Looking into Sephiroth's eyes—eyes that held the quiet devastation of a soul long dead—Jack Harper found himself unable to offer any words of comfort.
All he could do was ask, "What are you going to do?"
The human-shaped Sephiroth glanced at the seven-winged angel across the dreamscape and said calmly, "That one—his berserk will is far stronger than mine. Even with your dream holding him in place, I'm nearing my limit. Next, I'll move in to suppress his will directly. After that, I need you to use the power of this dream to freeze us both. Once our wills are gone, the black Life Springs outside will disperse. The planetary will, which has waited a long time, will then cleanse the entire 'Star Scar' region—including the cells inside your body. Without a physical anchor, we'll vanish completely."
"Freeze both of you… I'm not sure I have that kind of power." Jack frowned.
In this dreamscape, he could simulate temperatures close to absolute zero—but it was still just a mental construct. Against beings with powerful wills, such cold could be easily repelled, unable to penetrate their core.
"No—you can," Sephiroth said with certainty. "This is your dream world. You may not understand how to manipulate time, but freezing any target here is well within your reach."
"How come I didn't know I could do that?"
"You did. But when you built this dreamscape, the process was so painful that you chose to seal that memory away. When I entered this space, I found the sealed fragment. Now, I'm giving it back to you."
Before Jack could respond, Sephiroth raised a slender finger and touched his forehead. Blue ripples flowed into the dreamer's mind.
"Ugh—!"
Jack's face turned snow-white, then purple-black, then ashen gray. Within seconds, his complexion shifted through a kaleidoscope of unnatural hues—until finally, it settled.
"Huff… I almost died."
The memory Sephiroth returned was a nightmare beyond imagination. During the ten-year cryogenic experiment, Jack had been frozen in a way that defied ethics and sanity. His body was encased in ice, yet placed within a simulated bio-electromagnetic field. His consciousness couldn't fully sleep, nor could it think, see, hear, or feel. He retained only the awareness of self—no thoughts, no senses, no emotions. Just pure, endless void.
It was like being swallowed by a black hole. Most test subjects died when their minds dissolved into nothingness.
Jack should have died too. But by sheer chance, at the brink of annihilation, he awakened a unique power—transforming every last shred of emotion into a freezing force that matched the external cold. He constructed a dream of absolute frost. Empty, silent, but enough to preserve his mind and escape oblivion.
The process—extracting every feeling and using it to freeze himself—was like carving his own soul into pieces. After waking, Jack instinctively forgot it. And because most of his emotions had been consumed, he became emotionally numb. Only after years of recovery did new feelings begin to grow again—slowly, and faintly.
"Wait… the memory you gave me wasn't just mine." Jack blinked, pulling himself out of the horror.
"It includes my battle experience and insights," Sephiroth said softly. "Consider it proof that I once existed."
Though Jack and Sephiroth now shared memories, it wasn't true possession. Once they separated, Jack would only retain the experiences from when he controlled the body. But now, Sephiroth had voluntarily copied part of his memory into Jack's mind—granting him a lifetime's worth of martial skill and combat knowledge.
"Any last wishes?" Jack asked.
Sephiroth thought for a moment, then conjured a small emerald-green orb in his palm and handed it to Jack. "This is the one thing I can't let go of. If possible… please go see it for me."
Jack, now sharing Sephiroth's memories, knew exactly what the orb contained.
"Then… goodnight." The silver-haired warrior turned his back and walked toward the awakening seven-winged angel.
"Yeah. Goodnight." Jack nodded.
In the vast, empty dreamscape, snowflakes shimmered with soft blue light as they drifted down.
Much had happened within the Heartlake Dreamscape, but to the outside world, only moments had passed.
On the battlefield, the still-conscious heroes watched in shock as Sephiroth—poised to unleash a final, annihilating blow—suddenly paused. His right hand stopped his left from activating the ultimate technique. After a brief silence, his lone remaining black wing folded inward, wrapping around his body. Then, in a swirl of black smoke, Sephiroth's form vanished—revealing Jack Harper beneath.
At the same time, the massive vortex of black clouds overhead began to fade. The sky cleared. Sunlight broke through. Gentle, cleansing raindrops fell from above—Life Spring droplets guided by the planetary will, washing away the remnants of Jenova's cells. Every infected Star Scar survivor felt their symptoms vanish in the rain's embrace.
Jack landed on the ground, black mist rising from his body as the rain purified him. Though Cloud and the others remained wary of the boy who had willingly fused with Jenova, they were too battered to raise their weapons.
Jack walked to Flora's frozen coffin, unsure what to do. Flora wasn't a Reincarnation adventurer. If he did nothing, she might be left behind in this world.
He opened the Reincarnation Book, searching for a solution.
