"You're reinstating her!?" Selphie exclaimed. It wasn't that she had not dreamed of such a result - in fact, she had hoped that they would from the very beginning - but more the shock that this particular moment was really the one she had been waiting for. It was hard to think that it was really only a couple of weeks - she had gotten so deeply mired in this mess that the shore seemed miles behind her. But her dreams were realized. She didn't even know where she'd go from here; so much of what she had done had been devoted to realizing this moment that the future was now a blank slate. But right now, she wanted to hear the news again and again. That Yuffie was really, truly coming back to Balamb Garden, back to be with her and Chu-Chu and Zell, back where she belonged. Back home.

Cid nodded. "Everyone deserves another chance. And it seems that we owe the continued survial of our species to her actions, then we should be honored to have her here."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Selphie squealed and hugged Cid. "You're the greatest." But then she frowned after a moment's hesitation. "You're sure she'll be safe here?"

"Of course, Selphie. Galbadia only had her in the first place because we handed her over. We're an elite military academy; they wouldn't dare try to take her from us. And in time I'm sure they'll come to understand that this was simply a misunderstanding. They were making the best decision they could with the limited knowledge they possessed."

* * *

An hour ago she had been deciding the fate of humanity. Now she was back to being another common prisoner ... at least for the moment.

So Garden was coming to break her out. That was good news indeed, but she'd wished they given her some indication of how they were going to do this. Not to mention when. What she was supposed to do? Some guard was likely to come across her standing in the hallway next to the moomba hole and realize she'd escaped. Maybe she should go back to her cell.

Hanpan came down the stairs, dragging a huge gun with him. He dropped it at the foot of the stairs and stopped, panting. Carrying large arms was hard task for a foot-tall wind rat. "_prometheus sent me to give you this," he explained. "Good luck escaping."

"Oh! Thanks, Mr. Jingles!"

Glare glare glare. "I thought I told you not to call me that," he muttered. Oh well; she'd averted armageddon and he couldn't very well rip out her tonsils. He shrugged and flew away.

Yuffie picked up the weapon. Upon closer examination, she that it was actually a flamethrower and that there was a Post-It note attached to it. "In case we don't meet again: I'll never forget you. Best of luck on your way home. Remember, the power is yours! Love always, Lucca."

Well, at least this meant she could defend herself. Still, she didn't really want to get into a fight. She was probably better off her in cell. And she could take a nap there too! Yes, that was a perfect place to stay. She jogged upstairs to her cell unnoticed - Biggs must have been somewhere.

Yuffie put down the flamethrower and threw herself on the bed. Whew, she deserved a rest after saving the world or whatever it was she'd done. She could really use a nice nap before she had to escape prison. Mmm, naps.

But just as she was nodding off to sleep, the whole room shook. Yuffie sat upright. Gawd! This must be her friends! Well, she was glad they were coming, even if they could have stood to arrive about six hours later. Or maybe even nine. Or ten. Or twelve. Yes, a twelve hour nap sounded like something that would be right up her alley right now.

She heard more sounds of what were by now clearly her rescuers. Many frantic footsteps, shouting, and the occasional sound of magic and weapons going off. Someone was casting a lot of Sleep spells.

The footsteps made their way to her level of the prison. Yes, this had to be them! She was going home! Yuffie ran to the door and bounced up and down with excitement.

The door whooshed open. Colonel Xu, but with a single angel wing protruding from her back, stood outside. A purple-haired woman that Yuffie didn't know guarded Mengshi's back; she had a matching wing. "Yuffie, come quickly," Mengshi ordered.

"Okay." Mengshi and the other woman, whom Mengshi had not bothered to introduce, turned and ran back the way they had come. Yuffie grabbed her flamethrower and hurried after them. She held the weapon awkwardly in front, not entirely sure if she was supposed to use it. They didn't seem to need help. Mengshi put the human guards to sleep with her magic; most of the robotic ones were disabled with strikes from Miang's scythe.

They circled up through the prison's spiral shape. Each floor was identical to the previous one, save for the changing floor numbers that counted down the levels left to Yuffie's salvation.

"You go with Rinoa when we get to the bridge," Mengshi commanded.

