FINAL FANTASY VII: BEYOND APOCALYPSE
VOLUME 1- THE PERFECT WARRIOR
PREFACE
Throughout time and space and the history of the universe, there have been great legends, legends of incredible events that nothing else has ever come close to equalling. They are the top teir of legends, the ultimate stories, the tales of the most incredible events the universe has ever faced. They are the final level of legendary stories. The Final Fantasies.
They are cronicled because of their value as stories, but also to remind us of things. To remind us to protect our earth, lest the abuse of its powers lead to the destruction of it, like in the first Final Fantasy. To remind us that hatred is the negative force, that only the light, the good, the caring, the opposite of hatred, can bring us happiness, like in the fourth Final Fantasy. And they remind us that self-sacrifice is the ultimate form of caring for others, like in the seventh Final Fantasy. These are only a few of the immortal lessons told to us through these incredible tales.
But none of these stories are ever spoken of again... does everyone not wonder what became of the four Light Warriors, or what Cecil and Rosa's children were like, or how the Planet changed after almost having been struck by the ultimate Black Magic? All these questions, and infinite others, remain unanswered.
Well, one story does live on, in this, the chronicles of what is in my opinion the greatest of the Final Fantasies. There is more to tell of this legend, and so, I give you the next chapter in this great saga, the saga of Final Fantasy VII.
And it is called Beyond Apocalypse.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this introduction is to set the story on its path and provide the reader with some backround information, so I'll narrate for a bit.
The residents of the Planet had always considered the important fulcrum in their world's timeline to be the year the Cetra died out- thus, that year was called 0 A.A., or After Ancients.
But then, an event so great it seemed to overshadow the extinction of the "Ancients" occured: The Coming of Meteor, and thus, a new fulcrum came about, starting from 0 B.A., or 0 Beyond Apocalypse.
Very few on the Planet fully understood what happened that day. The Meteor was destroyed. Holy was unleashed. The LifeStream fought for the planet. That was what was declared throughout the world to the public. But there was one thing that happened that day only a handful of people knew about. That day, the sacrifice of a woman saved the entire Planet from the ultimate destruction.
Now, Midgar, the capital of the world, lay in ruin, and Shinra, the formerly powerful multi-continental Mako-monopolizing force, was weakened signifigantly. Midgar had always been the center of Shinra, and without Midgar, they had little left. However, the company was still alive. An evacuation of the city had taken place before Meteor's near-impact, and
thus some of them had been saved. President Rufus, however, was killed in the attack of Diamond Weapon, and there were no heirs. A battle for control began.
It didn't last long, though. One character emerged with enough power and leadership to re-assemble the tattered company and begin an attempt to rebuild what they once had. This character was Supreme General Keer Ashroth, a model military man and a powerful public speaker. He had enough support within the company to have most of his competitors killed, and by the time any of them bothered to surrender, he was essentially in charge of the company, which was officially handed over to him three months after the Meteor-Holy clash. He quickly organized an effort to rebuild Midgar.
As Shinra began to revive itself, they went looking for resources and began to take over areas they expected would be of use in gaining resources for the reconstruction of Midgar. This was when they met with heavy resistance at Wu Tai. Commander Ashroth was not expecting to have to fight; Wu Tai had become little more than a tourist attraction recently, but somehow they were trying to resist Shinra. As situations tightened in the west, things were happening in the east, too- things far more important than any of the other affairs happening to the world at the time. Things that would begin to set in motion the greatest events in the history of the Planet. Perhaps even the universe. Things that would change the life of a young man yet again and bring to life his worst nightmares combined with his worst memories and fears. Things strange, unnatural, and yet, perhaps, for some reason, unavoidable...
But what happened to the small group of fighters who had defeated Sephiroth and helped destroy the Meteor? They had gone off and hid somewhere to avoid the mass attention that would come their way, and were currently residing peacefully and blissfully on an obscure chocobo farm.
To begin the story, let us take a look at some various excerpts from the diary of a key character in the next great chapter of Final Fantasy VII- one whose role in the story will not become great until far, far into it.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project- August 12th, the year 0 B.A.
We've finally started on the actual construction. Everything is going according to plan; I'm glad because High Commander Ashroth is personally overseeing this operation. And it's really not that fact that I mind; if he wants to be there in case something goes wrong, I understand that. I may not think it's necessary, but I understand it. It's how tightly they're watching us that's getting to me. They have these video cameras literally everywhere. It's like they think we're all going to rebel or something, or they expect us to slack off. My men never slack off, not while I'm around, and I find such actions on the Commander's part to be absolutely insulting. But I'm not going to argue about it. There's something about that guy; he sure doesn't act like a tyrant, but boy does he ever seem like one. The way he never even looks at you, like you're not good enough for him to pay more than a miniscule part of your attention to.
And you know what I think? I think this whole company is going nowhere. Back when Shinra first started up, those were the days- the days when everyone prospered from Mako and they hadn't built the plate. The days when everyone could see the sun. When everyone knew the difference between day and night. When no one was poor. Why couldn't it stay like that? But I guess that's a dream even Shinra can't pull off forever.
Recent events, though, have driven the company to become worse than just a power leech. Now it's a destroying machine. There was nothing left of Midgar except some debris, and little of it could be used to the advantage of the reconstruction of the city. Thus, Ashroth sent soldiers out everywhere- or the remainder of the soldiers, anyway- to take over mines and large resource centers. They've already taken the Mithril Mines south-west of the city, no one's alowed to pass through there anymore- it wasn't particularly traveled anyway because of the monsters, but now the only way to get o Midgar and Kalm is via boat or airship.
And even worse, they took over Mideel! The fact that that place is resting right on top of the largest Mako Source in the world is just too tempting for Shinra. They're going to build another Midgar there, and right now there are Shinra troops occupying the whole place! And the sad thing is, even though Midgar is in shambles and Shinra is less than a sixth of its original size, it's still strong enough to do this, and no one fights back. I don't know if I can go on with this, but without it, I don't have a job, and I can't do that to Shanna and the kids. I can only wonder what Ashroth will do next, and pray it isn't too much of a disaster.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project, November 19, 0 B.A.
I'm beginning to worry about something. Yesterday, while working around the area where Shinra Headquarters used to be, they started getting energy readouts that were way off the scale. We didn't really know what to do; the supervisor of the area was ready to dig at it, I'm glad I got there in time to stop him. He wasn't too happy about it. Anyway, we contacted Commander Ashroth, and he seemed very interested. They called in all these scientists to look at it, and did loads of tests on it. They kept coming and going in and out of Ashroth's office, and they all looked like they'd seen ghosts. I couldn't seem to get anyone to tell me what was happening. Finally, when the day was over, Ashroth told me only this: "Continue with the operation, but instead of the original plans, I want you to fence off the area around Shinra Headquarters and ignore it until further notification." It took a lot of guts, but I mustered up the courage to ask him why after that, half afraid it would cost me my job. The conversation we had after that will remain firm in my memory forever.
He only looked amused at my question. "I suppose that since you're the head engineer, you have a right to know," he conceded. I was astonished and relieved. Perhaps Ashroth is not the dictator I thought he was. Whatever the case, here's what he told me: "The scientists have discovered that the energy below the Shinra Headquarters area is the gathering together of an astronimically large amount of Mako energy. Basically, it's like having one gigantic materia created by fusing together several hundreds of other ones. They also said, though, that this power is incredibly unstable. To harness it with current technology would be utterly impossible, it's far too unpredictable."
I was a little puzzled by this, and he continued to explain: "How familiar are you with the way that Mako supplies energy, Techro?" he asked me. I told him I knew very little about it, except that there was only a limited amount of it. He smiled. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose. But this energy source we've found is different than normal Mako. Do you want to know why?" I nodded, totally enthralled with curiosity. What he told me then will puzzle me for as long as I live: "This power source, though a large amount of its matter is pure Mako, is a living organism." Naturally, I was dumbstruck. I asked if this meant all Mako was alive. "Certainly not," he laughed. "But it is created by the deaths of humans. That is all we know; when people die, they add to a force that we can tap into to produce Mako. It's still sort of sketchy, but we do know that much."
Now I couldn't help wonder at this point if this was really the right thing to do. If the deaths of people added to this force, was it really meant for the living to destroy it? Still, I was trapped in morbid fascination. I asked how this affected the power source under Shinra Headquarters. "Ah," Ashroth continued, "That is the key here, isn't it? What effects does it have on the power of Mako when the Mako is part of a living organism? The key is that this power will never run out. The Mako power can be used forever by this entity and it will never run out. Why? We have a theory. We expect that it is constantly recyclying itself, the way dead people are recycled into Mako- except that since this entity is Mako, all it must do is use more Mako to reproduce itself. However, we're also sensing a pulse in this thing- which means it has blood, a heart, lungs, and a brain. That means that it's also a normal, physical creature, but it seems that the power source is separately inside it- I suppose they could be fused, but I don't know."
There was still something I didn't understand, though. "But if you begin to use it up, it won't have anything to recycle," I pointed out.
"Now that's the real tricky part," Ashroth smirked. "The key is that it recycles its spent Mako. Every time it releases a charge of energy, which is happening constantly down there, it recycles what it just spent. What that means is that if we could harness its energy, we would have truly unlimited power from it. Never-ending Mako. We would use the Mako, it would return to where it came from. And there's so much Mako packed into it, it has enough power to supply abundant energy for ten Midgars."
"Amazing," I marveled. I still didn't like the idea of recyclying people to make energy, but it was undeniably fascinating stuff. "So why can't we channel this power?"
"Because it's alive. The problem is that although eratic, the power let off by this thing is controlled. We don't know when it will be supplying what energy. For example, if we want to power a machine with a certain amount of Mako, and this power source is giving off that amount, and we hook up to it, we have no way of keeping it at the right level of Mako. This being could simply decide to throw in three times the amount of Mako that we were using before for absolutely no reason and then destroy the machine; or it could suddenly produce only half the energy and the machine would no longer run. That's why we can't use it to power the new Midgar. It would eventually destroy the city, and possibly leave it without power for a while before that happened. That's why we're going to try to communicate with it."
I didn't want to hear anymore after that. I had had enough. It was absolutely boggling my mind- I didn't want this being to be harnessed like a machine. Ashroth did not care the slightest bit that this thing might have feelings. To him, it was a tool. But I didn't say anything. I'm not that strong.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project, December 14, 0 B.A.
The scientists have been reporting that the energy below the Shinra Headquarters area is building temendously. They say it's grown to more than four times its original power since the day it was discovered. They're talking about a possible explosion. If that happens, I sure hope we get a warning.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the now-deceased Midgar Reconstruction Project, January 30, 1 B.A.
I don't know what happened. Well I guess I do. It was that thing, of course, that creature with the enormous power. I was discussing plans for the reconstruction of City Hall when a scientist ran breathlessly into the room yelling, "Get everyone out! She's gonna blow!"
Well, needless to say we all got the hell out of there. Even as we evactuated, the ground began to erupt, and the dirt that got blown out of the groun would come pouring back into the craters to fill them up again. The whole earth shook, and debris flew everywhere. We lost some good men that day. I thank God I survived to come home to my wife and children.
But what is this thing? Of course the reconstruction project has been officially ended- everything we did was destroyed and there's no way we're risking going in there again- but Ashroth's last words to me were that he would be sending someone to investigate. God have mercy on their souls.
The story only begins to unfold here, and now I will leave it to its own ends without narration. So, in closing, I take you to a long-forgotten, little-known area where some of the most abominable experiments in the history of the Planet took place... the place that began the cataclysmic events of...
FINAL FANTASY VII: Beyond Apocalypse.
So many memories. Born with memories. It was strange to be born with memories.
The being understood the reason for his very life from the second he came into existance. He was so many different things, with so much knowledge from beings passed. But there was one conciousness that consumed him, that was the majority of him, but altered by that which had been added to him.
He was Sephiroth. And yet, not Sephiroth. Sephiroth was an individual separate from this entity- but they were one and the same in all respects. Same memories, same knowledge, but it went deeper than that; he thought what Sephiroth would think, felt what Sephiroth would feel; in essence, he was a recreation of everything Sephiroth with the addition of hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of little chunks of Mako, little chunks called Materia. Inside this Materia was every last drop of knowledge the Cetra possessed, and every last drop of their power in addition to that of Sephiroth. He was the Cetra, he was Sephiroth, he was Jenova- he was the great combination of ultimate forces of power. And rippling through his entire body, he felt that power. He knew everything that had happened- the fight with Cloud Strife and his companions, the Meteor, Holy, the LifeStream- everything was crystal clear in his memory.
And despite that he was all these things, he was Sephiroth most of all, because Sephiroth was the core of it all. When Sephiroth was finally killed by Cloud Strife's incredible, final Omnislash, he went to the LifeStream like any ordinary person would. But his mind was so powerful that he resisted the LifeStream, and would not be recycled to give the Planet life. He would not be part of the Planet, he could not be. And he eventually broke free from it, where it travelled underneath Shinra Headquarters, and there his counciousness emerged into the world again. And there, deep under Shinra Headquarters, was where he found a vast cave, filled with unimaginable research on cloning. And then he made a great, incredible discovery: His DNA. This lair contained thousands of samples of his DNA. He instantly bonded his mind and the Mako he brought with him from the LifeStream with his DNA, and the result was a fusion of incredible power that was not meant to be. No mind but Sephiroth's could have withstood it, and when it was done, the power he overflowed with was far greater than that of all the Cetra. Because Mako was part of him, he could constantly take more in from the LifeStream. Anyone who died could be drawn to Sephiroth and made part of him, and part of his endless power.
And there he was. Born again. Sephiroth's offspring, and yet Sephiroth. But he was a new Sephiroth, and so he named himself Sepheros, because, as his new knowledge of the Cetra told him, their language provided an "oth" as the suffix meaning "Of great power", but the suffix "os" meant "Of ultimate power". Fully concious and with a normal, physical body, he began to experiment with his powers. Because his body's DNA was mixed with Mako, he contained access to all the knowledge and power of the ancients to an unlimited extent. It was as though he had the power of all the Materia in the world combined, and never would spend all his power because he could always draw more to himself from the LifeStream. He could cast ten Ultimas at a time, each one ten times as powerful as an ordinary Ultima spell; he could mix the powers of two Materias, producing seemingly impossible, customized elements by mixing water and fire, earth and air, and anything else, creating dozens of new, ultra-powerful spells that would devastate enemies no matter what affinity they were based on. He was the ultimate in power. The indescructable. The perfect warrior.
And then he found the room. Something locked deep away forever, a disgusting abomination that payed tribute to the perversion of cloning: Hundreds and hundreds of identical copies of his body were lined up against the wall. They were all Sephiroths. Hojo, that fool. Sepheros saw now what he was trying to do all along. Once he saw that he had created a perfect soldier, this Sephiroth, this invincible legend, he duplicated the process hundreds of times. But why had these clones never been awakened? Sepheros turned to the file cabinets. Rummaging through all of Hojo's old files, he finally located what he was looking for, the record of the Sephiroth Army Project:
This is my greatest, most ambitous project to date. I, Proffessor Hojo, will soon go down in history as the man who created the perfect soldier, the ultimate warrior, the new secret weapon of the mighty Shinra. Now, I have created aproximately five-hundred clones of Sephiroth, the legendary warrior of SOLDIER. This army will be a force that no other can match- an incredible wave of destruction that cannot be countered by any force alive.
Unfortunately, one obstacle remains: I must find a way to alter their minds so that they will be utterly obedient to me. If I cannot do this, they are all a waste. But I will do research. I have some ideas I can try out.
It was the last update, and the date was just before Hojo was killed as he took control of the Sister Ray. This horrible experiment would never be completed.
But now, there were hundreds of Sephiroths... it took away his uniqueness. It was disgusting. There, sitting in front of him, was five hundred of himself. Should he destroy them?
No, of course not, it was okay. He wasn't them anymore. Now his body was different from them. They were the old Sephiroth. No, they were just Sephiroth, and he was Sepheros.
He smashed fist through one of the egg-like chambers that held the unliving clones, pulled out the limp body, and stripped it of its clothes, then put them on himself. He took the great Marasume from the clone as well, and he was now as his old self, his father, again. But now he was infinitely powerful. Now, there would be nothing to stop him from taking everything he wanted. Nothing to stop him from gaining what was rightfully his: The Planet.
Sepheros began to destroy the cave. His awesome powers did the job easily. Then, he began to break out above the surface of the planet, blowing away the earth and destroying what lay above him. Victorious and ready to finally breath the cool air of the world above once more, he flew swiftly upward toward the hole he had created and emerged into the world, ready to begin his new life.
He was Sephiroth. He was the Cetra. He was Mako. He was none of those. He was all of them. He was Sepheros. He was invincible. He was the perfect warrior. And he was ready to begin his quest.
I'll avenge you, Sephiroth.
A CHOCOBO FARM, EASTERN CONTINENT, SOUTHEAST OF MIDGAR
"You're sure you need to go?" Cloud asked sadly.
"Cloud, my father is finally standing up for himself," Yuffie explained. "I want to be there and help! Wu Tai will be great again."
Cloud smiled. It was all Yuffie had ever wanted for her homeland to return to its former glory. He understood this, but would miss her. They had become good friends over the course of their past adventure, sharing conversations only the two of them could share. Of course Cloud didn't have any romantic feelings for Yuffie- she was only sixteen, afterall- but he sure would miss her. Even her unfortunate tendancy to try and take things that didn't exactly belong to her. He decided he'd let the Lightning, Ice, and Fire Materia she had pocketed go. They had way more than one for everybody of each of these Materia because of their respawning process, so it certainly wouldn't hurt.
"Good luck," he smiled at her, bringing himself back to the present as she climbed onto a black chocobo specifically bred to take her across the mountains, since Shinra wasn't letting anyone through the Mithril Mines.
"Have fun," Tifa added.
"Kill some Shinra," Barret grinned.
The three of them waved as Yuffie rode off laughing at Barret's commenting and yelling affectionate farewells. Cloud hoped that she had remembered to say goodbye to the others, too. While they hadn't all been particularly close to her, she was a part of the team, and her absence would always be a void in it.
"Now I'm off," Barret said sadly, and swung onto his own black chocobo, Marlene on his shoulder.
"Good luck to you too, Barret," Cloud said warmly, extending a hand to his friend. Cloud and Barret didn't get along when they first met, but they were good friends now. With a wierd expression Barret shook Cloud's hand.
"Goodbye, Barret," Tifa said affectionately, giving him a big hug. Barret really didn't know how to respond to that. Then she turned to Marlene, who now sat in Barret's lap. "It was very brave of you to agree to go to Corel, Marlene," she said encouragingly.
"Daddy says we'll help the poor people there," Marlene said in all the innocent bliss of a young girl eager to be the best she can be. "So I think it will be fun!"
"That's great," Tifa smiled, noting the big grin on Barrett's face.
"Here's the twenty-thousand Gil," Cloud said, and loaded a heavy chest of cash in the Chocobo's back. The tall, proud chocobo didn't even seem to notice.
"You sure ya wanna send that much away?" Barrett asked for the millionth time.
"Barrett, this is just a small fraction of the money we made on the trip. Please, take it! We're richer than we could possibly ever have need for, and besides, it's going to help those people at Corel, so it's for a good cause."
