Tifa had been heading though the forest with Aerith and Yuffie to visit Yuffie's home in Wutai. Yuffie had become much closer to her two elders since she'd given up stealing and had wanted to bring the two along when she'd decided to visit her home. Unfortunately, they'd somehow gotten separated and Tifa found herself coming across a waterfall and a small lake. She'd been walking around, trying to find her friends all day and was getting tired. She decided to take a break she removed her shoes and dipped her feet into the lake. She let out a relaxed sigh and closed her eyes, completely unaware of the impending danger bearing down on her.
She felt a hand firmly grip her throat and yank her into the air. She opened her eyes and, to her horror, saw that she was being held up by "Sephiroth?"
"Hello...Tifa," he said in his deep, slightly cocky voice.
"H-how?"
"The Cetra wasn't the only one to return from the lifestream. Now tell me, where is Cloud?" Tifa responded by spitting in his face. "Hm. Perhaps this will make you a little more agreeable." Tifa began to feel like some kind of energy was flowing through Sephiroth's hand into her throat then to the rest of her body. As it spread, she could feel her mind beginning to fog up and it became difficult to think. As she became extremely sleepy, her last thoughts were that she hoped the other could stop Sephiroth. And she fell into a deep sleep.
She awoke some time later, her hand gripping her throbbing head as she got up onto her knees. She looked up to see Sephiroth staring down at her. As she tried to stand up, Sephiroth waved a hand in front of her face and commanded "Wake up." She froze and her irises turned green, the same as Sephiroth's. All thoughts of her friends and her former life vanished, replaced by the desire to obey the will of Jenova. The will of her Mother. "Rise...Sister," Sephiroth commanded and she obeyed. "Come, Sister, we have work to do." Tifa put her shoes back on and followed her Brother.
Yuffie was wandering around near the entrance to a cave after getting lost. Normally, something like this wouldn't be a problem for a great ninja such as herself but there was something about this particular area that messed with her senses. She hoped she'd find Tifa and Aerith soon. Just as she was thinking this, she heard someone calling out to her: "Yuffie!"
Yuffie turned to see Tifa approaching from inside the cave, initially lit only be the torches in the front. "Tifa!" she cried, running over and hugging her at the mouth of the cave. "I was worried! Where did you go?"
"I'm sorry, Yuffie. I got lost in the forest but I'm going to make it up to you."
Yuffie looked up into her friend's eyes and saw that they'd changed colour. "T-Tifa? What's wrong with you eyes?"
"Nothing's wrong with my eyes," she replied in a more sinister tone and squeezing Yuffie's shoulders. "They have just been opened and I'm going to help you open your eyes."
"W-what do you-?" Yuffie's question was interrupted by the sound of a flapping wing. Not wings; just the one. And there was only one person she knew with a single wing: "Sephiroth?" Her fears were confirmed when Tifa turned her around, holding her arms tightly, and she saw the one-winged angel standing before her, retracting his wing into his back and walking towards her. Fear overcame her and she began begging her friend, "Tifa, please! Let me go!"
"No, Yuffie," her friend replied. "This is best for you." As Sephiroth came within arm's reach of her, tears began to well up in Yuffie's eyes and she closed them in defeat. Sephiroth placed his hand on her forehead and she could feel some kind of energy entering her body, causing her mind to become cloudy. Her mind began to give way and she feared for her friends, hoped they could save her and Tifa, as she fell into a deep sleep.
Tifa held her friend up during her sleep, still as a statue until she awakened. When she did, her eyes were the same colour as Tifa and Sephiroth's. "Thank you for opening my eyes...Brother, Sister." Tifa released her new sister's arms and they stood side by side before their brother. "What is Mother's will, Brother?" they asked in unison.
"Mother wishes us to open the Cetra's eyes," he replied. "I will require your assistance to do so."
"If it is Mother's will, we will obey," Tifa stated.
"We live to serve our Mother," Yuffie said. With that, the trio set forth to find their next target.