They eventually reached the top floor, which was no longer a long spiral hallway by a short circular dome. Just as they were approaching the exit, the door swung open of its own accord. "Hey, what's all that racket?" Biggs asked. His eyes widened in terror as soon as he saw the invaders bearing irrevocably down on him. He would have turned to flee, but he knew it was already much too late. "Shit, why does this have to happen now?"

"I thought we were going to make it!" Wedge wailed.

The flames enveloped them as Yuffie instinctively fired her weapon.

"Ohmigawd, I killed Biggs and Wedge!" she gasped when she realized what she had done.

The three women raced onto one of the open-air bridges connecting the sections of the prison. Rinoa, her angel wings already unfurled, was waiting for them here. Gawd, what is it with everyone and angel wings all of a sudden? Yuffie scarcely had time to finish this thought before she saw what else was waiting for her. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Garden itself was here, in the air! The whole school was floating over the desert sands about a quarter-mile from the prison. And in between nothing but empty sky.

Mengshi and Miang joined hands and dived off the bridge. Their wings beat in unison and they soared gracefully towards Garden.

"Oh, gawd, I'm going to be sick." Yuffie turned paler than a Yoshitaka Amano character design and backed away from the ledge, shaking her head. "I don't think I can do this..."

"Oh yeah? You want me to just leave you here?"

"But I'm going to be sick! I can't do it!"

Gawd, what the hell am I doing? I already went through all the stuff in Dricas and broke the time loop. This should be a piece of cake. Yuffie took a deep breath and held it to calm her stomach. She looked at Rinoa shook her head fitfully. Nothing to fear but fear itself...

Rinoa moved behind Yuffie and folded her arms across her charge's stomach. She then reconsidered and carefully clamped one hand over Yuffie's mouth instead. Yuffie quickly closed her eyes before anything more horrific could happen. Yuffie felt herself being nudged forward, and then that lovely ground dropped out from beneath her.

Slow, deep, breaths, Yuffie told herself. She tried not to think about falling. Tried to reassure herself that it was very unlikely that Rinoa would drop her and that she would fall screaming to her demise and go splat all over the ground. And, gawd, this wasn't working at all. She had to think about something nice. Like rabbits. Nice cute fluffy white crack-sniffing rabbits.

* * *

Stationed on the bridge, Selphie stared through Nida's binoculars. Yes, there was Mengshi and the new woman, and ... that had to be them! She zoomed in for a closer look and let out a "Whoo hoo!" It was really Yuffie! And she was really coming back, and would be in Balamb Garden any second now! "They're here! They're here! BOOYAKA!!"

Chu-Chu started squeaking and bouncing up and down, gesturing wildly to capture the attention of those around her. She bounded out of the room and down to the observation deck on the second floor, chirping the whole while.

"Whoo hoo!" Selphie cried again. She cavorted about in great leaps of joy, none of which seemed to deplete her supply of energy in the least. Booyaka! Mamimumemo! They -- all of them -- had done it! Yuffie was coming home, and she had stopped Mother Brain too! Whoo hoo!

* * *

Yuffie risked opening her eyes so that she could visually record her descent to Balamb Garden. She had to see this. Even someone as relentlessly pragmatic as Yuffie knew that nausea would be temporary but the memories forever. These were her fifteen minutes of fame, which she supposed she should make use of while she had them. Even if she'd rather have fifteen minutes of napping.

They descended steadily towards the observation deck, where Mengshi and Miang had already landed. Chu-Chu came rolling out of the door and started bouncing up and down eagerly, like a dog delighted to see its owner coming home. Gawd, it had been a while - it was a month and two days ago that she had first met Lucca, so almost a month since she'd been arrested.

Yuffie's feet touched the metal. Rinoa quickly released her, and Chu-Chu quickly took over where Rinoa had left. "Yuffie!" she said. "Chu're home! Welcome back!"

"Gawd, Chu-Chu, stop humping my leg."

"YUFFIE!" Selphie came flying through the doorway and tackled Yuffie, sweeping her up into a fierce hug.

"Um... hi," Yuffie said.