Barrett nodded. "Allright, I guess twenty-thousand is the highest I'll go," he mused, "Just because it's helpin' those folks at Corel."
"Right," Cloud agreed.
Marlene and Barrett waved as they rode off. "Don't forget to write!" Marlene called back.
"We won't!" Tifa shouted reassuringly.
Cloud chuckled to himself as they rode off.
"What's so funny?" Tifa asked suspiciously.
"I really stuck forty-thousand in there," Cloud said miscievously. "I couldn't help it. The people in Corel are so poor, they need the money."
Tifa beamed at him. "You've come a lot way from the cold mercenary you were when I found you at the train station in Midgar," she commented. Cloud shrugged. "Well, finding out you're a clone and then finding out you're not afterall sort of makes you feel perpetually happy," he pointed out. His mood was genuine, too, and it felt great. Cloud had forgotten what it felt like to be really happy.
Tifa laughed. "I guess that's true."
"Well, that's two of us gone," Cloud returned the conversation to the subject of Barret leaving. "I wonder who's next. Personally, I just want to find some nice place to stay- maybe Mideel- and settle down for a while. Just lead a normal life. Can't see why they'd want to go get involved in the world again."
Tifa smiled. "I'm so happy I don't care what we do!" she announced. "If only Barrett and Yuffie weren't leaving... but we'll see them again after everything's calmed down. All they need to do is help out in their homelands."
"I wonder if Shinra will have learned their lesson," Cloud mused as they walked back to the farm. Red XIII emerged as they approached the doorway.
"Ah, Cloud and Tifa," he nodded. "The two of you are the last ones I must say farewell to."
Cloud and Tifa's shoulders slumped.
"I'm sorry," Red said apolagetically, noticing their motion. "But I am the guardian of Cosmo Canyon, and my presence is neccessary there."
"I guess so," Cloud admitted. "Well, see you around Red. It's been great."
Red nodded. "We will undoubtedly see one another again sometime in the future," he said solemnly. He shook paws with Cloud and Tifa, then ran off, howling a final farewell.
"That's three down," Cloud sighed as they entered the kitchen of the chocobo farm. Choco Billy was getting out a package of chocobo feed. He looked up as the two of them entered.
"Oh, Cloud, Tifa," he said in an offhand manner as he picked up the heavy bag. "I heard something on the radio this morning that I thought might interest you."
"Yeah?" Cloud asked curiously. Tifa didn't seem too interested, but payed attention to be polite. She really didn't want to get involved in the outside world right now either, even though they had agreed they would continue to fight against Shinra in the Midgar Area if necessary, at least as long as they were at the chocobo farm.
"They say that Shinra has moved forces toward Mideel and are occupying it," Billy explained. "Everyone expects they're going to try to turn Mideel into another Midgar, what with all the vast Mako resources under it."
Cloud groaned. He couldn't believe that Shinra was already causing this much trouble. First they block the path through the Mithril Mines, and now this. Next they'd take the Gold Saucer and turn it into an air base.
"Well," he sighed, "I guess that means I'm not going to Mideel."
"You can stay here as long as you like," Billy said reassuringly as he exited the house to feed the chocobos their lunch.
"Thanks," Cloud called. He decided to relax a little. He walked into the living room and flopped down wearily on the couch. It felt good to wear normal clothes. His mercenary/SOLDIER outfit was now hung up, hopefully for good, and the Ultima Weapon rested safaley under his matress, no longer strapped across his back. He could flop down comfortably now.
Instead of his old adventuring attire, he now wore a casual t-shirt and flannel button-up shirt over it with a pair of baggy shorts. It wasn't particularly nice whether around there, but it wasn't cold, and fortunately it was summer. Nice relaxing weather, just what he needed. He snapped on the radio, hoping to hear something encouraging.
"The Midgar Reconstruction Project has now been officially abandoned," the news reporter announced. "Details are sketchy, but suppossedly un unstable experimental power source located under the former headquarters of Shinra Inc. has detonated, leaving the area unsuitable for construction and destroying what little progress the wokers had already made. Shinra reports that they will soon send a team to investigate the situation and see if they can discover more information about the nature of this-"
Cloud switched it off. This was interesting news. Could it have been another of Hojo's odd experiments? Whatever the case, he didn't feel like hearing about Shinra right now. He was comfortable and happy to be through with his adventure. Shinra could wait for a while. Wait until there's another Sephiroth. Then, if that happened, he might pick up his sword again.
Instead, his thoughts drifted once again back to old times. He went over in his head for the millionth time all the amazing moments of the trip; the times that he and Tifa had spent chatting in the bar after she found him at the train station, his negotiations with Yuffie when they first found her, the feel of being among the first humans in the world to fly into outer space... the list was endless. Then, like a runner without shoes will inevitably stub his toe if he runs for long enough, Cloud's memories hit Aeris again. He had tried not to think about her anymore. The pain he had felt when her death first occured had been covered up now. He had barried it over with thoughts of vengeance upon her killer at first, but now he covered it with thoughts of joy at his success in stopping Meteor and the fact that his life was finally sorted out. But every so often, he accidentally dug the memories up again, like he was drawn there and could not resist it for too long. And every time it happened, every time he thought of his memories of Aeris, he felt all the pain go tumbling back into his chest, his head, his mind, that he had felt just as the death of Aeris took place. He had loved her- how much he did not know, and in what way- but all he knew now was that she was gone and would never come back.
But it was worst of all when one horrible sentence ran through his mind, a sentece he couldn't block off completely, a question he had to ask himself every now and then, though he despised it: What could I have done to prevent it?
Cloud knew that there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. And he also knew that if he had, the Planet probably would have been hit by Meteor, and then Sephiroth would have controlled everything. He knew that Aeris had to die. He just hated it, and was ashamed of the fact that he had almost done it himself.
And then, the last step in the horrible chain would kick in. His hatred of Aeris's killer would well up again. Sephiroth. The damned name of the man who tried to control the Planet, burnt down Nibelheim, killed Tifa's father, and murdered all of the innocent people still in Midgar at the near-impact of Meteor. He had done all this, but Cloud didn't care about that at times like this. He had killed Aeris, and for that he could never be forgiven, even though in doing it he defeated himself. Cloud could not force himself to forgive Sephiroth, only to understand that he should forgive him.
MIDGAR RUINS
"Hey Rude, do you still like Tifa?" Reno asked lazily as he picked his way over some rocks.
Elena rolled her eyes.
"Umm... well..." Rude shifted around uneasily, looking over at Elena.
"Oh, please," Elena threw her hands up in the air. "You two are so childish. I wish Tseng was still here. He was actually a man. You two sound like adolescant boys. Except that they're usually able to talk about the opposite sex without squirming."
"Fine," said Rude. "I'll just come out and say it. I like Tifa. Umm... a little. Maybe just sort of... heh umm... er..." Rude nervously pulled at his collar and undid his top shirt button.
Elena sighed and hung her head hopelessly.
"Well," said Reno, "I liked that Aeris girl, but I dunno where she is. She just wasn't with them anymore."
"Maybe she died," Elena suggested viciously.
"I think Yuffie was hot," Rude mused.
"She was like sixteen, you perv!" Reno replied in disgust.
"Hey, I'm not saying I wanna do it with her, I just think-"
"Shuttup!!" Elena screamed.
"Sorry," Reno and Rude muttered in unison.
They had been sent on a rather unpredictable mission, which was why they were so uneasy. Making light conversation was Reno and Rude's way of making light of the situation- but Elena would rather just go about it seriously. That was why the turks bounced off eachother so insanely.
"So," Elena began a new, more serious conversation, "What do you guys think we'll find at the ruins of Midgar?"
Reno shrugged. "I dunno. Hey, Rude, did you ever see Scarlet before she got killed in that robot? She was pretty hot."
"Yeah, but she was an ass."
"Definately an ass. A pretty good one, though-"
Elena felt like crying.
When the turks finally reached the ruins of Midgar, Elena was almost relieved at their creepy emptiness- perhaps Reno and Rude would be a little scared and stop talking about who was hot. She had had so much of that that she felt she could blow chunks if she heard it one more time. And they wouldn't even mention her! Elena knew she was a fairly decent looking girl. Why were they too nervous to talk about her in her presence?
They split up and started looking around. Elena hoped that Reno and Rude would take their work seriously. Ever since Tseng had been killed, there was no order in the turks. Reno and Rude were complete slackers. She was the only one left who tried to get any work done. It was far from the glory days under Tseng. If only he was still around...
Elena shook her head and told herself to concentrate on her work. There didn't seem to be anything abnormal about the ruins of Midgar- just the ruins of Midgar. That was when she almost fell in the hole.
It was huge. At least twenty yards across. And it looked like some sort of crater, except more like it had been made from the inside. Whatever the case, it looked like some enormously powerful blast had erupted through the ground here. She ran back to find Reno and Rude and show them her discovery. She found them sitting behind a heap of trash, having another conversation.
"Man, Elena's the hottest of them all," Reno was saying.
"I know," Rude agreed. "She's gorgeous."
Elena snickered silently. Maybe they did think she was something special afterall. But... she should be mad at them. "Hey, you guys, come look what I found!" she exclaimed as she appraoched them, pretending not to have heard their conversation.
They practically jumped out of their suits. They quickly snapped to attention, stammering, "Oh, yes of course Elena, er, we were just taking a break, let's go!"
Elena looked at them suspiciously, then led the way to her find.
THE CHOCOBO FARM, 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF BARRET AND YUFFIE
Cloud had gotten up early that morning to watch the sunrise. It looked spectacular this morning, lighting up the sky with just the right combo of pinks and purples to look absolutely gorgeous. He could really learn to like this casual living stuff. He had made so much gil over his adventures that he could be financially well off for the rest of his life. From now on, it was going to be the good life. Maybe he'd move to town and find a girlfriend. Six years ago, at the age of sixteen, he hadn't been interested, but now it seemed like a pretty good idea.
He started as he heard footsteps coming through the door and onto the deck behind him, but saw that it was only Tifa coming up to watch the sunrise too.
"Fancy meeting you here," he smiled at her.
Tifa pulled up a chair. "Nice to live in such a relaxed atmosphere, isn't it?"
"I'll say."
They sat and watched the sunrise for a while longer, chatting idly about nothing in particular. Just as the last traces of the glorious sight were beginning to fade away, Cloud suddenly noticed a small red speck in the distance- coming closer to them. Pretty fast, too.
"Hey Tifa," he pointed, "Doesn't that sort of look like-?"
She seemed to have seen just as he started talking. "The buggy!" she finished for him. They exchanged a couple of puzzled glances, then went running downstairs to meet whoever it was who had found the buggy again.
The red dot approached pretty quickly, and they realized that yes, this was definately the buggy. The driver slammed on the brakes near the chocobo farm, and out leapt Barret, Marlene on his shoulder, and surprisingly, Yuffie jumped out after him.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Cloud exclaimed happily.
"Hey, what sorta greetin' is that?!" a happy Barret yelled back in response, as the reunited companions came together.
"I missed you guys!" Yuffie yelled as she ran towards them. "Oh man, Wu Tai is so cool now! We're like, kicking every Shinra's ass over there..."
"Whoa, slow down, Yuffie!" Cloud laughed as Barret caught up with his now-17 companion.
"So what brought you guys back here?" Tifa inquired.
Barret's face grew somber. "Well, to tell ya the truth I need help. Shinra's beginnin' to try and take Corel. Things were goin' real smoothly, but then those Shinra came in, and... damn, they ruined everything!"
That made Cloud's insides burn with rage- the gil he had happily donated to the good cause of restoring poor Corel had now been wasted by his greedy enemies.
Tifa was upset too. "What?!" she exclaimed. "They've already got the Mithril Mines, what do they need Corel for?"
"They don't," Barret growled. "They're just greedy punks!" He had collected himself enough not to swear around Marlene.
"They ruined the fort me and Denny built," Marlene said on the verge of tears.
"Oh, don't worry Marlene, we'll set everything right again," Tifa promised, stooping down to comfort the crying girl. Marlene immediately grabbed Tifa in a tight hug and wouldn't let go. Cloud almost laughed at Barret's thankful expression. He was no good at that sort of thing.
"So," he concluded, "You came back to ask us to help get Shinra out of Corel?"
"Yeah," Barret admitted. "But I was actually thinkin somethin more along the lines of invading Shinra HQ. We dun it before, and they were a lot stronger then- I say, why not do it again?"
Cloud thought about it. "It has possibilities," he mused. "We should discuss it in detail later. So what are you doing here?" He turned his attention to Yuffie.
"Well, when I heard what they were doing to Corel, I came to help!" Yuffie announced proudly. "They didn't want me to trash the guys that were ruining Marlene's fun, though." She looked sullen.
"Thanks anyway, Miss Yuffie," Marlene said politely, hugging Yuffie's legs as high as she could reach. Yuffie laughed. "I've never been very good with kids," she mused.
"Well, what are we all standing around here for?" Tifa suddenly broke in. "Let's go inside! It may not be good news what's happened to Corel, but at least we can enjoy being reunited!"
So, they went inside and had a big breakfast with everybody. Cid, Reeve (Cait Sith's actual personage), and even Vincent were happy to see Barret and Yuffie back. If only Red XIII had been there, too, everything would be complete.
That night, they all gathered around to discuss whether or not to attack the new Shinra HQ.
"You know," Vincent pointed out, "It's a very easy structure to attack. Shinra is conducting operations in the Mithril Mines, Mideel, and now Corel. Their forces are extremely spread out, and they don't have much left as it is. Not only that, but this new base they've set up is not a tower, as the old Shinra HQ was. It is simply a flat building that stretches far out. That is not a good formation to defend an attack. I think if we used our stronger Materia, we could pull this off and take care of their leaders. Without leaders, an organization like Shinra falls apart completely."
"Vincent has a good point," Cloud acknowledged. They all agreed. "It's about time we ended Shinra, anyway," Cloud shrugged. He was trying to cover up his regret at having to put on his old SOLDIER uniform again. But what was necessary was necessary, and he would do it.
SHINRA HQ
"I'm telling you, we did find something," Elena persisted at the unhearing ears of High Commander Ashroth. "Something was working its way up from the inside. It was trying to break free, to get out. We need to look at what's beneath the hole it came from."
Ashroth stared at his nails, which he was carefully and painstakingly trimming. He would not so much as make one glance in Elena's direction. It irritated her beyond control. She almost lost it, but at the last minute reminded herself that her job was at stake.
"I'm not interested in where it came from," Ashroth said nonchalantly. "I wanted you to give me information on what sort of creature this thing could be. Instead you give me a hole in the ground."
Elena gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry we didn't find what you wanted, sir," she forced out.
"Well," Ashroth replied coldly, his face not changing expression, "That still doesn't tell me what I want to know. Why don't the three of you get back there and see if you can find me something useful?"
Elena blinked. They were being sent back there again? What did he consider them to be, the useless leftovers of Rufus Shinra that he had to find something to do with?
"Sir, we have already-"
"Dismissed," he said emotionlessly, even now not looking at her.
Reno and Rude stood up to leave. Elena looked at them helplessly, then back at Ashroth. Reno and Rude walked out.
"Was there something, Elena?" Ashroth asked, and he still wouldn't look up at her.
"No," she replied. It was all she could do not to blow up at him. She stood up, turned on her heel, and left.
AN HOUR LATER
Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, and Cait Sith- who Reeve was controlling to help out with the attack- stood on a peak overlooking the new Shinra HQ. Like Vincent had said, it was a flat building.
"I wonder if we could come from above somehow, like when we parachuted into Midgar that one time," Cid mused.
"What would we parachute from?" asked Cait Sith.
"I'm working on it," Cid admitted.
"We can't parachute in," Vincent argued. "I say we attack with heavy summons from many sides, and have one main group who'll make the big offensive strike amidst all the confusion."
"That sounds like a plan," Cloud consented. "Everybody okay with that?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay," Cloud mused. "Who's going to do what?"
"You decide," Tifa said, pointing at him. "You're the leader, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Cloud said sullenly. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I want the main strike force to consist of three people, one will carry the Master Summon, one will carry the Master Magic, and one will carry the Master Skill. That should be enough to take them to High Commander Ashroth, the key figure we want to assasinate here."
Everybody nodded.
"I want volunteers to be part of the main attack force. I know I'll go, and I'll take the Master Magic. I just want to make sure everyone realizes this is the most dangerous job, so don't volunteer unless you're sure. Who volunteers?"
Everybody raised their hand. They started laughing, and even Cloud did.
"Looks like you'll have to do it tough-like," Barret grinned at him.
"Okay," said Cloud, "Me, Tifa, and Barret will be the main attack force. I want Cait Sith to attack from the north with Bahamut. Cid attacks from the south with Neo Bahamut. Vincent from the east with Bahamut Zero. And Yuffie, take the Knights of the Round Table. You're the backup."
Yuffie stared at him with huge eyes. "Me?" she whispered in disbelief. Yuffie had a soft spot for powerful Materia, and Knights of the Round was absolutely the most powerful Materia there was. Nothing else came close, not even Ultima, not even the legendary Bahamut Zero.
"Just so long as I know you won't run off with it," Cloud grinned at her. Yuffie blushed as the embarrasing memories of her immature Materia theft swept back.
"Okay," Cloud continued, "Now I also want each one of the side-attackers to have one mastered magic Materia, like lighting, fire, earth, any of those. Don't take Contain, give that to Yuffie, she's the backup and she needs the powerful stuff."
Yuffie began to tremble. Except for Ultima, Contain was the best Magic Materia there was.
"Why does the backup need so much power?" asked Cid.
"Because if we're in trouble and we need to get out of there, Knights of the Round and Flare are what will do that the best, don't you think? My top priority here is that everybody lives. Allright, take your Materia, and move out!"
Everybody took their Materia and moved out. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret stood ready to come in fast and hard. Blitzkrieg. Cloud prayed that Yuffie would do a good job should she be needed.
Then, the special effects show began. First, a great gray cloud began to billow up in the sky. The soldiers began to scamper over to it, wondering what was happening- a minute ago, the sky had been sunny and clear. They immediately wished they hadn't as a tremendous, jet-black dragon-like creature emerged from the smoke, and began to charge up a huge energy ball in its mouth.
On the other side of Shinra HQ, a similar event was taking place, only this time, the dragon was descending from the sky, and it was bigger than the other one. This dragon looked like the other one except with dark red biological armor all over its body. It began to charge its own energy ball.
Then, both dragons released their energy. The smaller dragon's energy released as a flying ball of purple force, and slammed into the base with tremendous, spherical nexus of destruction, starting fires, crumbling beams, and sending human bodies flying apart in several pieces. The other blast came as a steady stream of pure firey energy, seeming to utterly desintegrate everything in its path. Eventually it subsided, leaving even greater destruction in its wake, and the dragons departed. Finally, one gigantic, precicely aimed blast of pure solar energy came rushing down from the heavens, slamming into the center of the building and sending debris hurling all over the area.
"Charge!" Cloud shouted, and they did so. The blasts of the Bahamuts had utterly confused the guards, who had never seen anything like this, and precious few of them even noticed the companions running into the complex. Every time they came up against an impassable door, Cloud smashed it down with the Ultima Weapon, or, if it was reinforced, blew it apart with a well-aimed Ultima. Tifa took care of the guards with her Master Skill Materia by using the All-Enemies power to smash down a row of guards with a single punch. Barret helped by simply firing his Missing Score. Sometimes the simplest method was still the best, even when you're carrying a Master Summon Materia.
