“And so, now I’m the one with the most materia in the world. What do you think of that?”

Yuffie was on her way back to her hometown of Wutai and had been talking to the chocobo she was riding the whole time.

“Do you think I should buy some new clothes somewhere? These clothes got all worn during that long journey.”

Yuffie thought about the people of Wutai who she expected will be welcoming her home. She was sure they already knew the planet managed to avoid the catastrophic Meteor because of them. That’s why they will surely gather together to hear her stories.

“Oh wait. These worn clothes will help show how much hardship I’ve been through. Yes, this is what I’ll do. I’ll keep these clothes as they are. But more importantly, I better prepare my stories!”

However, Yuffie realized that she didn’t know how a lot of the important things had happened and in what order just before the world was close to its end.

“This isn’t good—”

What had everyone been thinking? What happened as a result of their thinking? There was a lot of things Yuffie, who only joined them some point during their journey, didn’t know.

“I wish I asked them about it— But whatever. I’ll just have to improvise. The former SOLDIER Sephiroth that the evil Shinra Company created was thinking of great evil deeds. As Cloud and his friends fought Shinra Company, they pursued Sephiroth. When Sephiroth was cornered, he tried to use the Black Materia to summon a small meteor to crash into the planet. We risked our lives and stopped him. Yes, perfect. Easy for them to understand.”

What Yuffie didn’t know was that a lot of the details she didn’t know about had already reached Wutai. With the exception that she was involved.

* * *

“Hey.”

Wutai was in sight. Yuffie had returned to visit a number of times during her journey but the feeling was different after finishing something. She stopped the chocobo and gazed at her home in the distance.

“Huh? Why am I…?”

Yuffie didn’t understand why she was wiping away tears.

It was early morning. After releasing her chocobo, she ran down the familiar paths without looking up. She ran at full speed towards the house where she expected her father Godo to be. She didn’t want anyone in town to know she was back yet. Even though she had decided she wanted to keep her worn clothes on, she wanted to give her face a wash at least.

Godo was standing by the door, hammering at a post.

“What are you doing?”

Godo turned round when he heard Yuffie’s voice.

“I’m back. It’s all over.”

Godo nodded with dignity—

“I’m glad you’re back safe, Yuffie. But listen my daugther, the town is in much trouble. Help me. Wutai is in need of assistance from young people like you.”

He lifted up a bag full of tools onto his back and started to walk towards the center of town.

“Hey wait!”

Yuffie hastily followed. Her father seemed to be in a hurry and was walking briskly along.

“You’ve heard of what I’ve been involved in right? What happened to the welcoming party? Where is everyone?”

As Yuffie protested, she briefly talked about how she and her friends summoned the Lifestream and saved the planet. Godo stopped and turned round, looking at her with a dubious face.

“I know nothing about what you’ve done. What I know is that the world got dragged into a mess that the foolish Shinra and crazy SOLDIERs caused. In the end, the universe’s will was to end that dispute and it summoned Meteor but, our planet defended itself by releasing the Lifestream and destroyed it—That is the way I understand it.”

Godo spoke with a serious face.

“The universe’s will? Who came up with that stupid story?”

“That is my interpretation. Perhaps the truth is different but, what I know is enough. And Yuffie. Don’t go about saying you were involved. The effects of the Lifestream is vast. Even though people understand it saved the planet, there is still some who are unhappy at what has happened.”

“What!”

Yuffie raised her fist, punching the air in protest.

“What’s happened to the town—”

Yuffie looked around her as she talked, displeased with what she was hearing. She had never noticed it when she arrived but, many of the buildings were damaged. Amongst them was the ancient red roofed training hall which now had a large hole in its wall. She could see many of the tiles from the roof had fallen down too—

“What happened?”

“The Lifestream passed through here. It was a horrifying night when the buildings shook. Perhaps it’s nothing compared to the victims in Midgar but, there are many old buildings here. You might not see much damage outside the structures but the posts and beams are probably broken. I won’t be surprised if the buildings collapse some day. That’s why I’m using this hammer to—What’s wrong, Yuffie?”

Yuffie gazed at the people who were gathering around her and repairing the buildings. Many of them were bandaged.

“Is everyone alright? Anyone badly wounded?”

“There’s quite a number of people wounded. But not many of them are that severe.”

“So they’re few in number.”

“You’re right—But what can you do about it? Now come help me fix the buildings.”

Godo took out a new hammer out of the toolbox and handed it to Yuffie.

“I don’t mind. This will help, right?”

Yuffie took out her healing materia and showed it to her father.

“Ah—” Godo looked at Yuffie warily. “Do you have any more?”

“No. There were a few more of this type of this materia. I was really planning to bring more back but you know, the attack type would be too dangerous, wouldn’t it?”

“That is good. A wise decision.”

Godo walked over to the red roofed training hall and began to examine its condition.

“It looks like we can fix this easily.”

He then called out around him.

“Hey, give me some help everyone! We’ll turn this place into a hospital.”

* * *

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