Selphie clung to her as her eyes misted over with tears. "You're back, you're back, oh, you're really back. Hyne, I've waited so long just to see and hear and touch you again..." Yuffie finally hugged her friend back and they embraced for a few minutes.

As the others caught up at the balcony entrance, Yuffie slipped out of Selphie's vice-like grip and went to greet them. "Hey everyone," Yuffie said. She sounded as apathetic as ever, but the grin on her face proved she was happy to be home.

"Hey, Yuffie," Zell said. "We missed you. Good to have you back."

"I could tell you that Apocalypse is not drawn from 'William Tecumseh Sherman,' and you ought to be ashamed to have written such nonsense, but... welcome back." Quistis grinned and enfolded Yuffie in another tight hug.

"Gawd," Yuffie said as Quistis backed away, "why does everyone keep touching me?"

"Because we care about and we're happy to have you back, you doof," Selphie said with a smile. So typically Yuffie, but wouldn't want her any other way. "A lot of us thought we'd never see you again."

"Well..." Yuffie surveyed all the faces that had suddenly been vaulted from fond memories back to her present reality. Though it was a little strange and she felt a little out of sorts (but when didn't she?), being home was exciting. And certainly a lot more appealing than sitting in that awful jail cell some more. She had to admit she'd somehow knew - or perhaps just expected - that she would not be gone from Garden permanently. It was not so much a surprising relief as a long-awaited reward. "I'm glad to be back too."

Much to her utter bafflement, Yuffie found herself shaking hands with random people. She had become quite a celebrity through her conspicuous absence. Everyone at Garden now had a part of themselves invested in her, and they were all thrilled to see that part prospering. Yuffie realized just how indebted to these people she was. Hell, a lot of them didn't even know her. Yet they had all seen some unrealized goodness in her anyway, enough to spend their time, money, and emotional strength helping her out. All this was profoundly inexplicable to someone with as undeveloped a social life as Yuffie's. People liked her? Wanted her to stay at Garden? But she was annoying and clumsy and ugly. Oh well. She was glad that she wasn't that much of a nuisance and that people wanted her around. That was a nice feeling, even if they now all insisted on talking to her - and touching her, Gawd - when all she wanted was to go to bed.

She wandered back to Selphie. "Hey, uh, thanks for getting me out of prison and stuff."

Selphie smiled. "I'm glad you appreciate it." She, of course, had no regrets about rescuing her friend, and would have done it no matter Yuffie took it for granted. But it was nice to see her recognize how much some of them had labored to help her.

"But, like, I don't get it. Why do all you people care about me so much? I mean, yeah, it, like, sucked that I was in prison and they were being totally mean and unfair 'n stuff in the first place, but, like, why is everyone so happy to see me? I don't even know half these people; I don't mean anything to them!"

Selphie patted her gently on the wrist and smiled. "Yes, you do, Yuffie. You mean something to all of us. Someday you'll understand."

"That's what they always say."

Selphie yanked Rinoa out of the crowd and pushed her before Yuffie. "Thank Rinoa too; she did a lot for you, and not just picking you up."

"Uh, thanks, Rinoa." She wasn't even sure if they'd ever spoken before.

"Um... you're welcome?" Rinoa really didn't know what to say to Yuffie. It was too strange to be here with the one she had had to defend. It was also an uncomfortable reminder of how removed from Yuffie her crusade had gotten. Yuffie had been whittled down to a symbol, a political figure, a museum exhibit, in her mind. Only her run-in with the law had remained, not the full extent of her existence as a human being.

Selphie smiled. "It's a long story." This was really not the time and place for them to be discussing this, nor for Yuffie to be confronted headfirst in all the turmoil she had unintentionally caused. She had just wanted them to acknowledge each other. "Go thank the Headmaster, too," she instructed, pushing Yuffie in his general direction.

Selphie then turned to Rinoa. "So, how are you? I meant to check in with you yesterday, but I spent half of it asleep."

Rinoa shrugged. "Okay, I guess." She had a hard time categorizing any emotions that were not violent extremes. "At least I still have my job."

"Did you talk to Squall at all?" Selphie admonished herself after the fact for being so nosy, but ... dangit, she just wanted to make sure people were happy!