The problem was that they didn't know where they were going. But soon they blew into a highly guarded area, and found High Commander Ashroth making an emergency exit up to the roof. They ran up after him. The roof was not a desirable place to do this- the fires from the attacks of the Bahamuts were not natural and thus were spreading over the entire base, and many parts of it felt like they could cave in any moment. They began to run after Ashroth, and Cloud quickly took him down by casting Quake and knocking him to the ground. They surrounded him.
"What are you going to do, kill me?" he asked, not looking up at them. Guards were following them up.
"Barret, could you take care of them?" Cloud asked, waving in an offhand manner at the guards. Barret nodded and cast Leviathan, sending out a huge wave that neatly dumped the soldiers off of the roof.
"As you can see, we're a lot more powerful than you assumed," Cloud said menacinly. "Would you like to know who we are?" He had to admit, he sort of enjoyed moments like this.
Ashroth smiled, picked himself up, and dusted his pants off. "I know who you are, Mister Strife," he said confidently. "And I believe that there is something in the air right now that should be consuming more of your attention than myself."
Startled, Cloud turned abruptly to look into the sky. Someone had cast Comet at him! Cloud countered with a well-aimed Flare that blew the Comet to pieces. It wasn't any good- whoever had done it had now cast Comet 2.
"Everybody get outa here!" he yelled, and they scattered in confusion. Ashroth, however, simply stood and stared into the sky. Cloud felt explosions all around him, knocking him off his balance and singing him. Sometimes a chunk of a comet would hit him in the leg, or the back. He eventually collapsed, the Comet rain over, but his stamina depleted.
He looked up and saw something new in the sky. There was a small, glowing dot heading towards him. As it grew, he could see that it pulsed with an awesome power, and as it got even closer, it took the form of a man. Then, when Cloud realized what form that was, he almost had a heart attack.
It couldn't be. And yet, the entity had now floated gently down to the ground in front of him. It wasn't possible, but standing a mere ten feet in front of Cloud was the greatest enemy of his life, the one he hated for the death of one he loved. It was Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth," he whispered. He felt the wounds he had taken begin to strengthen something in him. He just needed to be beaten a little more...
"No," Sephiroth shook his head. "I am not Sephiroth. Although, he is part of me, a large part, enough that I have chosen to accept his life as my own. But I am Sepheros, the greater Sephiroth, the new and improved Sephiroth, the ultimate Sephiroth."
Cloud's head spun. He heard Tifa mutter a curse from behind him, and Barret yelled the same word a second later. They had seen the vision from a nightmare, too.
Cloud slowly stood up. Sepheros smiled. "You will feel my power mercilessly destroy you. You do not realize what you are dealing with. But you will, you will."
"Hit me," Cloud whispered to Tifa.
"What?!" Tifa exclaimed.
"Do it!"
Tifa hit him a little.
"Hard!"
"Cloud, I can't!"
Barret did it instead. It hurt, but suddenly Cloud felt a jolting sensation and his body pumped with an inhuman power.
"Meteorain!" he shouted, and leapt high into the air, utterly defying the forces of gravity, and furiously slashed the Ultima Weapon through the air, sending a shower of mini-meteors down on Sepheros. He flinched at each one as it exploded on impact with his body, but when Cloud's rush was finished and he returned to the ground as weak as before, he suddenly realized that his attack had had virtually no effect on this "Sepheros." Whatever he was, he was beyond the power of the original Sephiroth an almost infinite amount.
"That's just the beginning," Sepheros said as if he could read Cloud's thoughts. He floated a ways back, as easily as if he weren't affected by gravity in the slightest. Perhaps he wasn't.
Cloud wasn't going to wait for Sepheros to take action, though. Realizing the next attack was probably going to dish out serious pain, he cast Full Cure on himself immediately. Barret had thought to bring along a couple of X-Potions, which he and Tifa quickly drank. Now they were ready to take on what Sepheros was going to do.
And yet, nothing happened. "Okay guys, let's take him down while we can," Cloud suggested. "Everbody ready the strongest you have!"
He charged up for a blast of Ultima. Barret summoned Bahamut Zero. Tifa prepared for a 4X attack.
Then, they simultaniously released. The Ultima exploded in a fury of green light, mixing with the deep white light of the tremendous Bahamut Zero blast, and Tifa's furious attacks were swift and true. When the smoke cleared, Sepheros stood unswayed.
"You can't seem to do much to me," Sepheros chuckled. Cloud didn't remember Sephiroth ever chuckling, or even smiling. There was something in this besides Sephiroth, allright.
"I won't let you win!" Cloud screamed in rage. He had to do something. He cast Ultima again. It didn't seem to do anything.
"Okay," Sepheros said with feigned resignation, "I guess I'm going to have to show you how to cast Ultima, because you're obviously not doing a very good job. Actually, let me show you three." Cloud's eyes went wide as he saw not one, but three glowing balls of green energy form at Sepheros's oustretched hands. They released before he could run, and as the blast made impact, he felt his body thrown wildly around and the heat of the incredible amount of energy in Ultima singe him painfully. When it was done, he could barely move. He weakly lifted his torso. It was all he could do; standing was out of the question. Three? was the question that running through his head. Three?
Cloud looked around. Barret and Tifa were unconcious. Sepheros began to float closer. This was the end. It had to be.
"Have you ever felt lighting, ice, and fire all hit your body in tremendous force at the same time?" Sepheros whispered. Cloud didn't answer. He couldn't move his jaw. Sepheros raised his hand and unleashed another fraction of his power. Cloud screamed as the multi-affinity attack thrashed his body back and forth, and then all was utter blackness.
Cloud never knew how long that blackness lasted- but the next thing he knew, he was standing again, his energy fully restored, feeling like he was ready to take on the world. What was going on? He looked around, and saw that Tifa and Barret had felt the same effect. He looked upward and saw the summon monster Phoenix moving back into the ground at the feet of... Red XIII! But that wasn't what really got his attention. Knights of the Round was smacking Sepheros around like a little rubber ball. So even he wasn't invincible.
"Come on, you guys!" Yuffie shouted from below them. "Get down from there! We gotta get outa here while we can!"
They didn't take any time to try and figure out what was happening. Cloud gave Red a thumbs up, who in turn winked and smiled at him, then the four companions on the rooftop ran to the edge and leapt down.
"Let's get outa here!" Cloud yelled as they all hopped into the buggy. Cloud floored it, heading in a northeastward direction, up past Midgar. The buggy was just out of Sepheros's sight by the time he pulled himself to his feet after being beaten around. It appeared that there was a power that could stop him afterall...
SHINRA HQ, TWO HOURS AFTER THE ATTACK IS OVER
Elena had just finished packing to go on her new assignment. Much as she hated it, she had to obey orders. As she walked through the twisting corridors of what remained of the decimated Shinra HQ, she happened to walk past Ashroth's office. Inside she overheard a small fragment of a conversation he was having:
"The goal is no longer to harness this power, Hojo," said the commander. "We now need to find a way to make sure it cannot destroy us. I want you to develop a shield that repels all energy discharge from Mako-"
That was interesting. Hojo still alive? Elena stored the info away for future reference. She met up with Reno and Rude a minute or so later, and decided not to tell them about it. Soon she had placed other things in her mind above it.
The three turks exited Shinra HQ. Reno and Rude were discussing what happened on a soap opera last night. Elena didn't think she could take this today. But instead of blowing up at them, she finally understood them. The turks weren't the turks anymore. Now that Ashroth was in charge, they weren't being taken seriously. He was just sending them off on things he made sound important, when they were really completely useless. She was furious. What would Tseng have done?
Well, there was only one thing to do. Exactly what Reno and Rude were doing. If they weren't going to be taken seriously, they wouldn't take Shinra seriously. But she decided to check with them first.
"Why do you guys slack off?" she asked bluntly as they began the trek back to the Midgar ruins.
Reno and Rude began laughing. "Good one, Elena," Rude commented.
"No, I'm serious," Elena persisted.
"You mean you really don't know?" Reno asked in amusement.
"I have a theory. Just humor me."
"Okay," Reno shrugged. "It's that Ashroth guy. He doesn't take us seriously. I mean, when's the last time the turks had a real job? We're not useful anymore, so why even try to make good on the assignments we're given?"
"That's what I thought," Elena confirmed. "Okay, you guys are right about that. But why not take it the next step? Why not just quit?"
"Because, they still pay us," Rude pointed out.
"That's true, I guess," Elena shrugged. "But wouldn't you feel better if you were doing something real? Getting out and living, instead of just sitting on your asses?"
"What exactly did you have in mind?" Reno asked suspiciously.
"Let's be adventurers!" Elena threw it out in the open. She would much rather do that than be a useless turk.
Reno and Rude looked at her like she was crazy.
"Why?!" Reno asked in utter puzzlement.
"Because!" Elena shouted. "We'd be living! Not this stupid life of sitting in the doldrums pretending to be part of Shinra! I hate Shinra! Why would I want to pretend to be part of it?! Well I'm quitting, and I'm going to be an adventurer. You guys do what you like."
Elena felt pretty good about that. She felt better when Reno and Rude exchanged glances that seemed to say "This is COOL!" and vigorously agreed to come along. So it was official. They were no longer part of Shinra. It was the most fun Elena had had in years. If only Tseng was there...
"The first thing we need to do is get out of these stuffy suits," Elena decided. She had unnoficially made herself the leader. "I mean, who wants to go adventuring in uniforms? Come on, let's head to Kalm and go clothes shopping."
"Whatever you say," Reno said happily. So the ex-turks turned from a northward path to a northeast path, heading toward the little town of Kalm.
MIDGAR PLAINS, NORTHEAST OF MIDGAR
The buggy blazed across the fields, just generally going nowhere.
"Why are you here, Red?" Cloud asked as they made their escape.
"I came for help," Red explained. "Shinra has attacked Cosmo Canyon. They're occupying it and there's nothing I can do because they have hostages."
"Not you too!" Cloud exclaimed in disbelief.
"What?" Red asked curiously.
"Barret came back because Corel was being invaded already," Tifa explained.
"I see," Red mused. "It's sort of strange, don't you think? All three of the places that we split up to have been attacked by Shinra. Wu Tai, Corel, and now Cosmo Canyon. Do you think that perhaps Shinra is following us?"
"Interesting," Cait Sith mused. "I wish I could still be an insider in Shinra. It would probably help a lot."
"Well, what do we do now?" asked Yuffie.
"We need stuff. Potions, ethers, 'n what not," Cid offered.
"But getting away from Sepheros should be our highest priority," Vincent argued. "Another meeting with him could be absolutely fatal."
"We should go ta Kalm 'n stock up on supplies!" Cid insisted. "We ain't got nothin' but our weapons and Materia! Besides, I'm almost outa cigs."
"That's all you can think of when we're being chased by Sephiroth the Second with more power than the whole LifeStream?" Red asked in a amusement.
"We can't go to Kalm," Cloud shook his head. "If that maniac finds us again while we're in Kalm the whole town will go up in flames."
"Do you really think he's that strong?" Yuffie shivered at Red's comment.
"He could be," Red admitted. "I don't know. But anyone who can fire three Ultimas at the same time should be feared."
"You can say that again," Cloud said bitterly as painful memories of what it was like to be smashed by three Ultimas seeped back into his head. Barret and Tifa nodded.
"Why would he have attacked us?" Vincent wondered aloud.
"He seems to sort of be Sephiroth, but something else, too. Maybe he thinks that the whole Jenova-Meteor thing isn't over yet, because there he is," Cloud suggested. "And even worse, maybe it isn't," he added as an afterthought. "Anyway, our main concern right now should be trying to fight this guy. We know that Knights of the Round can at least hold him back, but we don't know how much of a lasting effect it has on him. For now we'll just have to run until we know how to fight effectively. But I think I have an idea for how we can slow him down even more."
"And that would be?" Barret prompted him.
"If we attatch Knights of the Round to Quadra Magic, we should be able to keep him occupied with that for quite a long time."
"That should work," Vincent agreed. "And I believe I have an idea of who may be able to help us. Shinra."
"What?!" half the companions exclaimed in surprise.
"Think about it," Vincent said quietly. "We have a common enemy now. We don't know if he was after us or the Shinra base. Wouldn't it be in the best interest of both sides to try to defeat him together?"
"Ain't no way I'm gonna be no ally with Shinra!" Barret yelled stubbornly.
"It may be our only hope. Shinra is perhaps the only ones with enough research power to figure out a way to block this... Sepheros's power."
"I think Vincent's right again," Cloud admitted. "Let's turn back towards Shinra HQ and see if we can find a common cause after all this."
Barret grumbled a few curses and sank down into his seat. Cloud swung the buggy back around and began heading southwest back toward Shinra HQ.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
The turks were a little startled to see a car coming their way. Cars weren't too common outside Midgar. This was one of those big off-roaders, too.
"Hey, why not ask for a lift?" asked Rude.
"They're going the other direction," Elena pointed out.
"That's why we might have to do a little more than ask," Reno explained.
"Ooooh, I get it," Elena grinned. "Why not? We're free, we can do whatever we want! I'll use my Earth Materia."
As the buggy approached, the three turks hid behind a rock. "This'll be good," Reno said excitedly.
"Quake 2," Elena whispered, and the ground began to shake furiously.
Cloud suddenly felt the buggy go wildly out of control, and then it began bouncing up and down furiously.
"What're ya doin', kid?!" Cid yelled, trying to keep his cigarette in his mouth.
"I'm not doing anything!" Cloud responded helplessly. The rumbling eventually stopped.
"That was a Quake spell, I'm sure of it," Red announced.
"Well then, let's go out there and give whoever's doing it a piece of our minds," Cloud said angrily. He was already stressed out enough, and certainly didn't need this right now.
The nine companions leapt from the buggy, brandishing their weapons and landing in their battle poses. When he saw the three Turks standing there looking at them stupidly, he almost screamed.
"YOU!" was a yell that could be heard from several places at once several different times for the next minute.
"We didn't know it was you," Elena said apolagetically.
"Hey, why apolagize to them?!" shouted Reno.
"Because they outnumber us 3 to 1," Elena muttered back at him through the corner of her mouth.
"Oh yeah," he said dissapointedly.
"You just made a really bad day a lot worse," Cloud said menacingly.
"Sorry. We really don't want a fight right now."
"Then why the hell did you just try to highjack us?!"
"We didn't know it was you!"
"Oh, so you think that means you have the right to-"
"Cloud," came a small, sweet voice from behind him.
He turned around to face Tifa. "Uh.. what?" he asked in confusion.
"Shinra... turks," said Tifa.
Cloud scratched his head for a moment, then realization slowly dawned on his face, followed by anger. "Can't we talk to Ashroth directly?"
"Actually, this is probably a more prudent method," Red argued.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Elena asked suspiciously.
Cloud turned around. "Okay, you guys, truce," he forced himself to say. The turks let out sighs of relief. "But, on one condition," added Cloud.
"What?" Elena asked apprehensively.
"You need to arrange for us to meet with High Commander Ashroth."
"Ocrap," said Reno.
"We'rescrewed," said Rude.
"Shuttup," said Elena. "Well, to be honest with you we can't really do that," she explained cautiously.
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Well," Elena began, "When Ashroth took over Shinra, he changed a lot of things that Rufus had set up. He didn't really like Rufus very much, you see. And since we were Rufus's special assignment group, he treated us like we were nothings, sending us on these stupid little errands that weren't even useful. He made a joke out of us. So, we quit. Now we're just ordinary adventurers."
"Adventurers?" Cloud had to try not to laugh. He'd done a lot of adventuring, and it was hilarious to think of the turks doing what he had done in their nice suits and everything.
"We're going to get better clothes as soon as we can," put in Reno.
"But does Ashroth know this yet?" Tifa asked, hoping they could still get something out of this.
"Well, no, not yet, but even if we tried to arrange it, he wouldn't listen to us. I swear."
"Allright," said Tifa. "Nevermind. See you later."
"Yeah," Cloud said lamely. He hoped he wouldn't, though.
"Why would you want to see Ashroth?" Elena asked as if they hadn't said farewell.
"Why would you care?" Barret asked suspiciously.
"I'm just curious. Maybe it's something we can help you with instead."
"What are you doing?!" Reno whispered desperately to Elena.
"Watch me work," Elena winked at him.
"I don't think so," Cloud shook his head. "We're looking for a way to fight back against the power of the entity that they found underneath Midgar. It seems to have taken the form of Sephiroth, and it also seems to want to kill us."
"That can't be good," Elena mused. "But, believe it or not, I can help you."
Barret snorted. "Yeah right."
"What do you want to say, Elena?" Tifa asked politely.
"Well, I don't particularly want to say it," Elena shrugged. "I'm indifferent. It's you that I think wants to hear it."
"Okay, let's hear," Cloud prompted her.
"First you have to give us something."
Reno and Rude were looking at her strangely.
"Of course," Cloud rolled his eyes. "I should have known."
"We want to come with you!" Elena announced. "Let's be partners!"
"We do?!" Reno exclaimed.
"Yes," Elena said firmly.
"Oh," said Reno. "Did you know that, Rude?"
"Yeah. I want to."
"Hmm," Reno mused. "Okay, let's join them."
"Good idea."
"Hey!" Cloud objected. "We didn't say that was okay yet!"
"I think we should kick their asses," said Yuffie.
"I like that girl more every time I see her," Barret commented.
"Let us talk about this for a second," Cloud told the turks. The companions had a mini-meeting.
"Okay," Cloud began. "We want to know what this thing Elena's talking about is because it's our only lead. It's better than nothing. The question is whether or not we can trust them enough to let them tavel with us."
"They sounded honest to me," Tifa shrugged.
"I agree," Red nodded.
"Anyone else?" asked Cloud. Vincent raised his hand.
"Yeah, why not," Cait Sith added. "They aren't going to cause any trouble, and besides, in times like these, you have to admit we could use all the help we can get, and as aloof as they are the turks are pretty good in a fight."
"I vote that one, too," said Cloud. "Cait Sith has a good point."
"Whatever," Cid shrugged. "It's fine with me."
"Well," Yuffie mused, "I guess that Reno one is sort of cute. Okay."
Everybody looked at Barret. Barret grumbled some barely intelligable swears, then quietly agreed. They turned around.
"Allright," Cloud announced, "You're in."
"Cool," said Elena. "Now, let's talk."
Sephiroth coming back to haunt him, but Hojo too. "How's that possible?!"
"Actually, you shouldn't be surprised at all," said Vincent.
"What?"
"Hojo's cloning experiments were extensive. Obviously, either the Hojo we fought at the Sister Ray or the
Hojo that Ashroth was talking to was a clone."
"That makes sense," Elena agreed. "But anyway, the point is that they're going to make some sort of machine
that repels Mako energy discharge- which would probably defend you from that maniac who looks like
Sephiroth."
"He is Sephiroth," Cloud muttered. "But nevermind. So, I guess that talking to Shinra won't help anymore,
they've already got something."
"We better attack them!" Reno said eagerly.
"Again?" Yuffie's heart sank. Cloud had spent a whole half hour after their departure trying to convince her
that she had done a good job at being the backup, but she still wasn't convinced.
