“I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over.”

Knowing full well what's to come, I turn on my PS2, load up save number 1, and with trepidation and unrest, step into the Temple of the Ancients.

We cross a bridge where Aerith kneels to listen to the cries of the planet/her ancestors, which allow her to confirm that this is the right place. Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa run up the stairs of a Central American style pyramid and see another man in a black cloak groan out the words, “Black Materia” before his...soul (?) leaves him. We then step into the room at the top and see Tseng of the Turks on the verge of death. He informs us that Sephiroth has entered the temple. He’s not seeking the Promised Land, but the Black Materia located therein. Tseng gives us back the keystone, steps aside, and the party enters into a room that resembles an M. C. Escher painting. Within, we find a few weapons with questionable reliability, a Luck Plus Materia, and several stereotypical looking wizards who can’t speak because, “they never needed to. Their only goal was to protect the temple.”. We chase a few around the room. One has a shop filled with generic essentials while the other leads us to a puzzle room with Indiana Jones-esq rocks falling towards us we have to avoid. At the end of this room, Aerith turns around to see the pool in the middle of the light-up. It's showing us the scene where Tseng started dying when we see him being stabbed by Sephiroth. Elena was also there, but we find no sign of her in the dungeon.

We step into a room with a clock in the middle. The clock hands lead to doors, located where the hours on a clock ore, with the pathways to the doors being the clock hands that we need to move. Several of the rooms are traps with tricky enemies, and some are dead-ends. Some, however, are filled with treasure. One of which is Aerith’s Ultimate Weapon, the Princess Guard. Another contains the Ribbon, so one of my characters is now immune to all status effects. After this room, we chase another wizard who gives us the key to the treasury.

In that room, we find Sephiroth. He tells us his plan that, when the world is damaged, it will try to heal itself. But what if something so powerful happened that the planet would nearly die? How much energy would it take to heal? What it someone absorbed that power instead? They would become a god. The key to that planet destroyer is the Black Materia, the summon materia for Meteor. We then fight a red dragon who turns itself into Bahamut; I give it to Cid. At the Black Materia alter, Aerith listens to the Cetra who tells her that the materia, itself, is the whole temple. It can only be used by shrinking it down via several puzzles, however, the puzzle solver is crushed by the shrinking temple, as well. Sephiroth would throw cronies at it, so Cait Sith and his fake stuffed body offers his service. Before meeting up with him, we fight a wall and beat it fairly easily. Cait gives one more fortune, which states that Aerith and Cloud are a perfect march. Tifa is standing right there...

Then a scene that, I think, they meant to be more impactful happens, but it kinda falls flat. Cait is talking about how it’s his turn to save the world and how great this sacrifice is while being a bit goofy. But just one scene prior, he says that his body is replaceable. He’s not a real person. He’s just a robot meant for this thing. He's a bot, noble or heartening, he’s replaceable. It means nothing. And this is coming from someone who still sleeps with stuffed animals. He does his job, though.

As the temple shrinks, Sephiroth shows up, which causes Cloud to have a breakdown and gives Sephiroth the Black Materia. We control a child Cloud, for some reason, and try to prevent it, but to no avail. Our enemy gets his world-destroying materia, and then, in another fit of emotions, Cloud attacks Aerith with an MMA takedown as Tifa steps in to stop it. Cait Sith Number 2 shows up to confuse the gravitas of the situation. Cloud then whites (not blacks) out.

The camera is in front of a forest as Aerith is randomly appearing behind the trees. Cloud apologizes to her, and she forgives him. She then tells Cloud that what she’s about to do is something only she can do. But she’ll need to leave the party to do it. Aerith says the quote I used as the title and runs away from the screen. And away from Cloud, who’s trying to chase after her but can’t move.

He then wakes up in Gongaga, terrified. Our once stoic main character is now very open with his emotions. He’s afraid of what he did, afraid of what he might so, and afraid to continue the journey and save Aerith. Barrett calls him out for it, Tifa defuses the situation, and the two leave, giving Cloud time to think. It’s short-lived as he leaves the room he’s in and instantly agrees to save Aerith on the condition Barrett stops him if he changes again. The game goes back to the overworld, but the party is now short its white mage. All of her materia is in our inventory, never to be used again in this playthrough. The real main character is gone from my party and, despite looking forward to this from a gameplay perspective, I absolutely hate this. I miss her already.

Regardless of my stupid, stupid emotions, we travel north, to where Aerith said she’s going. We come to a city called Bone Village where we dig up a harp to enter the forest, find a new summon, and descend into the Forgotten Capital, The City of Ancients. A most haunting melody plays. A scale I can’t know plays over a chord progression, which, I assume, is/will be from a violin with plucked strings entering here and there. It's very droney and quite unnerving. There are no random encounters and only a few items to find. We stumble on a house with beds and sleep until night when Cloud wakes up and feels as though Sephiroth is calling out to him.

We go to the shell looking building in the middle of town, descend a set of crystal stairs which appear, and go down to a Disney castle. There we see Aerith kneeling in prayer. As we approach her, Cloud takes out his Buster Sword and tries to attack the flower girl before he is stopped by the party. Before being able to contemplate his actions, Sephiroth falls from the heavens and pierces his sword through Aerith’s abdomen. As she falls forward, her ribbon comes undone, and her “useless” Materia falls to the floor and into the water. As it hits, Aerith’s Theme plays; I am no longer able to control my emotions. I, like many other players, feel a lump growing in my throat as Cloud holds the lifeless body of Aerith. He has trouble controlling his emotions, as well, and verbalizes a tirade of sorrow trying to find his closure. His dialogue is, maybe, some of the best in the game, if not of all RPGs.

From Fandom.com
"...Shut up. The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing. Aeris is gone. Aeris will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry... What about us...what are WE supposed to do? What is this pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"

Some might say that this is over-acting, or a new writer trying to explain a character's emotion in a terrible, amateur, fashion, but I feel like it's perfect. It's words from a man trying to figure out his emotions with the added trauma of seeing his friend, and potential love interest, die right in front of him. Killed by his sworn enemy. Grief, confusion, fear, and anger boiled down to its purest form. Cloud never outright says, "Grr, I'm angry", but gives details to his emotions in a way many can understand.

After Cloud’s soliloquy, Sephiroth calls Cloud a puppet and drops another piece of Jenova on us. She almost took us down, which would have been embarrassing, being unable to avenge our fallen friend. Luckily, we managed to take her out with a barrage of Limit Breaks. Aerith's Theme continues to play for the battle, rather than the traditional Boss Battle Theme. After this fight, the party shows their emotions, each doing something different.

Barrett places his hand on Cloud's shoulder.
Tifa walks up to Aerith, beings crying, and runs off-screen.
Nanaki howls.
Cait dances, in a vain attempt to cheer the party up.
Yuffie cries in Cloud's arms.
Cid makes, what I imagine for a PS1 era game, a mournful look to the sky, and walks off.
Vincent looks around at the two before heading off.
Cloud picks Aerith up and takes her to the nearby lake/Lifestream and allows the corpse of the most meaningful character in video games to sink to the bottom. We then go back to the beds where Cloud informs the party he doesn’t know who he is. He wishes he could turn back, but says how much we need to atop Sephiroth and figure out what Aerith was trying to do. The player is then prompted to save, as we’ve reached the end of disk 1.

While I could have kept playing, I decided here is the best place to stop. Goodnight and Farewell.