Completing the cursed mission "Blood Vengeance of the Styx" had earned him several rewards.
Killing Gilgamesh and the Lady of the Night granted him survival points and cards. But as a Bronze-tier adventurer, Jack didn't gain rank from their deaths. He received one random card from each, and 50% of their survival points.
Magnor's death, however, yielded one ability card, one item card, and 70% of his survival points.
From Gilgamesh, Jack received a snow-colored katana: "Ice Blade – Snow Moon Flower – Custom." It was the same blade Gilgamesh had tried to use against Sephiroth. Originating from the Monster Hunter 2G game world, it was elegant and powerful. Gilgamesh had infused it with demon-forging techniques, embedding twelve arcane runes into the blade. It could slay spirits, absorb souls and blood—but due to incomplete enchantment, it hadn't fully evolved into a demon sword.
From Magnor, Jack drew the skill card "Holy Spirit Sword Technique XXII," and—more importantly—a rare manual: "Complete Codex of the Sacred Heart Technique." Jack remembered this as the strongest ice-based martial art in the Wind and Cloud universe, far surpassing the Ice Fist. Even the perfected "Glacial Nirvana" was several tiers below it. At minimum, it was mid-Gold tier—possibly even high-Gold. However, the original wielder, Emperor Shitian, had required a thousand years of cultivation to master it. Jack wasn't sure if it could be learned without such longevity. After all, Magnor hadn't mastered it either—otherwise, he'd have reached Gold tier long ago.
From the Lady of the Night, Jack received a modest item card: "Mental Blessing Scroll 6/10." It boosted a person's mental strength, roughly equivalent to a low Bronze-tier mind. Usable only once per person.
Though the rewards were substantial, none helped Flora's situation. Jack frowned—until he noticed one final prize.
"Cursed mission 'Blood Vengeance of the Styx' completed. One random treasure card drawn."
"Silver-tier high-grade treasure card acquired: 'Valhalla Page Fragment.'"
**Valhalla Page Fragment**: Adds a new page to the Reincarnation Book, containing a "Hall of Heroes" space. Defeated or surrendered storyline characters can be stored within. Up to five followers may be summoned in future worlds to fight alongside the adventurer.
"This is it!" Jack finally saw a way forward. He used the card and stored Flora's frozen coffin within the Valhalla page. Though her problem wasn't solved, there was now hope.
"Now… only one thing remains."
And that wasn't killing Cloud and the other heroes. Though Jack might have had the chance, he couldn't bring himself to harm the characters he'd grown up admiring. Besides, the gentle rain falling from above reminded him that Aerith—the ancient descendant who could command the planet's will—was still watching. Any reckless move could trigger disaster.
Jack's final task was to fulfill Sephiroth's last wish.
To visit his mother, Lucrecia.
Years ago, this beautiful, tragic woman—wracked with guilt over the child she'd helped create—had attempted suicide shortly after Sephiroth's birth. But due to her symbiosis with Jenova cells, she couldn't die easily. Instead, she sealed away most of her soul and memories, freezing her body deep underground.
Jack knew her resting place from the sequel to Advent Children—Dirge of Cerberus. And thanks to Sephiroth's memories, which contained detailed maps of the entire world, it wasn't hard to pinpoint the exact location.
Riding atop the Headless Horseman's spectral steed, Jack soared through the skies. It didn't take long to reach the destination: a flower-covered hillside beneath which lay the cave where Lucrecia slept.
The moment Jack stepped into the cave, the emerald orb Sephiroth had entrusted to him floated out from his left eye. A faint black mist spread, reshaping Jack's appearance into Sephiroth's form. Of course, this was merely the last trace of Sephiroth's will—it didn't grant Jack any power.
The silver-haired warrior stood silently beside the frozen pool, gazing at the crystal coffin at its center. Inside lay a golden-haired woman, her features serene, untouched by time.
In his eyes flickered emotions too complex to name.
Was it longing? Hope? Resentment? Grief?
No one could truly understand Sephiroth's heart in that moment. Perhaps not even Sephiroth himself.
Time passed—minute by minute, hour by hour.
Sephiroth remained motionless, silent.
Outside, the world cycled through day and night.
Inside the cave, stillness reigned.
Until the final moment approached.
…My time in this world is ending…
…If you're there…
…Say something…
Moved by the whisper of another will within his soul, Sephiroth—who had stood like a statue for an entire day and night—finally opened his mouth.
"…Mother…"
"…Nice to meet you…"
"…And…"
"…Farewell…"
In the next instant, Sephiroth's form dissolved into black mist. Simultaneously, Jack Harper's body vanished in a flash of white light.
In the empty cave, a single glimmering stream of light traced down the cheek of the golden-haired woman in the ice.
No one could say whether it was a reflection of water…
…or a tear