"Of course!" said Rude. "We weren't there the first time! We missed the fun!"
"That's not really fair to Shinra I suppose... but then, they don't really need the machine like we do."
"Not fair to Shinra?!" Barret yelled in disgust. "So what! You think what they're doin ta Corel is fair?! You
think that company was founded on fairnes?! I say this is the best way to help bring them down!"
"He has a point," Red agreed.
"Allright," Cloud nodded. "Let's go for it."
"Partners?" Elena extended a hand to him.
"Partners," he nodded. He shook Elena's hand. The turks weren't really so bad afterall. In time, he could
probably make friends with them.
"I guess we have to stay in our suits for a while longer," Rude said dissapointedly.
SHINRA HQ
Hojo was very proud of himself. He had already done exactly what the Supreme General wanted! This would
be an excellent way for him to elevate himself in Ashroth's eyes. All he had to do was say he had just made
this after he had been asked, and it would appear he was many times as quick and intelligent as he was. It
was this sort of a cleverness that made it so he actually sort of was many times as quick and intelligent as he
was, in a strange way. He picked up the device and decided he had better test it. The best thing was that it
didn't even need a power source- the combination of chemicals inside it repelled Mako discharge like
opposite magnets.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then stretched out his arm and allowed it to mutate into
a long, disgusting tentacle. "Ultima!" he yelled. The blast of Ultima did not even touch the machine, although
it was aimed straight at it. Instead, it hit the wall, blowing a hole in it that connected to the women's locker
room. Fortunately, no one was inside. That gave Hojo an idea. Snickering at his cleverness, he pulled out his
large one-way mirror and quickly attatched it to the wall, covering up the hole and making it appear from
inside the locker room that they had just installed a new mirror there. He then put up a movable blackboard
with some fake scientific calculations on it over the hole on his end. He snickered at his cleverness and then
picked up the machine to take up to Ashroth. He'd been searching for a use for that one-way mirror for a
while...
The soldiers outside Ashroth's office looked awfully silly, since the door was now one of three different
entrances into the room thanks to the attack. They didn't ask Hojo to identify himself as he walked through
the gaping hole in the wall next to the doorway- they knew who he was, and had been in enough trouble for
not knowing it before.
"Hojo," the Supreme General greeted him, "Was there any particular reason why you felt you had to walk
through the hole in the wall instead of the door?"
"My apolagies," Hojo said exquisitly, "It amuses my immature mind."
"I see. Do something like that again and you're fired. Not only that, but we'll take everything you own and
burn it and make sure you never conduct a scientific experiment again."
This amount of ferocity startled even Hojo. He wouldn't have been surprised at Ashroth's reaction if it were a
lowly soldier who had commited the offense, but he was one of Ashroth's most valuable assets. Obviously,
the man had very low tolerance. He probably would have shot a less important individual in this situation.
Not that it would matter to Hojo if he were shot, but...
"Well, sir, I completed the invention you wanted," Hojo grinned.
"Yes, a month ago, wasn't it? I was actually expecting you to deliver it to me sooner. Let's have a look." He
hadn't made eye contact with Hojo once this whole time. He hadn't even looked in his general direction,
simply staring down at some paper he was dabbing at with a pen on his desk.
Hojo really hated Ashroth at this point, but telling himself his job was at stake, he handed the device over to
the Supreme General, who still would not even look up at him.
"How does it work?"
"It mixes the chemicals inside it in just the right way that Mako discharge bounces away from them far before
it gets near it. I haven't figured out why yet, I think it has to do with the fact that Mako isn't on our plain of
existance. Anyway, all you have to do is shake it, and it repels Mako for the next 24 hours."
"Interesting. Good job, Hojo. I want these installed all over the base with automatic, once-every-24-hours
shaking machines or something so we don't have to worry about that."
"That will be up the engineers, I believe."
"No, that will be up to you, I believe. The engineers have enough on their hands trying to rebuild this base."
"Understood."
"You may leave my presence now."
"Yes sir."
Hojo left. Someday he would have to get back at that man.
SLIGHTLY NORTH OF SHINRA HQ
"I made you say underwear!" Reno gloated as the deadly effects of his joke sank in on Rude.
"That's a stupid joke," Rude said defensively.
"Hey Elena!" yelled Reno. "I made Rude say underwear!"
"Cool," said Elena. She was obsorbed in her thoughts about what had happened in the last few hours, and
didn't really want to hear about it.
"Hey, Reno," said Rude. "After everything I say, say 'pea-green soup', okay?"
"Okay," shrugged Reno. Cloud almost laughed as he brainlessly followed along.
Cloud saw Shinra HQ begin to approach in the distance. He slammed on the brakes of the buggy and
announced to everyone that they were there. They all jumped out, while Rude laughed at Reno for saying
that he had peed green soup all night.
"Okay, guys, let's get this organized," Cloud said loudly. "Who wants to be the leader this time?"
Reno and Rude both raised their hands, but everybody else pointed at Cloud. Cloud cursed and then said,
"Okay, well if you don't want any variety. Allright, what we need to do here is find the device and take it.
That's not going to work if we go barging in there because we'll never figure out what to take. So what we
need to do is get someone on the inside." He turned and looked at the turks.
"What? We quit!" Reno said indignantly.
"They don't know that yet," Tifa smiled at them.
Reno grumbled and crossed his arms.
"Come on, you two! This is exciting!" Elena encouraged them. "We're finally striking back at Ashroth for
making a joke out of us!"
"Good point," Reno agreed.
"Allright!" Rude said enthuisiastically. "Let's get going!"
"Here," Cloud said as he gave them the PHS. "Call us if you get in trouble, and we'll create a diversion. What
we want you to do is find out what the device is, not take it. Remember that."
"Right," Elena acknowledged. The turks strolled toward Shinra HQ, feeling really good about themselves.
The guard seemed a bit suspicious when Elena asked him where professor Hojo was. The turks had never
had any business with Hojo. But, he knew better than to talk back, and directed them to the laboratory. Elena
was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She pressed on, hoping that it was just her mind
getting worked up. Afterall, Hojo had always scared her a little. Maybe she just didn't want to talk to him, and
her subconciousness was blowing it out of proportion.
They walked straight into the laboratory without knocking. "We need one of the devices that repels Mako
discharge," Elena announced bluntly. It was strange, but Elena felt great doing this. This was how the turks
were supposed to be. Surprisingly, Reno and Rude were their old selves again, standing menacingly behind
her with their arms folded across their chests. It was just like how things had been under President Shinra
and his son Rufus, only this time they were working against Shinra.
Hojo looked at them with an amused expression. "I'm afraid there's only one," he shrugged, "And you can't
have it."
"Let me see," Elena demanded.
Hojo shrugged. He picked up the device and held it out in front of him.
"How does it work?" Elena asked in a businesslike fashion.
"You shake it, and it mixes the chemicals inside in a way that causes them to repel Mako discharge for the
next 24 hours," Hojo explained. "Why would you be interested?"
"It's not for your ears," Elena said stiffly, then turned on her heel and left, followed by Reno and Rude. As
soon as they were out of earshot, Hojo turned to his intercom and pressed a button. "They just left, Sir," he
told the person on the other end.
"Good," Ashroth replied. "You showed them the bomb?"
"I did," Hojo acknowledged.
"Good. This ought to get AVALANCHE out of my way once and for all. Now leave me alone."
"Yessir." Hojo let go of the button and snickered at the clever plan he had just put into motion. All his
enemies would soon be getting some unpleasant surprises.
Colonal Jeraz walked fearfully toward Supreme General Ashroth's office. He was going to have to give the
Supreme General some bad news, and Ashroth was known not to take to bad news very well.
"What is it, Colonel?" Ashroth asked as Jeraz entered the room. He didn't look up at him.
"Well, sir, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news."
Ashroth leaned back in his chair, away from the paperwork he was going to do, as though he was about to
look at Jeraz in anger- but instead, he still just stared at his desk.
"Really," he asked in a menacing tone. "And what would that be?"
"Well," Jeraz began, "It appears AVALANCHE is still alive and active."
"I see," Ashroth mused. "You needn't be afraid, Colonel. It's Hojo's incompetence that caused this. You are
dismissed."
"Yes sir,' Jeraz nodded, and walked out. One of these days, he felt he'd be killed when he went in there, and
he didn't want it to be soon.
Back inside his office, Ashroth clicked a button on his intercom. "Hojo," he said menacingly, "I need to
speak with you."
The turks came walking casually out of the building. "Looks like everything went smoothly," Cloud
announced to everyone after peeking around a rock. They waited a bit longer, and then the turks showed up.
Elena carefully explained what the device Hojo had shown her looked like.
"Allright," Cloud brought everyone to attention. "We're going to do it the opposite way this time. One force
does the fake main attack to attract attention, then three of us go in from the sides to steal the device. I want
the turks to stay behind."
"What?!" Elena yelled indignantly. "Why?!"
"You're still a valuable asset," Cloud explained. "Shinra still doesn't know you quit. We want to preserve that
advantage as long as possible, just in case."
Elena grumbled a little, but realized he was right. Reno and Rude didn't seem to care. They were whispering
about something.
"Allright," Cloud mused. "We're going to have the same positions, so me, Barret, and Tifa will make an
attack, while the others take their positions to come in from different directions and try to find the device.
Red, you can take the western attack, since no one was there last time."
Everybody nodded, and once again took their assigned Materia. Red got two Summon Materia since the
most powerful ones had been taken- he equipped himself with the ultra-powerful duo of Alexander and
Kujata. Everyone also took their one Magic Materia for close-quarters fighting.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret waited for Red to phone in and tell them he was in position. Since his journey was the
farthest, they figured when Red was ready, everyone would be.
Finally, the PHS rang, and Red confirmed that the attack could begin.
"Let's go, guys," Cloud nodded, and they charged down in the buggy. Barret leaned out the window and
cast Odin to begin their assault. The tremendous horse and rider swept through the ranks of the guards that
came out to meet them, swinging his tremendous sword and slashing them to ribbons. Cloud tried not to look
at the grisly scene as he cast Quake 3 and sent the bodies of the guards hurling through the air. Tifa leaned
out the window and used All-Enemies to smack down a row of guards. By now, most of the remaining guards
had fled to seek reinforcements. They jumped out of the buggy, and started casting spells to destroy the area
around them. It wasn't long before there were guards swarming everywhere, and they even started to have
trouble keeping them at bay. Strangely, though, the guards sometimes seemed to botch shots that should
have been overly easy. Cloud began to suspect something.
He suddenly saw the awesome power of the summons that the side-attackers used rear up from all sides. It
went as before, except for two great additions: First Kujata reared up, and attacks of lightning, fire, and ice
spread across the base, short-cuircuting machinery, tearing apart rafters and structures, and rendering
halways impassible with icey blocks. Next, in his place, sprang the mighty Alexander, whose firey weapons
of justice spread over the base, absolutely obliterating everything in the path of the awesome fire's
consuming wrath. At the end, a great hole opened in the ground, and a huge chunk of the base fell into its
steaming depths, only to be crushed as the earth closed in upon it.
The four of them charged into the base, meeting almost no resistance since most of the soldiers were
concentrating on the first attackers. It wasn't long before Red XIII ran into Cait Sith, holding the device in his
jaws. "Great, Red!" Cait exclaimed. Since Red's jaws were full, he radioed the others to tell them to get out.
Cloud got the message. "Allright, guys, we're outa here!" he said. They began to work their way back to the
buggy, though the guards didn't make it easy for them.
Meanwhile, the four attackers all left through the north exit of the base. Cid was busy examining the machine.
"There's somethin funny about this device," Cid mused.
"Wait a second," Cait said suspiciously. Everyone stopped. "Just what's funny?"
"I dunno," Cid shrugged. "There's somethin fishy, though."
"What if it's a fake... or a trap... or a bomb or something?" Cait asked worriedly.
"Well, if it's a bomb, there'll probably be a ticking," Vincent shrugged. He took it from Cid and listened.
"Nothing."
"That won't tell ya everything," Cid shook his head. "They have way of makin em silent. Plus it could be set
to go off when somethin happenes, fer example when ya shake it."
"Is there any way to find out?" Red asked.
"I'll have to open it up," Cid shrugged. He took out a screwdriver and began to undo the screws.
"Work while we move," Vincent suggested. "We need to get out of here before Shinra comes looking for
us."
"How do you know so much about this, Cid?" Cait Sith asked as they walked.
"I know some stuff about machines. Happen to of learned a lot about bombs... well I took a lotta machinery
courses and stuff. Just somethin that's always interested me." He took out the last screw and looked inside.
"Nothin but wierd green ooze," he shrugged.
"So you're sure it's not a fake," Cait Sith confirmed.
"Well, all I know is it ain't a trap. I dunno if it works."
"We better find out, then," Cait Sith decided. "Give it to me."
"Nah it's okay," Cid shrugged. "I can handle it if it doesn't work... just use somethin small."
"No, it's better this way, because I'm just a stuffed animal," Cait Sith reminded him.
"Oh yeah," Cid recalled. He gave the small machine to Cait, who shook it vigorously. Red cast Fire 1 on him-
only it missed and lit a tree next to him on fire.
"Put it out!" Cait yelled, but not two seconds later Vincent had quelled the fire by covering it in ice with a
well-aimed Ice2.
"Okay, it works," Vincent nodded. "Now let's get out of here."
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret finally made their retreat successfully. It almost seemed too easy. Cloud hoped
nothing was wrong.
They rondevoused a little bit east of the ruins of Midgar, and Cloud called everyone to a meeting.
"Okay," he began, "So we know this thing works, right?"
"Yep," Cait Sith affirmed.
"Good. Now, did anyone notice anything-" he was cut off as Vincent jumped up, pointing at the sky with his
clawed hand. "Sepheros has found us," he announced in his cold, gentle manner, but yelling nonetheless.
Cloud grabbed the machine and shook it a few times. "Everybody get in a small group around the machine,"
he ordered. "We don't know how far its protection ranges." They did as he asked, and Sepheros floated
down near their small group.
"What is this?" he asked suspiciously. "Your strategy seems a bit less than prudent."
"It's more prudent than you think, Sephiroth," Cloud said quietly. He knew that this wasn't exactly Sephiroth,
but the part he wanted to kill was Sephiroth, the part that he hated.
Sepheros narrowed his eyes, staring unwaveringly into Cloud's. "You didn't call me that out of ignorance,"
he stated, more a question than a comment.
"No," Cloud answered firmly. "I don't care about the rest of you."
"I remember you," Sepheros said in reply. "You're Sephiroth's worst enemy, the one who defeated him. That
means you're my greatest enemy, too, for I am Sephiroth. And now, I will destroy you, and avenge him." And
he began to charge. Cloud realized that he was charging not three, not four, but five Ultimas. Five. Cloud
wondered how many he could fire at a time. Cloud resisted the urge to tightly shut his eyes as the mighty
spells were unleashed. He must stand tall.
The five awesome spells went flying every which way. The area around the companions was absolutely and
totally destroyed. Everything obliterated. Fortunately, civilization was miles away. Sepheros stared in
disbelieving fury at the companions just sitting there, invincible against his magic.
"Allright," he said, collecting himself in an instant. "That's an interesting trick." He unsheathed his
Murasame. "I may have to do this the old-fashioned way."
"Not today," Cloud shook his head. "I won't do that until I'm more firmly protected from your magic. Until
then, I've got some knights for you to play with instead, they should give you a nice sword fight if that's
what you're looking for." And with that, he raised the Ultima Weapon high and cast Knights of the Round,
enhanced by Quadra Magic. Before Sepheros could escape, the knights were upon him. The companions
retreated as Sepheros was helplessly smacked around. It was time to find out just how useful this machine
could be.
MIDGAR PLAINS, A LITTLE NORTH OF MIDGAR RUINS
Aers Majorik's new assistant was a mixed bag. While on the one hand he was extremely capable at what he
was hired for- fending off the annoying Shinra types- he was also rather difficult to deal with sometimes,
always acting in upredicable ways and reacting in odd ways to almost everything that happened. He was like
a six-year-old in the body of a man. Needless to say, Aers didn't get along with him too well, but he put up
with him anyway because his services were invaluable.
He had just risen on an early Monday morning and strolled out to the porch to get some fresh air. After
putting fresh food in his bird feeder, he sat down on his wooden chair and looked out over the Midgar
Plains, his eyes every now and then stopping on the old ruins of the once-great "capital of the world",
Midgar, and every time he smiled at the welcome sight. He knew Shinra was still around, but he didn't really
care as long as that bleak, ugly Midgar wasn't there anymore.
Then, coming from a bit south of the ruins, he saw a small red speck moving closer to him on the horizon. It
couldn't be a monster, it's path was too straight, it had to be some sort of vehicle- and it was heading right for
his small, out-of-the-way home.
"Hey, Dar' Tos, come on down here, I think there's Shinras comin' here again!" he yelled to his assistant.
Since the man was clearly Taian, Aers knew that "Dar' Tos" was definately not his real name, but he humored
the man.
Dar' Tos leapt down from the roof, which he made his living area, even in the rain. He swung his gatling gun
out in front of him and rested it on the small fence surrounding the porch.
"It's time ta KICK SOME ASS!" he shouted extravagantly. Aers rolled his eyes.
As the vehicle drew closer, Dar' Tos began to open fire on it. It was a tough vehicle and the bullets simply
bounced off, but Dar' Tos was not one to give up, and he continued to fire.
Back in the buggy, Cloud was puzzled. "Why are we being shot at?" he asked.
"Couldn't tell ya," Barret shrugged, "But we better git the punk who's doin that."
Cloud nodded, and leaned out the window.
"Careful, Cloud!" Tifa cautioned. "Let me do it!" she leaned out her window. Cloud was going to tell her not
to, but by now he was within sight of the guy doing the shooting, so he aimed a good blast of Lightning3.
Just as he released it, he heard Tifa gasp and then shout, "Stop Cloud, don't!" but it was too late, he had
already fired the spell. His aim was true, and it struck the man at the gatling gun, sending him flying back into
the house through a window.
"Oh no no no no no," Tifa muttered on the verge of tears, and jumped out of the buggy as Cloud parked it
next to the house.
"Tifa, what is it?!" Cloud yelled after her, but she ignored him and ran to the house.
"We surrendur!" Aers said with his hands on his head as Tifa rushed passed him, but she didn't even glance
in his direction. The others walked curiously toward the small house.
"You don't look like Shinra types," Aers said, scratching his head.
"We're not," Cloud nodded, and then heard someone yell, "Tifa?!!" from inside the house, followed by a
resounding crash. Everybody stood and waited. Thirty seconds later Tifa came through the doorway with a
young, Taian man using her for support. He wore an old hanky on his head, baggy brown pants, and a silk
jacked that covered little more than his arms. He was tall, well-built, and a katana rested at his side.
"Oh no," Barret groaned and sank the ground. Cloud looked at him questioningly.
"Okay," said the Taian man, "Who's the bastard that used magic on me?"
"I am," Cloud said raising his hand, "And I think I had a right to, seeing as you were shooting at us."
"It was just a misunderstanding," Tifa told them both like a mother. "Now, I'd like to introduce you all to an
old friend of mine and Barret's. His name is Hanshi."
"I knew that your name wasn't Dar' Tos," Aers muttered.
"Yo," said Hanshi.