"Oh... yeah." Rinoa's fingers sought her necklace and toyed with it to distract herself. "I don't know what's going to happen." She realized this might give Selphie a more negative impression than she had intended and hastened to add, "But that's not so bad, really. Before I saw only more doom and gloom ahead, so I'm happy that the future is a mystery." She shook her head. "I'm going to lay off assuming I know everything in the mean time, at least. I need to figure things out for myself before I can help anyone else."

Selphie grinned. It was such a blessed, uplifting relief to not have to deal with depression and absolutism. "Good, I'm glad to hear you coming around."

"Yeah, well, I was due." A nice, normal response. One that acknowledged her faults but also how little they mattered. She felt good inside. It was nice being normal.

The Epoch pulled up beside the observation deck and hovered there. The cockpit opened up to reveal Lucca, Raijin, and Fujin. The latter two promptly stepped out of the vehicle and melded into the throngs.

"Hello there, folks," Lucca said. "A few people needed a ride back to where they belong, and I wanted to make sure Yuffie got home safely."

Yuffie waved. "Hi."

Raijin started shoving his way through the crowd towards Cid. "Hey, Headmaster!" he shouted. "About that contract... maybe we can talk about it some more, ya know?"

Fujin nodded. She looked around the crowd she was mired in, considering with some amusement the situation she was in. She surrounded by loud, irresponsible people who expected her to join in their standards, not to mention Seifer. In other words, it was about the most repungant situation imaginable for her. But she couldn't mind -- these were her loud, irresponsible people. The ones she had spent years of her life with - even her enemies here were staples of her life. "HOME."

"Whoa!" Lucca jumped out onto the deck and ran up to Rinoa. "You have wings! Are they real? That's so cool!"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Oh, brother." This was ridiculous, especially since Lucca's sudden arrival had attracted the attention of most of the revelers. They were are all looking at her and her weird friend and thinking she was stupid. Gawd. "Uh, so what happened in Dricas?" Yuffie tried to minimize the embarrassment to Rinoa, Lucca, and by association herself by changing the topic. "You didn't like, have, to kill that FBI woman, did you?"

"Kill her? No, of course we didn't kill her. She was hot. You can't kill hot people. Just fat, ugly, middle-aged ones. And token black guys. Nah, Jesse put her in a Pokéball and we're mailing her back to the FBI with a long essay that Mother Brain's going to write. Maybe they'll get the picture."

"Oh. But, um, what about all this time loop stuff? Like, that Mother Brain was talking about?"

Lucca shrugged. "Well, the universe hasn't imploded yet. That's probably a good sign."

"What's the future going to be like now, though?"

"Whatever we make it, I suppose. Actually, I should go take a trip a few hundred forward to admire my handiwork for myself. I love it when a plan comes together."

"Your handiwork?" Yuffie was outraged. "Gawd, who was the one who figured this all out? Not you!"

Lucca chuckled. "Don't forget, Yuffie. You're talking to a woman who's dreamed of numbering the passages in her autobiography for Bible-like reference."

"Oh, Gawd, now you're starting to sound like that dumb cat."

"What dumb cat?" Lucca was genuinely confused.

"Never mind."

"Ookya, this reminds me!" Chu-Chu was running for the Epoch before anyone could react to stop her. "Chu-Chu needs chu go back to yesterday and let me know about the hot sex!"

Lucca waved her hands over her head. "Hey, stop! You don't know how to use that thing!"

Chu-Chu started punching buttons. The cockpit shell closed over her and the engines revved up. "Heigh ho Silvard and awaaaaaaaaay!" The Epoch blasted off, accelerated, and vanished in a flash of light.

"Aw, crap," Lucca said.

Selphie shrugged. "Don't worry; she'll bring it back."

Lucca felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder from behind. She turned. Miang's deep eyes, now warmed by uncertainty rather than frozen by the contrary, were staring at her. Mengshi and Quistis stood at her sides, both looking equally curious. "What?"

"You were talking about time loops..." Miang began.

Lucca sighed. "Yes, and it seems like that little pink rat is intent on creating another one."

