Después de Cosmo Canyon

En este capítuloIn the Temple of the Ancients the party finds the Black Materia, a stone that can summon Meteor; Cloud, under Sephiroth's influence, hands it over.

The party chases Sephiroth to the Temple of the Ancients, and there Cloud loses control and gives him the Black Materia. Aerith has realised what is happening and leaves to go to the Forgotten Capital to pray for Holy. At the Forgotten Capital, Sephiroth kills Aerith in front of the party. Her White Materia falls into the water, and the game moves into its second half.

Aerith's death is one of the best-known scenes in video games. Her prayer is not completed, but the story shows later that it did not fail. Cloud's loss of control is a result of the Jenova cells in his body and Sephiroth's influence. The scene shows that he is vulnerable, which the later Lifestream sequence explains.

The mourning scene has no combat, and it lets the player feel loss before the story speeds up.

En este capítuloSephiroth uses the Black Materia to summon Meteor, and Shinra's Weapons, giant creatures born from the Planet, are awakened.

With Meteor in the sky, the Planet is in danger and Shinra's headquarters is attacked by the Weapons. Cloud, who has lost his sense of self, is helped by Tifa inside the Lifestream. There they find the truth: Cloud was never a SOLDIER. He took on Zack's memories after Zack died protecting him. With a restored identity, Cloud returns to lead the party.

The Lifestream sequence is a psychological story told as a journey. Tifa is both guide and witness, and her gentle questions let Cloud rebuild the 'self' that Sephiroth had broken. Zack's role gives the love triangle a tragic dimension, since Aerith's first love and Cloud's best friend are tied through Cloud's borrowed memories.

The Weapons are the Planet's response to Meteor, and Shinra's attempts to stop Meteor reveal that even the villains fear the Planet's destruction.

En este capítuloThe party travels to the Northern Crater, where Sephiroth waits in the Planet's core.

The party descends into the Northern Crater to face Sephiroth. After defeating Jenova and Safer Sephiroth, Holy rises, but cannot stop Meteor alone. The Lifestream rises to join Holy and the Meteor is destroyed. The epilogue jumps five hundred years to show that life continues.

The final battle is a battle against a god in the making, and the game explains that Sephiroth wanted to merge with the Lifestream and rule it. Holy was released by Aerith's prayer, which means her death was not in vain. The story is built so that sacrifice and renewal are connected. The five-hundred-year epilogue shows Midgar overtaken by nature, a symbol that the Planet has survived Shinra.