You need to rest," Tifa told him, and took him inside. She lay him down on the couch and then came back
outside to meet everybody.
"Who is he?" Red asked curiously.
"It's a long story," Tifa said with a sigh. "You're sure you want to hear it?"
They all nodded. "I do, too," said Aers.
"If he calls me Barry just once, I will-" Barret began, but Tifa fixed him with a dangerous expression that shut
him up.
"Okay, everybody sit down," Tifa instruced. So they all gathered on Aers's porch, and she and Barret
recalled the story of how they had met up with Hanshi while trying to help Kylos Viper prove his innocence
years ago in Midgar. [Please refer to "Seventh Heaven, Sector 7" by Maniac to read this story yourself, if
you haven't already]. By the time it was over, Cid was grinning maliciously at Barret and had already called
him "Berry" several times.
"I never knew he was a criminal," Aers muttered.
"Why's he here?" Tifa inquired.
"I hired him to protect me from Shinras," Aers shrugged. "He was a mercenary."
Tifa glanced up at Cloud, probably without meaning to. He smiled.
"So," Aers changed the subject, "What brings you people here, anyway?"
"We dunno," Barret shrugged. "Cloud wanted ta ask ya somethin."
Cloud nodded. "Zack Taren told me to come here if I ever needed something made for me," he told Aers
directly.
Aers looked up sharply, his eyes showing deep sorrow. "You know Zack?"
"I..." Cloud hadn't realized it would be this important to the old man. And it seemed that he thought Zack was
still alive, too, which would make it even harder to do this.
"Where is Zack?" Aers asked.
"Oh shit," Cloud shook his head. "I... thought you'd already know... Zack... is... well..."
"I see," Aers nodded. Cloud thankfully nodded back, glad he didn't have to say it. "I thought it might be that
way. You were a friend of his?"
Cloud nodded. "I was a guard for Shinra while he was in SOLDIER. We worked together."
"Allright," Aers sighed, "Well whatever ya need, I'll see what I can do for ya."
"I'm gonna go check on Hanshi," Tifa interjected, and went back inside.
"We need you to make copies of this that we can slip around our wrists, or something like that," Cloud said
to Aers, handing him the anti-Mako device. "You'll have to open it to see what it really is."
Aers took a screwdriver out of his pocket and carefully opened up the machine. "Chemicals," he mused. "I
see. I can make you what you want, but you gotta bring me the chemicals. I'll write you up a list and you can
go to Kalm and buy them."
Cloud nodded. That should be fine. He just prayed that Sepheros would not find them while they were
engaged in this activity.
Cid offered to go pick up the chemicals they needed and declined to have any accompanyment. He said he
also wanted to take care of something else in Kalm that was a hush-hush deal for now, so everyone just let
him go. Aers invited them inside for a drink, and Tifa began to whip up one of her special customs for
everyone.
"I really appreciate what you're doing, Mr. Majorik," Cloud commented as he sat down.
Aers waved his hand in a gesture of nonchalance. "Call me Aers. A friend of Zack's is a friend of mine."
"Aers..." Cloud mused.
"What?"
Cloud looked at him questioningly for a moment, then realized he was expecting a question. "Oh," Cloud
shook his head, "I was just thinking about the name. It's the male version of Aeris, isn't it?"
Aers nodded. "You knew Zack's old girlfriend?"
Cloud's heart stung, and he didn't answer. Aers seemed to notice how he bent his head downward a bit and
didn't say anything else about the matter. There was a breif uncomfortable silence.
"So..." Tifa broke the silence. "What's your relation to Zack, Aers?"
Aers sighed for a moment. "The kid was my little bro," he said sadly.
Everyone was a little startled. Aers looked over forty years old. Aers seemed to sense it. "I'm a lot younger
than I look," he smiled. "I'm a little worn out. I was a first-class SOLDIER member, you know."
"Just like Zack," Cloud mumbled.
Aers nodded. "I was a role-model to him. I hate myself for the path I led him down. Shinra... damn the souls
of those self-centered bastards. Zack's death is just one more reason for me to hate them."
Cloud noticed that Barret sat up and payed more attention after that, and would have been amused had the
conversation been lighter.
"Why do you hate Shinra with such passion?" asked Red.
Aers smiled. "Yer a funny lookin thing," he remarked.
"My species is... very rare these days," Red admitted.
"I'll say. Well, anyway, they've really trampled on my life. When I was a boy, I was pretty wimpy. I was
always gettin into fights, but never winnin em. So I looked up to strong people. One of the strongest figures
in my life was the legend of SOLDIER, Sephiroth. What a big mistake that was."
Cloud felt a strange pang as he heard those words. It was not a pain, it wasn't a sadness; it was actually a
good feeling, a feeling that there was someone who shared his childhood plight. The others glanced at him
strangely as Aers told his story. Cloud barely paid attention to their glances, he was too busy reminiscing.
"Anyway," Aers continued, "I wanted nothing more than to get into SOLDIER. So I went to try out. But I
was afraid of being weak... so before I went, I ran out into the world to live in the wild and fight the monsters
until I felt I was strong enough to be in SOLDIER. Somehow, I survived, and I really did grow strong. Very
strong, actually. And so I did get into SOLDIER- and hell I was proud. What a little fool I was back then."
This was where the story began to differ from Cloud's. He wondered how his life would have been different if
he actually had gotten into SOLDIER. Back then, he would have been thrilled, but now he was glad he never
made it. If he had, this world probably would have been destroyed by Meteor.
"Well, Zack wanted to join SOLDIER too, when he heard I did. And he did join. So there we were, two perfect
little SOLDIER members. Both first-class too. We were the best of friends. So happy with life. Then it all
changed. I was taking a tour of Shinra headquarters, which I thought was very cool at the time, and they
were telling me about how Mako was produced. That was when I realized that the use of Mako was wrong. It
was destroying this planet. I tried to talk to the authorities about it, but they didn't want to hear it, and before
I knew it I had been thrown in the front lines of a hideous battle against a rebellion in some town. I survived,
but barely. Left me wounded for life, and definately not able to fight anymore. Still feel it today. Bad back,
knee, and hip, crippled like an old man at the age of twenty-nine. Well, needless to say, I quit SOLDIER after
that. Zack and I had a huge fight about it. He was only sixteen at the time, but SOLDIER meant everything to
him, and if I wasn't there, it wouldn't be the same. I tried to convince him that Shinra was evil, that they were
destroying the Planet, but he wouldn't listen to me. The last time I talked to him, he was excited about going
somewhere on an asignment with the legendary Sephiroth. I remembered when I used to look up to
Sephiroth. I hated him then. I was glad when he dissapeared. But I sure wasn't glad that Zack dissapeared.
Guess I'll never see him again. Well, I'm sorry about that, I been ramblin."
Everyone was silent. The sad story offered yet another insight into the epic history of Cloud, Zack,
Sephiroth, and SOLDIER. They finished their drinks in solemn quiet.
Cid returned an hour later, only to find everyone quiet and reserved. Cloud especially was in a bad mood. He
shrugged, and offered Aers the chemicals, who began to get to work on the bracelets that would defend
them from Sepheros.
Cloud walked slowly outside after a while, and sat back down on the porch. He didn't feel so great. All his old
memories were springing up again, paining him. He had lost so much of his life to Shinra. There were so many
people whose lives they had turned rotten... and they were still doing it.
"Man, why's everybody all depressed?" asked an irritated voice from behind him. Cloud turned and saw the
man that Tifa had previously identified as Hanshi walk onto the porch and sit on the steps next to him.
Cloud sighed and took a bit to respond. "The history of your employer ties in strongly with my own, and that
of all my old friends somehow or other- more strongly for some than others."
"I still don't get why you're depressed," Hanshi shrugged. "That's the past, it's not like that anymore." He
was really being sincere. Completely puzzled. Cloud was amazed at how purely optimistic he was.
"What's your history?" Cloud asked on a whim.
Hanshi snorted. "I don't know and I don't care. I'm an orphan. I was raised by a bunch of thieves. I've always
been a thief, always will be. I like it that way."
"You'd get along well with Yuffie," Cloud said with a smile.
"A chick?" Hanshi's eyes brightened.
Cloud laughed. "Don't go getting any ideas," he cautioned. "She's only seventeen. Besides, you might find
her more trouble than she's worth."
"Not for old Hanshi. Nothin's trouble for me." He said it so sternly that Cloud almost believed him.
"How'd you learn to use that katana?" Cloud changed the subject, noting Hanshi's weapon. "What style to
you use?"
"Well... I was raised by Taian thieves. What else would they have taught me? As for style, I ain't got a clue, I
just use it like they taught me."
"Interesting," Cloud mused. He would always be interested in swordplay.
Tifa came out onto the porch. "Oh," she said with a bit of surprise and a bit of happiness, "I see you two are
meeting eachother."
"Cloud asks technical questions," Hanshi remarked critically, but with a big stupid grin.
"Hanshi replies like an idiot," Cloud remarked back. Tifa smiled. She could see they were getting along well.
"It's really amazing that we met up again after all this time," Tifa thought out loud.
"Well, we did promise we'd see eachother again," Hanshi pointed out. "I'm even glad to see ol' Berry again."
"He's glad to see you, too, though he won't admit it," Tifa laughed.
"So, replaced Kylos yet?" Hanshi asked in an offhand manner. Cloud gave him a smoldering look, and he
responded with a clueless one.
"Umm... no," Tifa mumbled.
It was then that Aers called them all back into the house to get their protective bracelets.
"Now, the cool thing about these little gadgets," Aers explained with pride, "Is that they don't need to be
shaken. Your regular movement should be enough to keep the chemicals mixed all the time."
"Great," Cloud congradulated him. "Could you write up blueprints, in case we need to make more?"
"No problem," Aers nodded. He quickly scribbled some instructions on a piece of paper.
"You've been incredibly helpful," Cloud shook Aers hand. "I hope we meet up again sometime, but we really
need to get going. We wouldn't want to put you in danger, and unfortunately we're being hunted right now."
Aers nodded. "Drop by any time," he invited.
"I'm coming with them," Hanshi announced out of nowhere.
Everyone looked over at him, slightly startled, but then, not so much. Tifa seemed happy about it. Barret
grumbled a little.
"You sure?" Aers asked.
"Yep," Hanshi nodded.
"Here," Aers tossed him a braclet. "I made a few extra for you guys. Partly because I knew he'd do that."
Cloud smiled a little, shook Aers's hand, and turned to his companions. "Okay, gang, let's go," he said, and
they went.
SHINRA HQ, ABOUT THE SAME TIME
Syphe Techro had been summoned to Supreme General Ashroth's office, and was a little uneasy. It wasn't
often that you went to the general's office, and when you did, ninety percent of the time it was for a bad
reason.
He walked nervously through the long, constantly turning corridors of the makeshift Shinra HQ, which was
heavily damaged. Syphe never felt safe in this place. It was like the roof could fall on him any minute. He
always wanted to hold his breath when he walked through these corridors.
He reached the general's office and, at the nod of the guards, he walked through the dual oak doors that led
into the room- a silly thing to do in Syphe's opinion, since there were three unintentional entrances available
to him before he reached the doors. Still, Syphe had heard the rumors of what happened to people who didn't
use the doors, and decided not to take any risks.
Ashroth made no indication that he knew Syphe was there, and at first he thought he didn't at all. But
Ashroth quickly said, "Welcome, Mr. Techro, please have a seat." He still didn't look at Syphe, though.
Syphe sat down. Ashroth immediately hit him with a question: "How far did you get in the reconstruction of
Midgar?"
"We were almost ready to start seriously re-laying the important buildings," Syphe answered thruthfully.
"I see. Then I don't think it's worth trying the project again, especially since something like that explosion
might happen again. Instead, I want everything moved to Mideel. We're making that our new base of
operations. We will tear down Mideel and in its place construct Midgar 2. The LifeStream is very abundant
there, and we'll be able to generate a lot of Mako."
Syphe really had a problem with that. He hadn't liked it when Shinra had taken Mideel, and now they were
going to destroy it and the homes of everyone who lived there.
"Sir-" he began to object.
"Was there something else, Mr. Techro?" Ashroth asked with an edge in his voice.
Syphe struggled to object. He couldn't do it. He sighed internally at his weakness and said, "No, sir."
"Dismissed," Ashroth said decisively.
Syphe wordlessly stood up and left. He went to give the orders. He hated himself.
Cloud stood at his favorite place on the chocobo farm, the high deck overlooking the vast Midgar Plains,
facing toward the east so that he could always watch the sunset. There was a light breeze this evening,
which comforted Cloud's tired body and helped ease the discomfort of wearing his old mercenary outfit. He
had been used to the suit's feel for what seemed like his whole life, but now that he had gotten out of the
habit of wearing it, it was like getting used to it all over again. He sighed deeply as he pondered the recent
momentus events.
He heard soft footsteps behind him, and something deep in his mind told him indesputably that it was Tifa.
He was right. She came and stood next to him. "Strange things," she said quietly. The mood was mutual.
Cloud knew she was talking about the chaos that had erupted in the world recently.
Cloud nodded. "I thought we were done. Now it's like everything we did was just undone, and never
happened. Sometimes I wonder if it's still worth fighting... or if I should just let it go. We've all already done
more than our share."
"If we don't fight, who will?" Tifa asked wisely.
"I know," Cloud agreed. "But it just doesn't seem fair. If only we could be done with it. Sometimes I wonder if
we were destined to fight our whole lives. I wonder if that's the way it is."
"Destiny doesn't exist," Tifa said firmly. "I'm sure of that. It's one of the few things I'm sure of now."
Cloud was sort of comforted by her assurances. He knew he believed it too. It just seemed like something
was holding onto him and not letting him live without having to fight.
"Maybe someday... this will be done..."
The next day, Cloud called everyone together. He had been thinking last night, and he was sure of what they
should do now.
"I know what we need to do," Cloud told everyone when they were assembled. "We have to make one more
final strike against Shinra. We have to end them here and now, or they'll haunt us forever. We have to
destroy everything they have left if we ever want the world to be free of them. Now is when they're weak. We
should go ahead and end it."
Tifa was looking at him with a sort of curious expression on her face, he noticed. He wondered if she was
thinking that he was acting strange. He wished he was perceptive, like she was. She seemed to be able to
read people's faces amazingly well sometimes.
"I like it," Barret said with a grin. He clapped Cloud on the shoulder. "I'm glad somebody else thinks we gotta
end 'em too! Let's do this!"
"We can't just throw all precaution into the wind," Red XIII argued. "I don't think such haste would be wise.
We would be better off trying to take a strategic appraoch- for example, cut off their resources, then let them
die out themselves. People don't have to die that way."
"It's too risky," Cloud shook his head. "We don't know exactly what resources Shinra has. It would be better
to take them out once and for all."
"You've got something else in this," said Vincent. "You've got a driving motive. You want to get rid of Shinra
at this point in time especially. Why?"
Cloud was startled. He had thought Tifa was perceptive; Vincent was obviously even more so. The firmness
with which he stated Cloud's feelings was shocking, especially since he was right.
Cloud sighed deeply, and figured he may as well explain what was on his mind. "We're never going to see the
end of fighting if we don't end Shinra," he said quietly. "I want to be done with it all. I don't ever want to get
into something like the Meteor incident again. I've had enough of that, my life is complete, and I don't want
to do more."
"We have a responsibility," Red said sympathetically. "I am the guardian of Cosmo Canyon, but I have come
here to fulfill it. It is what we must do."
"I know," Cloud agreed. "But I want it to be over as soon as possible."
"What about that other Sephiroth guy?" Cid asked.
"We'll be able to deal with him much better when we don't have Shinra to worry about at the same time,"
Cloud reasoned.
"But isn't Sepheros a greater threat?" Reeve asked through Cait Sith.
"Yes, that's why we need to be able to concentrate on him without Shinra getting in the way," Cloud
explained.
"But what if Sepheros is in the way of getting rid of Shinra?" asked Cid.
"Stop!" Tifa suddenly demanded, standing up from where she had been thinking solemnly the whole time.
She turned to Cloud. "We made Cloud the leader. I trust him, and I always will. If we made him the leader, we
better go by it."
Cloud was a little startled by Tifa's intense feeling about it. She usually didn't get this caught up in such
matters, even things such as Meteor. She was usually down to earth, thoughtful, and reserved. Such
directness wasn't really like her. But then, everyone has their unseen sides.
"She's right, of course," Red decided.
Vincent nodded. "Guess so," Cid shrugged.
"You're right," Cait Sith nodded.
"This is confusing," said Hanshi.
Cloud had forgotten Hanshi was there. He had been quietly regarding the argument without much interest.
"Why?" asked Cloud.
"Because, you people talk too much. Why don't you just go attack Shinra? It's that simple."
"Well, we need to plan-"
"Plan on the way," Hanshi scoffed. He got up and headed for the buggy. Cloud couldn't help but crack a
smile at Hanshi's strangeness. Everything he did was amusing somehow or another.
Yuffie giggled. "He's cute," she remarked, and was the first to follow Hanshi outside. It was time to put an
end to the reign of Shinra once and for all.
The buggy blazed across the Midgar Plains once again, this time for what Cloud hoped would be the last
assault he'd ever have to make on Shinra HQ. He was getting rather tired of blowing apart this building.
But something didn't seem right. There was no action in the base. Usually, as they approached, there were
tanks and soldiers swarming around the area by the time they got close because the Shinra would pick them
up on radar- but there was no one. Not even repair workers fixing the damage from the last attack.
Cloud parked the buggy right next to the entrance to Shinra HQ, and everyone jumped out.
"The hell's goin on?!" Barret yelled angrily. "They ain't even here!"
"We don't know that for sure," Elena mused, as she approached the large, wide doors leading inside Shinra
HQ. Cloud realized that she and the other turks had changed into more appropriate clothes for action. She
was now wearing a short leather skirt similar to Tifa's and a black tank-top. Cloud hadn't ever really thought
about it, but Elena was pretty attractive.
Reno and Rude had changed too- but they didn't really get adventuring attire. Reno wore a light blue
Hawaian-looking button-up shirt and baggy, loose-fitting jean shorts, and Rude looked ridiculous in his
rambo-style outfit. Cloud almost laughed. The two of them seemed to have lost all trace of intelligence after
being neglected by Supreme General Ashroth.
But that wasn't the first thing on Cloud's mind, and he turned his attention back to the Shinra base.
"It's deserted," Hanshi shrugged. "We'll have to go home and wait to find out where their new base is."
Cloud shook his head. "We're going to investigate first. Come on." He lead the way inside the base, and,
weapons at the ready, the companions began a search of the building. There was nothing. Not a single life
form to be found other than the spiders that had built massive webs across the abandoned hallways. Cloud
wondered how long the building had been like this.
The companions eventually split up, and Cloud wandered into a portion of the building that was not lit. He
was forced to continually cast fire spells in order to see. He searched everywhere for some sort of torch to
light, but of course the Shinra didn't use torches.
Finally, he came into a room with large oak doors leading into it. Cloud chopped a chunk off with the Ultima
Weapon and lit it on fire. It was good enough.
He examined the dark room. There were light switches, but the power had apparently been cut off. There were
filing cabinets all over the place, and lots of strange looking plethoras of wierd chemical-mixing equipment,
pitri dishes, and other scientific perephinelia. He guessed it was probably Hojo's laboratory. Perhaps he
could find something useful here.
