Two years after the events in Final Fantasy VII, a disease called Seikon-Shoukougun, or Geostigma, is spreading through the planet. This disease is believed to have been caused by the body fighting off foreign material that invaded the body two years earlier, at the end of Final Fantasy VII. Guilt-ridden and haunted by his past, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife has decided to live a secluded, solitary life away from his friends while maintaining Strifes Delivery Service, whose headquarters is located in Tifa Lockhearts bar, the Seventh Heaven. Tifas bar serves as an orphanage for children stricken with Geostigma. Here, Tifa keeps an eye on Barrets six-year-old daughter, Marlene, while Barret searches the planet for an alternative energy source to the Planets energy, Mako. One day, Cloud receives a phone call from the former Shinra, Inc. president, Rufus, asking him for protection from a mysterious man named Kadaj. Kadaj, in the meantime, along with his brothers Loz and Yazoo, are searching for their mother, and seem to believe that Cloud knows where to find her. Meanwhile, Vincent Valentine has been wandering the planet gathering information on Kadajs scheme, and Cloud and his friends must come together again to fight these new enemies.