOLDIER, and you hated me."

Tifa gasped. Only Zack could've possibly known that; after hearing Cloud talk about what Zack went through and how the man had died, Tifa had been so ashamed of what she'd told him that day. She'd sworn never to tell Cloud.

Aerith smiled. "Tifa... don't you remeber me dressing Cloud up as a girl?"

Zack let out a huge guffaw. "I remeber seein' that from the Lifestream! I would'a died from how hard I'd laughed if it had been possible!"

Aerith went a little pink.

Tifa let her hands fall. "A...Aerith? Zack?" she whispered. They both nodded, Zack still grinning. The children peered around Tifa's legs, eyes locked on Aerith and the cool-looking SOLDIER.

The barmaid ran forward and embraced Aerith, needing more than anything to know that her best friend was truly real. When she felt that Aerith was solid, feeling the Cetra hug her back, Tifa then embraced Zack.

"Can you ever forgive me for what I said that day, Zack?" she asked. "I've been so ashamed that I said those terrible things to the man that tried to stop Sephiroth and later saved Cloud's life!"

Zack laughed. "'Course I can, Tifa. I know you didn't mean it. You'd just lost your father and your hometown, after all."

Tifa gave a weak chuckle and let Zack go, wiping at her eyes. Then she turned to the kids. "These are Malene and Denzel, you two," she said. "Marlene, Denzel, I'd like you to meet Aerith Gainsborough, the flower girl we've mentioned a couple of times, and Lieutenant Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class."

"Nice ta meet you two," Zack said. He knealt down to look the kids in the eye. Aerith giggled; she remembered that Zack had always had a special way with kids.

Denzel was in awe of the huge SOLDIER that looked really strong and had that cool sword on his back, while Marlene was eyeing Zack's longer-than-normal hair, wanting more than anything to play with it.

"Tifa?" Aerith asked. "Where's Cloud?"

"On a delivery right now," Tifa replied, going back to the bar counter. Zack and the kids followed, talking about swords, fighting, and various hair styles (that last bit was all Marlene). "He said he'll spend the night in the Church and be back in the morning."

"Shit," Zack swore. Tifa didn't scold him for his use of language around the kids because he looked panicked enough as it was.

"What?" both she and Aerith asked.

Zack looked at the Buster Sword, and it hit Tifa like a load of bricks. "He'll see that the Buster Sword's gone and think someone took it!" she exclaimed.

Aerith thought about it. "But... there isn't much we can do about it. It is Zack's sword. We'll just have to explain what happened to Cloud when he gets back here."

Tifa and Zack reluctantly nodded, then the barmaid said, "You two will probably have to stay upstairs tonight; people are still jumpy about SOLDIER, and most customers here know that Aerith's dead. Well, supposed to be. Cloud's room is still free, and I know he won't mind you guys using it tonight."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

In the ruin that was once known as the Sector Five Slums, in an old run-down church, a pew was destroyed by the gleaming edge of a sword. Blue-green eyes narrowed in anger as he looked at what was not there.

First Chapter done! How'd I do? I think I'll explain some things before I end this chapter. This is about a year after the original game, so a year before Advent Children starts. Cloud hadn't put the Buster Sword out where Zack died yet, so that's why he placed it in the Church, for safekeeping. And I don't know what actually happened to Aerith's staff (I haven't actually played the original FFVII) so that's why I decided that her friends had placed it in the Church after Sephiroth was defeated and she was dead.

Advent Children is going to turn out differently because of what the Planet and Minerva did, so I can't wait till we get there! I'm so excited!

Hopefully you guys understood how Aerith and Zack returned to life. The Goddess and the Planet basically used Angeal and Sephiroth's wish to get their way. Otherwise, Zack and Aerith would still be in the Lifestream.

Next chapter: our favorite blond chocobo makes an appearance, and he realizes what's going on. Sephiroth and Angeal's fates are revealed!