Cloud walked up to one of the filing cabinets and tried to open it, but it was locked shut. That wasn't a
problem, however- he simply slashed the whole set of cabinets to pieces and searched the wreckage.
Everything had been taken out. Nothing remained but empty folders.
Cloud methodically went from cabinet to cabinet, hoping that something would have been missed. After half
an hour of searching, he had found nothing, and had ransacked all the cabinets. Tired and frustrated he
turned to leave, but saw Elena walking slowly through the doorway and looking around. He hadn't
recognized her at first; he wasn't used to seeing her in clothes other than a posh suit.
"You're making an aweful mess," she complained with disgust.
"Sorry," Cloud shrugged. "The cabinets were locked. I think this is Hojo's lab, and I thought there might be
something useful in them. Everything's been taken out, though."
Elena nodded. "So you checked all of them?"
' "Yep," Cloud confirmed. "There's nothing here. I was just about to leave."
"What about that door?" Elena asked, pointing behind Cloud. Cloud turned around and saw that in the wall
behind him was the faint outline of a door, exactly the same color as the wall. He scratched his head in
puzzlement.
"How'd you see that so quick?" he asked. The door was quite well camouflaged.
"You have to be attentive to details when you're a turk," Elena smiled. She went up to the door. "It doesn't
seem to have a knob," she mused. She gave it a push. Nothing. Cloud offered his help, but the door still
wouldn't budge.
"Damn," Elena muttered, completely exhausted. "How are you supposed to get that thing open?!"
"Stand back," Cloud instructed. She quickly moved out of the way as Cloud raised the Ultima Weapon above
his head and sent it crashing down against the door. Sparks flew as his blade made contact, but the door
wasn't even dented.
"Okay," he muttered under his breath. "You wanna be like that, we'll do this the hard way. Stand back
further." Elena jumped out of the way.
Cloud gathered a deep breath, and then yelled "Flare!" The power of Flare began to gather at the door, and
when it had collected enough, the Flare exploded in a burst of bright, firey color. In the end, the door hadn't
budged.
Cloud yelled a very nasty curse at the top of his lungs, then screamed "Knights!" It was probably the only
way. Everything around Cloud and Elena became blurry, fluxuating with many bright colors, and gigantic
knights began to appear. Each one smashed his massive weapon against the door- and each on put a bit of a
dent in it. After the twelfth knight had clashed with the door, it was almost smashed off its hinges. The final
knight, Arthur, stood up, raising Excalibur above his head, and flung it with all his might against the door.
Finally, the door broke off its hinges and crashed into the room, and the magic faded away.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Elena screamed at Cloud.
"Sorry," Cloud apolagized, "I was a little caught up in trying to break it down. But, now we've done that, so
let's see what's in there."
The two of them walked slowly out onto a large wooden platform in a small cave. It was lit here, so Cloud put
out his torch by quickly casting Ice on it and then tossed the torch away. He and Elena examined their
surroundings. Next to the platform, a monorail stretched out into a long tunnel, and on it sat a strange
looking vehicle with rocked thrusters in the middle that faced both forwards and backwards. In fact, the
whole thing was entirely symetrical, obviously intended to go backwards and forewards.
"Shall we go?" asked Cloud.
"Sure," Elena shrugged. They went up to the little pod-like vehicle and stepped inside. There were no
seatbelts, so Cloud guessed it would probably not be a very fast ride. There was a lever in the center of the
pod, which Cloud pulled as soon as the two of them were seated.
The jolt was extreme. The afterburners on the vehicle flared up with the force of Ultima, sending the pod
blazing along the track, going all the way from 0-130 MHP in the first second of its travel. Cloud and Elena
were thrown painfully to the back of the pod and landed in a rumpled heap, Cloud on top of Elena.
"Sorry," he mumbled, and got up. The ride was smooth now, so it felt like they weren't even moving.
"Not your fault," Elena laughed.
Cloud looked out the transparent top half of the pod. The walls were solid stone, not well chiseled, and were
flying by at an extremely fast pace. About a minute later, the pod came to a screeching halt as the
afterburners suddenly stopped flaring on the one side and started on the other, a very effective form of
braking. The door opened automatically.
Cloud and Elena stepped out onto another wooden platform in an area identical to the one where they had
gotten on except that the rail ended on the opposite end of the room and stretched off backwards, so Cloud
knew that they hadn't just gone in a big circle. There was another door here, clearly defined against the stone
walls. It didn't have a knob either, but easily pushed open.
What Cloud saw then startled him more than anything else he had seen in his life. Elena gasped and muttered
a curse under her breath, and Cloud proceed towards the horrifying sight, half expecting that his death was
imminent, but forced to investigate out of pure and extreme curiosity.
Barret was getting grumpy. He was tired of mucking around in this old stupid base. He was sitting around on
an old, empty safe when Cid, Vincent, Cait Sith, and Red walked in.
"I'm sick a this," Cid muttered and slumped down next to Barret.
"Me too," Barret agreed.
"It does appear to be a somewhat futile search," Red admitted. "But it was not unwise to try."
Tifa, Yuffie, Hanshi, Rude, and Reno then walked in after them. "This is really stupid," Hanshi complained.
"I'm bored," Yuffie agreed.
"I think it's about time to end the search," Tifa summed up. "Who's not here? I don't see Cloud... or Elena.
That's it. I wonder where they are?"
At that moment, Cloud and Elena came rushing into the room as though being chased.
"Something's up!" Cloud exclaimed. "We found Hojo's lab... and a tunnel that lead all the way to a cave
under Midgar!"
"You walked all that way?!" Tifa asked in disbelief.
"No, there was this vehicle on a rail that took you there really fast..." Elena explained.
"And it was this big cloning laboratory... probably Hojo's! And you wouldn't believe what we found there!"
"So what the hell is it?" Barret asked impatiently.
"Sephiroth clones!" Cloud said excitedly. "Hundreds of them! All lined in rows up along one of the walls, in
these big glass pods!"
Elena nodded quietly, her eyes distant.
"Who's Sephiroth?" asked Hanshi.
"I'll explain later," Cloud brushed him off. "We found something else. Something interesting. The clone lab,
not to mention Hojo's lab in this base, have been ransacked and all files were taken out- but they missed this
one. It was under a desk."
Elena took a little paper out of her pocket and read it aloud-
________________________________________________________________________
The Project is proceeding well. We are formulating plans, and soon, we should be strong enough to control
the world. I am still trying to find a way to complete the side operation of the Project, though- getting behind
my partner's back will not be easy. I will continue to update this information as I make progress.
________________________________________________________________________
"It ends there," Elena finished.
"Wierd," Tifa mused.
"Why doesn't he talk about anything directly in there?" Yuffie asked in annoyance.
"In case someone finds it, just like us, probably," Elena shrugged.
"Well, I say we get out of here. There's nothing more to do," Cait Sith suggested.
"I guess not," Cloud agreed. "But there's still one place we didn't search: The roof. We need to look
everywhere."
"The roof?" Hanshi complained with disgust. "What the hell would be on the roof?"
"Possibly clues as to why this base is abandoned," Red offered.
"Let's just get it over with," Cid mumbled, and they got up and headed for the stairwell that led to the roof.
Out on the wide, flat roof of Shinra HQ, they examined the area a bit, then started fanning out. The search
was soon interrupted, however.
"You!" yelled a voice from behind them. Everyone spun around, they're hands on their weapons. There,
hovering a few feet above the ground, was Sepheros.
"I see you've come to search the ruins of the base, just as I have," Sepheros said emotionlessly.
"You didn't cause this?" Vincent asked in response.
"Of course not," Sepheros shrugged. "They have shields that protect them from my power now. And you
do, too. That's why I'll have to take you out the old fashioned way."
Sepheros drew his Murasame and began to hover slowly towards the group. No one knew it except Sepheros
and Cloud, but the focus was really on the two of them. Cloud hated Sephiroth the most, and Sepheros hated
Cloud the most. The clash could only be between them.
Cloud took the Ultima Weapon in both hands and held it up. "Stay out of it, guys," he ordered. It wasn't a
suggestion, it was an order, and the most serious one he had ever given. No one said anything, but just
stared in awe as he went to meet Sepheros.
Sepheros settled to the ground. "A sword duel, then," he nodded.
"En guarde," Cloud acknowledged, and without further ado, the two of them clashed.
It was like the meeting of two tidal waves. Both extremely powerful and extremely skilled swordsmen, the two
of them seemed invincible against eachother's heavy but precise slashes, like the fight was an impossible one
to end. As the two mighty blades clashed, sparks flew through the air, sometimes coming far enough to land
on the companions who sat and watched the cataclysmic duel in utter silence.
Cloud blocked high, slashed low, was blocked, tried to kick Sepheros with his leg opposite his sword arm;
Sepheros leapt back out of the way, thrusted at Cloud. The battle seemed to rage in favor of neither one, until
Cloud suddenly leapt into the air, yelled, "Meteorain!" and showered burning rocks onto Sepheros. While
this attack did little to harm him, Sepheros was momentarily stunned, and Cloud used it to his advantage,
coming back with an onslaught of furious slashes that Sepheros was hard-pressed to block. Finally, Cloud
disarmed his opponent, and sent him careening backwards with a well-aimed kick to the chin. Sepheros lay
on the ground, looking up at his spikey-haired opponent. He was breathing heavily, his eyes burning, his
fists clenched, his nostrils flaring, his body shaking.
"AAAAAAHH!!!" Sepheros began to scream and then, like a rocket being fired from its launch pad, he shot
into the sky, a blaze of green flames streaming from behind him as he flew.
"Temper, temper," Hanshi muttered. No one had time to respond, though, as the earth began to shake. Blasts
of green energy began to fly in every direction from where Sepheros hovered in the air; they would meet the
ground and explode into huge energy reactions, and sent huge cracks crawling through the earth's crust,
with rivers of LifeStream flowing through them. Shinra HQ began to collapse; the companions ran to the edge
of the roof and leapt. Fortunately, it was not a particularly high building, and they landed safely.
But Sepheros's rage continued to shatter the earth. Cracks were building everywhere, and the shaking of the
earth began to separate the companions. It grew so intense that Cloud could no longer see where he was
going, and he ran aimlessly, praying he could escape the tantrum. Finally, everything stopped. The earth was
calm, Cloud's body no longer shook furiously, and he was able to collect himself. It took a minute to get used
to not being vibrated so intensely that he was unable to see anything ahead of him.
Cloud looked into the sky, and Sepheros was gone. Had he been killed? It was possible. Perhaps the tantrum
had completely destroyed him because of its insane power... perhaps.
He stood up and surveyed the surroundings, and realized what had happened. Facing north, there was a
crack in front of him and to his right- blocking his path southward to the chocobo farm, and leaving the only
available directions north and east.
He turned around. Elena, Barret, and Reno were scattered nearby, and were recovering as well as he was.
Across the gap in front of him stood Tifa, Hanshi, Yuffie, and Rude, who were collecting themselves. Cloud
looked to his right and saw that Cid, Vincent, Red, and Cait Sith were all on that side, able to head north,
south, or west, just not east- not towards the rest of their companions.
Everyone came as close to the edge of the gaps as they could, right where all three met. "What are we going
to do?!" Cloud shouted across.
"You're the leader!" was the reply he got from several people simultaneously.
"Just hold on a sec!" Cloud sat down and thought a bit, and then came up with a plan. He stood up again.
"We'll go north to the coast!" he explained loudly. "I want the group who can go west to head for Junon! Get
a ship there, and sail to the north coast, and pick us up! The other group, head east and see if you can find a
way around this crack so you can come up north with us! Move out!" Everyone called back their agreement,
and began to move.
Cloud turned to his group. "Okay, guys," he said wearily, "Let's get moving."
Sephiroth was in absolute bafflement. He didn't understand what had happend to Sepheros- the insane,
uncontrollable flury of raw power had taken him completely by surprise. The problem was that Sepheros had
personality traits that Sephiroth did not, such as a temper, and the ability to be amused- and Sephiroth
understood that perfectly, because he was Sepheros. It was frustrating, feeling feelings that were not his
own and yet came from him. It was a concept no mind in the universe other than Sephiroth's could
understand- Sepheros did not understand it, but Sepheros's mind was Sephiroth's mind, so he knew it and
could explain it perfectly- he just didn't understand it. Even that was a concept that only Sephiroth could
conprehend, and Sepheros not, thus restarting this vicious cycle of absolutely logical nonsense.
Sepheros didn't know where he was when he first awoke from the shock of having gone out of control. He
scanned his surroundings, which were slightly off balance in his vision, and realized eventually that he had
blown himself all the way to Corel. In fact, he was hovering right over the town. Now that he knew where he
was, he collected himself.
He was going to have to make sure that did not happen again, to get control over himself. First, though, he
needed a place to think these things through. A lair, of sorts.
Scanning the area, his hawk-level vision picked up a cave in one of the mountains near Corel that looked
quite uninhabited due to its high altitute. He flew down to the level of the mountains and landed inside the
place he would call home. He would meditate on what had happened, now, and then resume his search for
Cloud and his other enemies.
The Midgar plains were very hot around this time of year, even though they were a fair bit above the
equator. There was a total lack of vegetation other than seemingly endless fields of tall brown grass and the
occaisional shrubby tree, usually no taller than Cloud was himself, and a poor umbrella from the sun's rays.
So, walking slowly but surely across the barren plains, Cloud, Barret, Elena, and Reno chatted a bit as they
went.
"Why do you suppose Sephiroth acted up like that?" Elena inquired.
"He's not exactly Sephiroth," Cloud pointed out. "He's called Sepheros now. And as for the outburst, I'd say
he probably just lost his temper and went out of control. He's got a lot of power, perhaps more than he
knows how to use at this point."
"An if he ever does, all hell breaks loose," Barret added ominously.
"On the other hand, maybe he can't use it," Reno suggested. "Maybe it only happens when he's out of
control."
Elena was startled that Reno had offered such an insightful comment. She was happy, though, and it also
proved a theory of hers- that Reno and Rude only acted like idiots when around eachother. She had thought
this may be the case for some time now, but had never been with one and not the other for more than five
minutes. Now she saw that she had been right, and they weren't total bozos afterall. Maybe they'd even
shape up completely, now that they weren't under Shinra anymore. If that happened, it would be just like old
times, back when Tseng was around. Except that Tseng wouldn't be around. She sighed a heavy mental sigh.
"I wonder if it killed him," Cloud mused. "He wasn't in the air where he had been anymore when we came to,
but that doesn't mean he wasn't anywhere in the air."
"It sort of seems like it," Reno decided. "I mean, it seemed sort of like a last breath of destruction to take his
enemies with him. Sort of like on the last level of Star Fox 64."
Everyone looked at Reno like he was crazy. "Sorry," he muttered. Well, maybe he'll always be a little childish,
but I sort of like him that way, Elena thought to herself.
"You can talk about video games if you want to," Elena shrugged.
"Cool!" Reno exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about this video game series called Final Force, there are like
eight installments and the ninth is just about to come out-"
"Yes, a hundred times, Reno," Elena laughed.
"Nuh-uh, there are only eight so far!" Reno argued. Even Cloud cracked up about that.
"So how far d'ya think the coast is?" Barret asked with his attention aimed at Cloud. He wasn't into such idle
talk at a time like this, of course. Barret was all seriousness when things got rough, although he sometimes
entertained people without meaning to.
"It should only be a few days' walk," Cloud shrugged. "If only we had a vehicle, we could be there so fast..."
"Guess we better move fast," Barret nodded.
"Why's he called Sepheros now?" Elena suddenly turned the conversation all the way back to Sephiroth's
alter ego.
"It's tough to explain," Cloud said. "He's not exactly Sephiroth- but part of him is. He is genetically mixed
with other lives as well, but Sephiroth is the dominating life. The thing is, I know they're joined some other
way, too. Like their minds are one. I mean, Sepheros remembers everything that happened to Sephiroth- and
he wouldn't if it was just a simple genetic mixing."
"How d'ya know all that?" Barret asked in puzzlement.
"I don't exactly know," Cloud admitted. "But every time we fight, it's like I get these waves from his head into
mine. Like he's trying to show me what he is. I can almost feel his mind next to mine, or even with mine. And
that's what he's telling me- that he is Sephiroth, but more. Who else is in the mix, I don't know."
Reno turned up his nose in distaste. "I hate all that psychological stuff. Sooner or later he'll start messing
with your head."
"I don't think he can," Cloud argued. "I mean, I can see his mind, but it doesn't have any effect on me. I
doubt he could use it to control me- and besides, if he could, he would have already."
"I guess that's true," Reno admitted.
Sepheros's eyes opened. After hours of sitting in quiet thought, he had sorted some things out. He was
examing the fact that he existed in the first place, and more importantly, why and how he existed. He knew
that he was more than a simple genetic mix- and even that part of it was an anomaly, as he couldn't tell who
would have done this. Perhaps he would ask the one he had allied himself with. He seemed wise.
But for now, Sepheros knew one thing and one thing only: He must still avenge his father who was himself,
Sephiroth. He must destroy his own killer, Cloud Strife, the one who must not be alowed to live if the Events
were to be set in motion. If only he could manage to eliminate Cloud Strife, the Events would be easily done.
But not before.
Sepheros stood up, and walked slowly out to the ledge overlooking the Corel Mountains from his cave. He
removed his Murasame from the rock where he had "sheathed" it, placed it at his side, and lifted himself into
the air, heading for the Midgar plains.
This time, he would not fail.
Elena gritted her teeth as she fruriously spun the stick back and forth in her hands. She had been taught to
do this thousands of times, and yet not once had she managed it. It really pissed her off when she couldn't
do something many others could. She redoubled her efforts, but the stick only slipped out of her hand. She
stood up, yelled, and stamped on the stupid stick that refused to cooperate with her. Wasn't that what Shinra
was about, afterall? Stamping on anything that didn't cooperate with you? But wait, she wasn't in Shinra
anymore. Elena was always mad at herself for thinking like she was still in Shinra. She had to forget about
that, Shinra was the enemy now.
She sat down like a little girl whose parents wouldn't buy her the new doll she wanted and sulked for a while.
Cloud Barret, and Reno were off trying to construct a shelter out of raw materials such as wood and stone,
using a combination of Materia and their weapons as tools. Elena knew what they would do. They'd come
over there, be done their shelter, and cast Fire on the little pile of kindling she'd made to light it. Well, she
didn't want them to do that. She wanted to do it herself.
She turned around and furiously turned the stick back and forth between the palms of her hands once again.
It was just no good. The stick immediately broke. Elena slammed the two pieces down into the pile in
frustration.
She was just about to try it again when she heard a soft, masculine voice behind her: "Need some help?"
It was Cloud, she knew. But she'd never really heard him talk softly before. He had a comforting tone about
his voice when he talked like that, and it really enchanted Elena. In spite of this, she didn't want help.
"No thanks," she said simply, trying to mimic the calm serenity of his voice, but instead sounding like an
angry school girl.
Somehow, a sixth sense told Elena Cloud was cocking his head to the side and smiling at her. She turned her
head around to look at him, and he was.
"At least... not if it's any trouble," she added meekly. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to help her.
She'd never wanted anyone to help her before in her life. Why would it be different now? It pissed her off
almost as much as the uncooperative stick. And yet, she didn't really feel very pissed off about it.