"She's not a little pink rat. She's Chu-Chu," Mengshi corrected. Everyone except Lucca enjoyed a merry laugh at this. Lucca fumed. For once she was the one lost and confused at other peoples' in-jokes. Dammit, she wasn't used do that! Everything was supposed to revolve around her artistic vision! "But, anyway, I think Miang has something to ask you."

Lucca knew by implication who Mengshi was talking about, and looked back to the solemn purple-haired woman. She raised a curious eyebrow, waiting for the question. "Is there anything that can be done to end a time loop?" Miang asked hesitantly. "It seems like they're a given, a fact of our existence, but..."

Lucca's response was to jerk a thumb over her shoulder at Yuffie. "Ask your friend. She seems to have done a fine job of it."

"It can be broken, then?" Miang was trying not to be too hopeful in her thoughts, let alone in her voice. But even millennia of practice at feigning emotions could not conceal them when she had them herself. She was too eager to pounce on this possible salvation, drag it out of its hole and show the world that it really was what she knew it was.

"It would appear so, yes."

Miang and Mengshi simultaneously turned to look at each other, arriving at some mutual understanding that Lucca remained clueless about. Mengshi grinned and hugged Miang, who, after a moment's hesitation, reciprocated. "I knew it!" she said. "We can save her; everything's going to be okay, after all."

Quistis nodded as she thought. Yes, it was, and she certainly appreciated it. "That's something we haven't believed in a long time."

Mengshi shrugged and smiled. "Hey... all's well that ends well."

"And it sure did, didn't it?" Selphie said as she thought this through herself. "Yuffie's home, the world's saved, we all made it through alive, Garden has a new teacher ... and I think a lot of us learned a lot about ourselves in the process. And about the rest of the world, too..." She could scarcely imagine being where she had been before this whole mess started. It was not bad then - in fact, she had been quite happy at the time - but now it was simply too far removed from the heights she had reached now. She had gained so much that it was hard to imagine she had ever lived without it. But that was the beauty of it. They had all risen to the occasion - except perhaps for Yuffie, who had just sort of stumbled half-awake through the occasion - and managed to draw out new depth and sides to themselves whose presence down the road would more justify the woe of the past month.

A streak of light shot up from below the balcony. As it slowed, it was revealed to be Mikoto in her Super Terra-jin form, back from escorting the black mages home. She hovered briefly over the balcony before touching down just next to the railing. "So this is where everyone was hiding out."

"Hey, Little Miss Ecclesiastes is back," Zell said. "Don't worry, we're well aware that this get-together is cosmically insignificant."

"You know what's getting really old?" Mikoto proclaimed. "Labeling things 'cosmically insignificant.'" Selphie and Zell both immediately mentally replied, Yes, you're not the only one who thinks so. "You guys should stop being so cynical about everything; it's really annoying. Have any of you pessimists ever tried to enjoy life a little? Smile! It confuses people! Dare to be happy!"

"Whatever you say, Mikoto," Selphie said through a barely suppressed smirk. Oh, Hyne, was it ever hard to keep a straight face about this.

As soon as her attention turned elsewhere, Selphie and Zell took one look at each other and just burst out in uncontrollable laughter. What more needed to be said? It was so perfectly, hilariously ridiculous.

Zell wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes. "The more things change, the more things stay the same," he said, still chuckling.

"Oh!" Selphie slapped her forehead. Something had struck her completely out of left field. It was funny how the mind worked. "That just reminded me! I need to figure out what to do with the Free Kisaragi fund now that Yuffie's back ... find some good cause for it."

Cid started towards Selphie, and the crowds parted to allow him to pass. He was the Headmaster; he must have something important to say. He stopped before Selphie and just looked at her with a knowing smile on his wisened face. "Selphie?"

"Yes, Headmaster?"

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Spend it on yourself. You and Yuffie have already done plenty to help other people. Don't forget to have some fun sometimes."

Selphie considered this for a second, then her face lit up. "WHOO HOO!" She turned and embraced Zell and Yuffie in turn, literally bouncing with excitement. "Zell! Yuffie! We're going to Disneyland!!"

"Gawd, maybe you are. I'm going to bed."

Next chapter: Learning How to Smile