Aerith was wandering through the forest when she came across the entrance to a cave and began to wonder if the others were inside. As she was about to head inside, she heard someone saying her name. She turned to see Tifa and Yuffie standing out in the open. "Tifa! Yuffie! I'm so glad you're alright!" As she jogged closer to them, she could see that their eyes had changed colour. They were green. Green like..."Sephiroth?" He had appeared behind them, wing exposed and sword in hand. Aerith drew her weapon and immediately knew something was wrong with her friends when Yuffie drew a kunai and Tifa entered a combat stance. This odd behaviour and the change in eye colour made Aerith realise what was going on: Sephiroth was controlling them the way he had with Cloud. "Sephiroth! Release my friends immediately!"
"I'm afraid I cannot do that" he replied. "They have found their true calling in serving Mother. You too must obey Mother's will."
"Never!" She did her best to mask her fear; she knew that she couldn't fight against her friends but they wouldn't hold back against her. She readied herself to face them and hoped that someone would arrive to help her. Tifa attacked first. Aerith was unable to hold out against Tifa's hand-to-hand skills so she tried to back away to reach a more advantageous range to use her magic but found herself being attacked by Yuffie from behind. Unable to fight off both in such close quarters, Aerith found herself being held by the arms and forced onto her knees.
"Very good, Sisters," Sephiroth congratulated as he approached and the two smiled at this. "You will awaken to the will of Mother, Cetra." Sephiroth reached down and gripped Aerith's throat and infected her with Jenova's cells. Unlike her friends, Aerith didn't pass out. Nor did her eyes change. In fact, she showed none of the symptoms of Jenova infection. Noticing that Tifa and Yuffie's grip had slackened a little, Aerith took the opportunity to swing the two around in front of herself and slam them into each other. Both released her and she grabbed Yuffie by the throat, hoping Tifa would think she was willing to kill her and stay away.
Aerith guessed correctly and Tifa's face showed some concern for her 'sister' and she didn't come any closer. Aerith slowly backed away with Yuffie, planning to hide in the caves until they gave up and she could get Cloud and the others to help. "A-Aerith?" Yuffie whimpered. Surprised, Aerith took a glance at Yuffie's face and saw that she was barely conscious and her eyes had returned to their normal brown.
"Yuffie? You're back?" She slackened her grip on the young girl's throat.
"W...what do you...mean? Where am I?" Evidently, she didn't remember anything about being controlled by Sephiroth. Aerith must have somehow freed Yuffie from Sephiroth's control. But how? Was it possible that Sephiroth's attempt to infect Aerith had given her the ability to release people from his control? But how? She'd have to figure that out later. For now, there was hope.
"Yuffie, I need your help," she whispered to her friend. "Sephiroth has returned and took control of you and Tifa. Yuffie snapped awake at this. I need you to pretend you're still under his control and restrain Tifa so I can release her too. Yuffie gave a slight nod and Aerith allowed her to break out of her grip and back up towards Tifa. Tifa ran in and attacked Aerith, who did her best to hold her off. Yuffie used this chance to run in and grab Tifa from behind. Aerith grabbed Tifa's throat and saw her resistant weaken and her eyes return to normal. A blade of energy shot past them. Aerith looked up and Yuffie turned to see Sephiroth approaching. Yuffie released Tifa and went to hold of Sephiroth while Aerith freed Tifa.
"H-huh? W...what happened?" Tifa asked sleepily.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get away from Sephiroth."
"Sephiroth?" Like Yuffie, Tifa snapped awake at the mention of Sephiroth's name.
"Yuffie!" Aerith called out. "Come on!" Immediately, Yuffie abandoned her fight with Sephiroth and joined her friends in their flight. They fled into the caves to hide; the first time, it had taken the entire group to defeat Sephiroth so they knew that just the three of them had no chance against him. They hid in a small area off to the side as Sephiroth casually walked past, much like a slasher villain slowly stalking his prey. After catching their breath, the three headed back out the way they'd come and managed to avoid running into Sephiroth as they arrived at the Wutai village. They knew that they'd have to get the old gang back together because the greatest threat the planet had ever faced had returned.