"It's no trouble," Cloud shrugged. "Here, let me show you."
He knelt down behind her, reached over her shoulders, and put his hands on the backs of hers, then put
them around a new stick.
"You have to pace it like this," he said, and began to move her hands back and forth. "Don't get frustrated,
and don't try to twirl it harder if it isn't working."
Elena was breathing heavily. "Okay," she nodded uncomfortably. No, not uncomfortably- she was so
comfortable it came out sounding like she was uncomfortable. She wasn't comfortable with being this
comfortable around Cloud.
Cloud's motions gradually lessened, as he let Elena take over. Eventually, he removed his hands, but still
knelt closely behind her, watching over her shoulder. Finally, a small flame peeled up, and then gradually
grew into a blaze. The funny thing was, Elena felt proud of the fire, even though she'd had to be shown what
to do. Maybe being helped by others wasn't so bad afterall.
Cloud and Elena sat back on the lalf-logs that they had set up earlier around the kindling, staring into the
blaze for a bit. Elena looked up at Cloud. He looked so solemn and satisfied, sitting there, just staring into the
fire. He looked up to meet her gaze, probably sensing her looking at him. She looked away sharply,
embarrased. Elena wasn't used to embarrasment. Cloud made her feel strange.
"How are you such a content person?" Elena suddenly asked. "You've got all this stuff to worry about... and
sometimes you seem downright frustrated. Why are you so happy?"
Cloud smiled. "I thought I was a clone, created as nothing more than a mere scientific experiment. Then I
found out I wasn't- and it was such a good feeling. I understood and loved my past for the first time ever,
and it was great. That changed my whole outlook on the world. Sometimes something huge just happens to
you, and changes everything for you, and when it does, it's an incredible feeling. I don't think I'll ever be
truly depressed again."
Elena was mistified. She'd never thought about life that way. Be your best throughout life, and you'll be
rewarded was what she had always lived by. The idea of not having to do great things- but just to change
yourself- to turn your life around was an interesting one.
"How'd you find out?" she asked, wanting to know more.
"A friend of mine helped out. Probably the greatest friend I have. I owe so much to her."
"Aeris?" asked Elena.
Cloud felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
"No," he said quietly. "Tifa."
"Oh," Elena nodded. She'd been happy when he said it wasn't Aeris, but then sad when she found out it was
still a woman. Why?
And then she finally decided to accept it. Maybe this would the big change in her life. She needed other
people, she needed companionship, she needed love. And yes, she did have feelings for Cloud. She wanted
to tell him right then and there. She decided she would.
"Do you... like Tifa?" she asked. What? That wasn't what she wanted to say.
"Not like that," Cloud shook his head. "I don't think I ever will again, to be honest. I never knew it until she
was gone, but I was in love with Aeris. I'm not sure I can ever feel that way about another woman again. It
wasn't the kind of love you normally feel for another person."
That completely scared Elena away. She couldn't tell him after that. It would be too awkward for him.
After Reno and Barret finished moving a rather heavy log, they sat down to take a break for a bit. Reno
looked up, wondering where Cloud was. That was when he spied Cloud and Elena sitting together by the
camp fire, chatting idly. What had happened here? Had he missed something?
He was very mad. Elena had known him for ages now, and she had never sat around a campfire and chatted
idly with him. Cloud was her former enemy- they'd been friends for what, a day or two? And here they were,
spending time alone. And plus, Cloud had the nerve to leave the work to them, while he went and had a little
conversation. What was wrong with him? Reno wondered if Barret had noticed. He would undoubtedly be
outraged too.
"Look," Reno said in disgust to Barret, "Cloud ditched us, and he's just sittin around."
"Ya just noticed?" Barret asked in surprise. "Let 'em. The guy's been through a lot. If he's finally talkin to
ladies again, I ain't gonna stop him. He needs to get over Aeris." That was the annoying thing about Barret.
He was always so grumpy, and yet he had such a great heart at the times when it wasn't a good thing for
Reno.
Eventually, they all hit the sack for the night. Cloud was the last to fall asleep. He lay awake thinking of
Aeris. He made a descision. He would no longer try to keep Aeris barried in his mind. He would let the
thoughts come, freely, and they did. He wept for a time, then fell asleep and dreamt nightmares that were
nonsense except for one scene, the scene of Aeris's death, being played over and over again in his mind.
Sephiroth was in absolute bafflement. He didn't understand what had happend to Sepheros- the insane,
uncontrollable flury of raw power had taken him completely by surprise. The problem was that Sepheros had
personality traits that Sephiroth did not, such as a temper, and the ability to be amused- and Sephiroth
understood that perfectly, because he was Sepheros. It was frustrating, feeling feelings that were not his
own and yet came from him. It was a concept no mind in the universe other than Sephiroth's could
understand- Sepheros did not understand it, but Sepheros's mind was Sephiroth's mind, so he knew it and
could explain it perfectly- he just didn't understand it. Even that was a concept that only Sephiroth could
conprehend, and Sepheros not, thus restarting this vicious cycle of absolutely logical nonsense.
Sepheros didn't know where he was when he first awoke from the shock of having gone out of control. He
scanned his surroundings, which were slightly off balance in his vision, and realized eventually that he had
blown himself all the way to Corel. In fact, he was hovering right over the town. Now that he knew where he
was, he collected himself.
He was going to have to make sure that did not happen again, to get control over himself. First, though, he
needed a place to think these things through. A lair, of sorts.
Scanning the area, his hawk-level vision picked up a cave in one of the mountains near Corel that looked
quite uninhabited due to its high altitute. He flew down to the level of the mountains and landed inside the
place he would call home. He would meditate on what had happened, now, and then resume his search for
Cloud and his other enemies.
The Midgar plains were very hot around this time of year, even though they were a fair bit above the
equator. There was a total lack of vegetation other than seemingly endless fields of tall brown grass and the
occaisional shrubby tree, usually no taller than Cloud was himself, and a poor umbrella from the sun's rays.
So, walking slowly but surely across the barren plains, Cloud, Barret, Elena, and Reno chatted a bit as they
went.
"Why do you suppose Sephiroth acted up like that?" Elena inquired.
"He's not exactly Sephiroth," Cloud pointed out. "He's called Sepheros now. And as for the outburst, I'd say
he probably just lost his temper and went out of control. He's got a lot of power, perhaps more than he
knows how to use at this point."
"An if he ever does, all hell breaks loose," Barret added ominously.
"On the other hand, maybe he can't use it," Reno suggested. "Maybe it only happens when he's out of
control."
Elena was startled that Reno had offered such an insightful comment. She was happy, though, and it also
proved a theory of hers- that Reno and Rude only acted like idiots when around eachother. She had thought
this may be the case for some time now, but had never been with one and not the other for more than five
minutes. Now she saw that she had been right, and they weren't total bozos afterall. Maybe they'd even
shape up completely, now that they weren't under Shinra anymore. If that happened, it would be just like old
times, back when Tseng was around. Except that Tseng wouldn't be around. She sighed a heavy mental sigh.
"I wonder if it killed him," Cloud mused. "He wasn't in the air where he had been anymore when we came to,
but that doesn't mean he wasn't anywhere in the air."
"It sort of seems like it," Reno decided. "I mean, it seemed sort of like a last breath of destruction to take his
enemies with him. Sort of like on the last level of Star Fox 64."
Everyone looked at Reno like he was crazy. "Sorry," he muttered. Well, maybe he'll always be a little childish,
but I sort of like him that way, Elena thought to herself.
"You can talk about video games if you want to," Elena shrugged.
"Cool!" Reno exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about this video game series called Final Force, there are like
eight installments and the ninth is just about to come out-"
"Yes, a hundred times, Reno," Elena laughed.
"Nuh-uh, there are only eight so far!" Reno argued. Even Cloud cracked up about that.
"So how far d'ya think the coast is?" Barret asked with his attention aimed at Cloud. He wasn't into such idle
talk at a time like this, of course. Barret was all seriousness when things got rough, although he sometimes
entertained people without meaning to.
"It should only be a few days' walk," Cloud shrugged. "If only we had a vehicle, we could be there so fast..."
"Guess we better move fast," Barret nodded.
"Why's he called Sepheros now?" Elena suddenly turned the conversation all the way back to Sephiroth's
alter ego.
"It's tough to explain," Cloud said. "He's not exactly Sephiroth- but part of him is. He is genetically mixed
with other lives as well, but Sephiroth is the dominating life. The thing is, I know they're joined some other
way, too. Like their minds are one. I mean, Sepheros remembers everything that happened to Sephiroth- and
he wouldn't if it was just a simple genetic mixing."
"How d'ya know all that?" Barret asked in puzzlement.
"I don't exactly know," Cloud admitted. "But every time we fight, it's like I get these waves from his head into
mine. Like he's trying to show me what he is. I can almost feel his mind next to mine, or even with mine. And
that's what he's telling me- that he is Sephiroth, but more. Who else is in the mix, I don't know."
Reno turned up his nose in distaste. "I hate all that psychological stuff. Sooner or later he'll start messing
with your head."
"I don't think he can," Cloud argued. "I mean, I can see his mind, but it doesn't have any effect on me. I
doubt he could use it to control me- and besides, if he could, he would have already."
"I guess that's true," Reno admitted.
Sepheros's eyes opened. After hours of sitting in quiet thought, he had sorted some things out. He was
examing the fact that he existed in the first place, and more importantly, why and how he existed. He knew
that he was more than a simple genetic mix- and even that part of it was an anomaly, as he couldn't tell who
would have done this. Perhaps he would ask the one he had allied himself with. He seemed wise.
But for now, Sepheros knew one thing and one thing only: He must still avenge his father who was himself,
Sephiroth. He must destroy his own killer, Cloud Strife, the one who must not be alowed to live if the Events
were to be set in motion. If only he could manage to eliminate Cloud Strife, the Events would be easily done.
But not before.
Sepheros stood up, and walked slowly out to the ledge overlooking the Corel Mountains from his cave. He
removed his Murasame from the rock where he had "sheathed" it, placed it at his side, and lifted himself into
the air, heading for the Midgar plains.
This time, he would not fail.
Elena gritted her teeth as she fruriously spun the stick back and forth in her hands. She had been taught to
do this thousands of times, and yet not once had she managed it. It really pissed her off when she couldn't
do something many others could. She redoubled her efforts, but the stick only slipped out of her hand. She
stood up, yelled, and stamped on the stupid stick that refused to cooperate with her. Wasn't that what Shinra
was about, afterall? Stamping on anything that didn't cooperate with you? But wait, she wasn't in Shinra
anymore. Elena was always mad at herself for thinking like she was still in Shinra. She had to forget about
that, Shinra was the enemy now.
She sat down like a little girl whose parents wouldn't buy her the new doll she wanted and sulked for a while.
Cloud Barret, and Reno were off trying to construct a shelter out of raw materials such as wood and stone,
using a combination of Materia and their weapons as tools. Elena knew what they would do. They'd come
over there, be done their shelter, and cast Fire on the little pile of kindling she'd made to light it. Well, she
didn't want them to do that. She wanted to do it herself.
She turned around and furiously turned the stick back and forth between the palms of her hands once again.
It was just no good. The stick immediately broke. Elena slammed the two pieces down into the pile in
frustration.
She was just about to try it again when she heard a soft, masculine voice behind her: "Need some help?"
It was Cloud, she knew. But she'd never really heard him talk softly before. He had a comforting tone about
his voice when he talked like that, and it really enchanted Elena. In spite of this, she didn't want help.
"No thanks," she said simply, trying to mimic the calm serenity of his voice, but instead sounding like an
angry school girl.
Somehow, a sixth sense told Elena Cloud was cocking his head to the side and smiling at her. She turned her
head around to look at him, and he was.
"At least... not if it's any trouble," she added meekly. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to help her.
She'd never wanted anyone to help her before in her life. Why would it be different now? It pissed her off
almost as much as the uncooperative stick. And yet, she didn't really feel very pissed off about it.
"It's no trouble," Cloud shrugged. "Here, let me show you."
He knelt down behind her, reached over her shoulders, and put his hands on the backs of hers, then put
them around a new stick.
"You have to pace it like this," he said, and began to move her hands back and forth. "Don't get frustrated,
and don't try to twirl it harder if it isn't working."
Elena was breathing heavily. "Okay," she nodded uncomfortably. No, not uncomfortably- she was so
comfortable it came out sounding like she was uncomfortable. She wasn't comfortable with being this
comfortable around Cloud.
Cloud's motions gradually lessened, as he let Elena take over. Eventually, he removed his hands, but still
knelt closely behind her, watching over her shoulder. Finally, a small flame peeled up, and then gradually
grew into a blaze. The funny thing was, Elena felt proud of the fire, even though she'd had to be shown what
to do. Maybe being helped by others wasn't so bad afterall.
Cloud and Elena sat back on the lalf-logs that they had set up earlier around the kindling, staring into the
blaze for a bit. Elena looked up at Cloud. He looked so solemn and satisfied, sitting there, just staring into the
fire. He looked up to meet her gaze, probably sensing her looking at him. She looked away sharply,
embarrased. Elena wasn't used to embarrasment. Cloud made her feel strange.
"How are you such a content person?" Elena suddenly asked. "You've got all this stuff to worry about... and
sometimes you seem downright frustrated. Why are you so happy?"
Cloud smiled. "I thought I was a clone, created as nothing more than a mere scientific experiment. Then I
found out I wasn't- and it was such a good feeling. I understood and loved my past for the first time ever,
and it was great. That changed my whole outlook on the world. Sometimes something huge just happens to
you, and changes everything for you, and when it does, it's an incredible feeling. I don't think I'll ever be
truly depressed again."
Elena was mistified. She'd never thought about life that way. Be your best throughout life, and you'll be
rewarded was what she had always lived by. The idea of not having to do great things- but just to change
yourself- to turn your life around was an interesting one.
"How'd you find out?" she asked, wanting to know more.
"A friend of mine helped out. Probably the greatest friend I have. I owe so much to her."
"Aeris?" asked Elena.
Cloud felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
"No," he said quietly. "Tifa."
"Oh," Elena nodded. She'd been happy when he said it wasn't Aeris, but then sad when she found out it was
still a woman. Why?
And then she finally decided to accept it. Maybe this would the big change in her life. She needed other
people, she needed companionship, she needed love. And yes, she did have feelings for Cloud. She wanted
to tell him right then and there. She decided she would.
"Do you... like Tifa?" she asked. What? That wasn't what she wanted to say.
"Not like that," Cloud shook his head. "I don't think I ever will again, to be honest. I never knew it until she
was gone, but I was in love with Aeris. I'm not sure I can ever feel that way about another woman again. It
wasn't the kind of love you normally feel for another person."
That completely scared Elena away. She couldn't tell him after that. It would be too awkward for him.
After Reno and Barret finished moving a rather heavy log, they sat down to take a break for a bit. Reno
looked up, wondering where Cloud was. That was when he spied Cloud and Elena sitting together by the
camp fire, chatting idly. What had happened here? Had he missed something?
He was very mad. Elena had known him for ages now, and she had never sat around a campfire and chatted
idly with him. Cloud was her former enemy- they'd been friends for what, a day or two? And here they were,
spending time alone. And plus, Cloud had the nerve to leave the work to them, while he went and had a little
conversation. What was wrong with him? Reno wondered if Barret had noticed. He would undoubtedly be
outraged too.
"Look," Reno said in disgust to Barret, "Cloud ditched us, and he's just sittin around."
"Ya just noticed?" Barret asked in surprise. "Let 'em. The guy's been through a lot. If he's finally talkin to
ladies again, I ain't gonna stop him. He needs to get over Aeris." That was the annoying thing about Barret.
He was always so grumpy, and yet he had such a great heart at the times when it wasn't a good thing for
Reno.
Eventually, they all hit the sack for the night. Cloud was the last to fall asleep. He lay awake thinking of
Aeris. He made a descision. He would no longer try to keep Aeris barried in his mind. He would let the
thoughts come, freely, and they did. He wept for a time, then fell asleep and dreamt nightmares that were
nonsense except for one scene, the scene of Aeris's death, being played over and over again in his mind.
The four of them awoke early the next morning, ready to start afresh. Cloud was relieved to be awake and out
of his nightmares, no longer having to remember the horrible scene that had taken Aeris away from him. It
took a while, but he eventually forgot it as he chatted with the others over a breakfast of chocobo eggs.
Cloud had always loved chocobo eggs, and he dug right in.
Reno, on the other hand, looked positively grumpy. Not without reason, either. He eyed Cloud and Elena
suspiciously for a while, seeing how close they were, if they looked at eachother, and basically looking for as
many signs as he could.
"I hope that it's like this for the rest of the trip," Elena commented while they ate.
Of course you do, Reno though bitterly to himself. You're the one having all the romance. Leave me alone
with Barret to talk to. Thanks. What am I supposed to do, fall in love with him?
"What's wrong, Reno?" Elena asked with concern, seeming to notice his discomfort.
"I dunno," Reno muttered. "Didn't sleep too good last night."
"That sucks," Elena sympathized. "Guess you're not an under-the-stars kind of guy."
No, not like Cloud is, is that why you like him so much better?
"Well, we better get movin," Barret changed the subject. "If they get that ship to the coast before we're there,
they'll pass right by where we end up, an then we won't have no ride home."
Cloud nodded. "I hope we're not at this too long, or Shinra may cause some trouble before we can do
anything about it."
"Do we really have to go so early?" Elena asked disappointedly. "I'd much rather stick around and chat for a
while."
"We gotta make good time," Barret shook his head.
"It's okay," Cloud shrugged. "We have pleanty of time, the others have longer to go to Junon then we have
to the coast, and they'll take a day or so to sail up to the coast. It won't matter if we spend another hour or so
here."
"Whatever," muttered Barret.
Elena beamed at Cloud. "Thanks, Cloud," she said sweetly.
Reno got up and walked a ways off of camp. "Gonna go for a little walk," he explained. No one seemed to
give it a second thought. If Cloud had done the same thing, Elena would have immediately jumped up and
offered to go with him. It was the most frustrating thing in the world.
He walked slowly through the dew-sodden grasses of the Midgar Plains, kicking at the ground every other
step and thinking about Elena. Maybe he should just try not to care. Find some other girl who would like him
more than her former enemy.
But he couldn't just make himself not care about Elena- he had been in love with her ever since they first met.
Why he had never told her, he didn't know at all. It irritated him tremendously. He wondered why she didn't
seem to like him very much. He was always so nice to her. Wasn't he? Was he doing something wrong?
Reno's thought wandered back to the old days of the turks, back when President Shinra was still around.
How he longed for those days to return. Back then, they were fearsome, united under their strong leader
Tseng. Reno had always looked up to Tseng, and as soon as he was gone, there was no more meaning for
the turks except to get revenge on his killers. But now that was gone, too, because they'd allied themselves
with them. He couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe he should leave, right now, just leave. Only then he would
never see Elena anymore, and even though she was probably out of his reach, he couldn't live with that
thought.
He turned around to head back to camp.
Barret had gone off to search for some food rations to bring on the journey with them- more for the sake of
letting Cloud be alone with Elena. He wondered how far the two of them were going. He'd have to ask Cloud
about it sometime.
Cloud and Elena sat together on a fairly large rock, looking at the sunrise. "I love sunrises," Cloud was telling
her. "And sunsets. I don't know why, but they've always been something special for me."
"That's really neat," Elena complemented. She only wished this could be a more officially romantic thing. She
imagined how nice it would be if Cloud's arm were around her shoulder and she were leaning her head on his.
But she didn't want to try to start anything. If he liked her back, which it sort of seemed like he did, then he'd
start it. It was the guy's job, afterall.
Barret looked at his watch and decided it was about time he got back. He just hoped he wouldn't interrupt
anything, but he doubted Cloud would be doing anything like that. It wasn't Cloud's style. He'd save it for a
time when they weren't in the middle of an adventure.
Barret didn't notice anything until he heard a twig snap behind him, then wheeled sharply around, and when
he saw the tall, silver-haired form of Sepheros standing behind him, he let out a curse at the top of his lungs
and began unloading his gatling gun. Unfortunately, Barret soon realized that Sepheros had cast Shield, and
his bullets meant nothing.
"Night," said Sepheros, and he smashed the butt of his Murasame into Barret's head, knocking him out. He
didn't want to kill Barret. It would be so much nicer when he awoke to find Cloud gutted to death.
Sepheros knew that Cloud must be nearby if Barret was there. He flew into the air to resume his search.
"Ah, it's starting to end," Cloud said disappointedly. "We should probably get going now. I wonder where
Ba-"
Cloud didn't finish his sentence, but instead stared forward, looking hard into the sunset.
"Cloud?" Elena asked in puzzlement. She looked where he was starting, then gasped. Cloud leapt up, the
Ultima Weapon drawn.
"Sepheros," Elena muttered in fear, as the muscular form of Sephiroth's legacy settled softly to the ground in
front of them.
"Cloud Strife," he whispered. "You've escaped me for the last time. This time, I swear I will defeat you."
"Come and get it," Cloud nodded, his eyes narrowing. He held the Ultima Weapon up in front of him.
Sepheros sneered. "Not this time, Spikes," he said maliciously. It was weird to hear someone who looked
exactly like Sephiroth make a humorous statement, even if it was lame. "I may not be able to use my powers
directly on you, but I've got an idea here," he finished.
He then shot up into the air at top speed, and yelled, "Fire 3!"
It wasn't just one Fire 3, though- with one casting, he started 10 blazes. The sun was so hot here that it had
already dried up most of the dew; what was left was immediately burned away by the intense heat of the
magical flames. A huge fire began to roar across the plains, heading straight for Cloud and Elena.
Cloud turned to run, but stopped as he saw Elena stand there, holding her hand out. He turned in puzzlement
to face her, and was about to tell her to run, when he heard her mutter "Shiva." Cloud didn't know that Elena
had a Shiva Materia, but he was pretty glad of it.
The mighty Shiva rose up from the earth, her frosty presence causing the grass around her to freeze over.
She spread her hands out, and in a flash, a huge blanket of ice spread over the flames, instantly quelling
them. Then she returned to the land of Summoned Monsters.
Sepheros floated down again. "I see you've found a counter yet again," he muttered. "That girl means
nothing to me, however. You and I, we must battle again."
Cloud nodded. "I agree. You'll have to stay out of this one, Elena."
"What?!" Elena yelled indignantly. "I've got to help you!"
"You can't," Cloud shook his head. "It's a personal thing. Sepheros and I have to settle this. Besides, there's
nothing you could do against that sword. Stay back."
Elena nodded reluctantly, and Cloud proceeded towards Sepheros.
If the first duel between the two was a cataclysm, the second was a cataclysm times a cataclysm. The two
blades seemed to be a couple of blurs as they clashed thunderously over and over again, spraying blue
sparks every which way on each impact.
Cloud wasn't prepared for Sepheros's new strategy, however. Sepheros began to use his ability to fly as an
advantage. He would dart quickly backwards, then fly forward with tremendous force before Cloud had time
to form a solid defense, which began to weaken him. Finally, Sepheros flipped over Cloud's head, and, still in
the air behind him, kicked him in the back of the head. Cloud tumbled to the ground. His head ached too
much to get up, and saw about six of Sepheros as he raised the Murasame above his head to deliver the final
strike.
But suddenly, six Elena's kicked the Murasame from each Sepheros's hand, sending it flying off, then used to
element of surprise to deal them a crushing roundhouse quick, stunning them long enough for the Elenas to
cast Cure 3 on Cloud.
Cloud leapt up, revived. Sepheros got up, too, though, and charged back into the fight. Cloud aimed an
overhead slash as Sepheros flew forwards, but Sepheros countered by slamming his fist into Cloud's wrist in
such a way that he let go of the Ultima Weapon, and it fell to the ground. Niether had time enough to try and
grab the weapon, and instead they continued hand to hand. Cloud's prowess at hand-to-hand combat was
not great, but Elena was in the fight now, and the two of them combined were too much for Sepheros. Finally,
beaten and bruised, Sepheros began to feel his anger heating up. His power was beginning to flow harder.
He couldn't let this happen again. If it did, it might completely destroy him. It was the most frustrating thing
to have this weakness when he was so incredibly powerful- but he had no choice.
"I'll see you another time, Cloud," Sepheros finally submitted, and flew into the air, heading west.
"You sure will," Cloud said as he watched Sepheros become a distant speck. He turned to Elena. "Thanks,
Elena," he said solemnly. "You did great." Elena was about to reach out for a handshake, but instead, Cloud
took her in an embrace. "I'm sorry we were enemies once."
"Me too," Elena whispered. She was too much in awe to say much else.
Ashroth stepped out of the large chopper and onto the fertile land of the Mideel Area. He looked around at
the paradise he had landed in, taking in the beautiful waves off the shore, feeling the pleasant sea breeze, and
enjoying the tropical climate. This was a wonderful place to restart Shinra. Midgar 2 would finally be built,
and it would be built here.
He stepped into the town of Mideel, followed by a troop of Shinra soldiers. "Go," he ordered. The soldiers
spread throughout the town, taking people from their homes and then burning them. Ashroth exited the town
again and watched from a high rock as Mideel burnt to the ground. He smiled in pleasure as he heard the
anguished cries of the people whose homes were being destroyed. He loved to have the power to cause
others pain. It was the ultimate form of dominance.
General Argad walked slowly up behind Ashroth. "Sir," he said with a robotic salute.
"What is it, general?" Ashroth asked with a slight hint of irritation. Argad would have to be careful.
"We've just confirmed reports that the members of AVALANCHE have gone missing," Argad reported. "I
thought you might want to know."
"Thank you, general," Ashroth nodded. "Is that all?"
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
"Yes, sir." Argad walked away in relief.
This was an intersting turn of events. Ashroth would have to ponder it for a while. But for now, he had
something else to attend to.
He walked back to the makeshift army camp that the Shinra had set up outside Mideel. "Where is colonel
Jeraz?" he demanded.
"I'll go get him for you, sir," a nearby private immediately offered.
"Make it quick," Ashroth ordered.
"Yes sir," the private nodded obediently, and rushed off to find Jeraz.
Ashroth waited for a minute or so before the colonel rushed out to see him. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he
asked with a salute.
"Yes, colonel," Ashroth nodded. He didn't look at Jeraz at all, of course. "I would like you to take care of a
little operation for me."
Sepheros landed in his cave in anger. He had failed to kill Cloud again, and it was beginning to annoy him. It
seemed ridiculous with all his incredible power that he could not kill a mere mortal man. But he couldn't. It
drove him nuts.
What he needed was a plan. He must think, how could he possible get to Cloud in a better way than direct
confrontation? He was Sephiroth, so he knew many things about Cloud. He searched Sephiroth's memories
for a clue. Then, suddenly, it hit upon him. There was one thing that he knew he could use against Cloud.
This time, the plan was foolproof. Sepheros walked to the edge of his cave, and then flew out into the world
yet again. It was time to create the weapon that would destroy Cloud once and for all.
Here ends Volume 1: The Perfect Warrior of the saga Final Fantasy VII: Beyond Apocalypse. The saga continues in Volume 2: The Rejoining.
VOLUME 1- THE PERFECT WARRIOR
PREFACE
Throughout time and space and the history of the universe, there have been great legends, legends of incredible events that nothing else has ever come close to equalling. They are the top teir of legends, the ultimate stories, the tales of the most incredible events the universe has ever faced. They are the final level of legendary stories. The Final Fantasies.
They are cronicled because of their value as stories, but also to remind us of things. To remind us to protect our earth, lest the abuse of its powers lead to the destruction of it, like in the first Final Fantasy. To remind us that hatred is the negative force, that only the light, the good, the caring, the opposite of hatred, can bring us happiness, like in the fourth Final Fantasy. And they remind us that self-sacrifice is the ultimate form of caring for others, like in the seventh Final Fantasy. These are only a few of the immortal lessons told to us through these incredible tales.
But none of these stories are ever spoken of again... does everyone not wonder what became of the four Light Warriors, or what Cecil and Rosa's children were like, or how the Planet changed after almost having been struck by the ultimate Black Magic? All these questions, and infinite others, remain unanswered.
Well, one story does live on, in this, the chronicles of what is in my opinion the greatest of the Final Fantasies. There is more to tell of this legend, and so, I give you the next chapter in this great saga, the saga of Final Fantasy VII.
And it is called Beyond Apocalypse.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this introduction is to set the story on its path and provide the reader with some backround information, so I'll narrate for a bit.
The residents of the Planet had always considered the important fulcrum in their world's timeline to be the year the Cetra died out- thus, that year was called 0 A.A., or After Ancients.
But then, an event so great it seemed to overshadow the extinction of the "Ancients" occured: The Coming of Meteor, and thus, a new fulcrum came about, starting from 0 B.A., or 0 Beyond Apocalypse.
Very few on the Planet fully understood what happened that day. The Meteor was destroyed. Holy was unleashed. The LifeStream fought for the planet. That was what was declared throughout the world to the public. But there was one thing that happened that day only a handful of people knew about. That day, the sacrifice of a woman saved the entire Planet from the ultimate destruction.
Now, Midgar, the capital of the world, lay in ruin, and Shinra, the formerly powerful multi-continental Mako-monopolizing force, was weakened signifigantly. Midgar had always been the center of Shinra, and without Midgar, they had little left. However, the company was still alive. An evacuation of the city had taken place before Meteor's near-impact, and
thus some of them had been saved. President Rufus, however, was killed in the attack of Diamond Weapon, and there were no heirs. A battle for control began.
It didn't last long, though. One character emerged with enough power and leadership to re-assemble the tattered company and begin an attempt to rebuild what they once had. This character was Supreme General Keer Ashroth, a model military man and a powerful public speaker. He had enough support within the company to have most of his competitors killed, and by the time any of them bothered to surrender, he was essentially in charge of the company, which was officially handed over to him three months after the Meteor-Holy clash. He quickly organized an effort to rebuild Midgar.
As Shinra began to revive itself, they went looking for resources and began to take over areas they expected would be of use in gaining resources for the reconstruction of Midgar. This was when they met with heavy resistance at Wu Tai. Commander Ashroth was not expecting to have to fight; Wu Tai had become little more than a tourist attraction recently, but somehow they were trying to resist Shinra. As situations tightened in the west, things were happening in the east, too- things far more important than any of the other affairs happening to the world at the time. Things that would begin to set in motion the greatest events in the history of the Planet. Perhaps even the universe. Things that would change the life of a young man yet again and bring to life his worst nightmares combined with his worst memories and fears. Things strange, unnatural, and yet, perhaps, for some reason, unavoidable...
But what happened to the small group of fighters who had defeated Sephiroth and helped destroy the Meteor? They had gone off and hid somewhere to avoid the mass attention that would come their way, and were currently residing peacefully and blissfully on an obscure chocobo farm.
To begin the story, let us take a look at some various excerpts from the diary of a key character in the next great chapter of Final Fantasy VII- one whose role in the story will not become great until far, far into it.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project- August 12th, the year 0 B.A.
We've finally started on the actual construction. Everything is going according to plan; I'm glad because High Commander Ashroth is personally overseeing this operation. And it's really not that fact that I mind; if he wants to be there in case something goes wrong, I understand that. I may not think it's necessary, but I understand it. It's how tightly they're watching us that's getting to me. They have these video cameras literally everywhere. It's like they think we're all going to rebel or something, or they expect us to slack off. My men never slack off, not while I'm around, and I find such actions on the Commander's part to be absolutely insulting. But I'm not going to argue about it. There's something about that guy; he sure doesn't act like a tyrant, but boy does he ever seem like one. The way he never even looks at you, like you're not good enough for him to pay more than a miniscule part of your attention to.
And you know what I think? I think this whole company is going nowhere. Back when Shinra first started up, those were the days- the days when everyone prospered from Mako and they hadn't built the plate. The days when everyone could see the sun. When everyone knew the difference between day and night. When no one was poor. Why couldn't it stay like that? But I guess that's a dream even Shinra can't pull off forever.
Recent events, though, have driven the company to become worse than just a power leech. Now it's a destroying machine. There was nothing left of Midgar except some debris, and little of it could be used to the advantage of the reconstruction of the city. Thus, Ashroth sent soldiers out everywhere- or the remainder of the soldiers, anyway- to take over mines and large resource centers. They've already taken the Mithril Mines south-west of the city, no one's alowed to pass through there anymore- it wasn't particularly traveled anyway because of the monsters, but now the only way to get o Midgar and Kalm is via boat or airship.
And even worse, they took over Mideel! The fact that that place is resting right on top of the largest Mako Source in the world is just too tempting for Shinra. They're going to build another Midgar there, and right now there are Shinra troops occupying the whole place! And the sad thing is, even though Midgar is in shambles and Shinra is less than a sixth of its original size, it's still strong enough to do this, and no one fights back. I don't know if I can go on with this, but without it, I don't have a job, and I can't do that to Shanna and the kids. I can only wonder what Ashroth will do next, and pray it isn't too much of a disaster.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project, November 19, 0 B.A.
I'm beginning to worry about something. Yesterday, while working around the area where Shinra Headquarters used to be, they started getting energy readouts that were way off the scale. We didn't really know what to do; the supervisor of the area was ready to dig at it, I'm glad I got there in time to stop him. He wasn't too happy about it. Anyway, we contacted Commander Ashroth, and he seemed very interested. They called in all these scientists to look at it, and did loads of tests on it. They kept coming and going in and out of Ashroth's office, and they all looked like they'd seen ghosts. I couldn't seem to get anyone to tell me what was happening. Finally, when the day was over, Ashroth told me only this: "Continue with the operation, but instead of the original plans, I want you to fence off the area around Shinra Headquarters and ignore it until further notification." It took a lot of guts, but I mustered up the courage to ask him why after that, half afraid it would cost me my job. The conversation we had after that will remain firm in my memory forever.
He only looked amused at my question. "I suppose that since you're the head engineer, you have a right to know," he conceded. I was astonished and relieved. Perhaps Ashroth is not the dictator I thought he was. Whatever the case, here's what he told me: "The scientists have discovered that the energy below the Shinra Headquarters area is the gathering together of an astronimically large amount of Mako energy. Basically, it's like having one gigantic materia created by fusing together several hundreds of other ones. They also said, though, that this power is incredibly unstable. To harness it with current technology would be utterly impossible, it's far too unpredictable."
I was a little puzzled by this, and he continued to explain: "How familiar are you with the way that Mako supplies energy, Techro?" he asked me. I told him I knew very little about it, except that there was only a limited amount of it. He smiled. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose. But this energy source we've found is different than normal Mako. Do you want to know why?" I nodded, totally enthralled with curiosity. What he told me then will puzzle me for as long as I live: "This power source, though a large amount of its matter is pure Mako, is a living organism." Naturally, I was dumbstruck. I asked if this meant all Mako was alive. "Certainly not," he laughed. "But it is created by the deaths of humans. That is all we know; when people die, they add to a force that we can tap into to produce Mako. It's still sort of sketchy, but we do know that much."
Now I couldn't help wonder at this point if this was really the right thing to do. If the deaths of people added to this force, was it really meant for the living to destroy it? Still, I was trapped in morbid fascination. I asked how this affected the power source under Shinra Headquarters. "Ah," Ashroth continued, "That is the key here, isn't it? What effects does it have on the power of Mako when the Mako is part of a living organism? The key is that this power will never run out. The Mako power can be used forever by this entity and it will never run out. Why? We have a theory. We expect that it is constantly recyclying itself, the way dead people are recycled into Mako- except that since this entity is Mako, all it must do is use more Mako to reproduce itself. However, we're also sensing a pulse in this thing- which means it has blood, a heart, lungs, and a brain. That means that it's also a normal, physical creature, but it seems that the power source is separately inside it- I suppose they could be fused, but I don't know."
There was still something I didn't understand, though. "But if you begin to use it up, it won't have anything to recycle," I pointed out.
"Now that's the real tricky part," Ashroth smirked. "The key is that it recycles its spent Mako. Every time it releases a charge of energy, which is happening constantly down there, it recycles what it just spent. What that means is that if we could harness its energy, we would have truly unlimited power from it. Never-ending Mako. We would use the Mako, it would return to where it came from. And there's so much Mako packed into it, it has enough power to supply abundant energy for ten Midgars."
"Amazing," I marveled. I still didn't like the idea of recyclying people to make energy, but it was undeniably fascinating stuff. "So why can't we channel this power?"
"Because it's alive. The problem is that although eratic, the power let off by this thing is controlled. We don't know when it will be supplying what energy. For example, if we want to power a machine with a certain amount of Mako, and this power source is giving off that amount, and we hook up to it, we have no way of keeping it at the right level of Mako. This being could simply decide to throw in three times the amount of Mako that we were using before for absolutely no reason and then destroy the machine; or it could suddenly produce only half the energy and the machine would no longer run. That's why we can't use it to power the new Midgar. It would eventually destroy the city, and possibly leave it without power for a while before that happened. That's why we're going to try to communicate with it."
I didn't want to hear anymore after that. I had had enough. It was absolutely boggling my mind- I didn't want this being to be harnessed like a machine. Ashroth did not care the slightest bit that this thing might have feelings. To him, it was a tool. But I didn't say anything. I'm not that strong.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the Midgar Reconstruction Project, December 14, 0 B.A.
The scientists have been reporting that the energy below the Shinra Headquarters area is building temendously. They say it's grown to more than four times its original power since the day it was discovered. They're talking about a possible explosion. If that happens, I sure hope we get a warning.
Excerpt from the diary of Syfe Techro, lead engineer of the now-deceased Midgar Reconstruction Project, January 30, 1 B.A.
I don't know what happened. Well I guess I do. It was that thing, of course, that creature with the enormous power. I was discussing plans for the reconstruction of City Hall when a scientist ran breathlessly into the room yelling, "Get everyone out! She's gonna blow!"
Well, needless to say we all got the hell out of there. Even as we evactuated, the ground began to erupt, and the dirt that got blown out of the groun would come pouring back into the craters to fill them up again. The whole earth shook, and debris flew everywhere. We lost some good men that day. I thank God I survived to come home to my wife and children.
But what is this thing? Of course the reconstruction project has been officially ended- everything we did was destroyed and there's no way we're risking going in there again- but Ashroth's last words to me were that he would be sending someone to investigate. God have mercy on their souls.
The story only begins to unfold here, and now I will leave it to its own ends without narration. So, in closing, I take you to a long-forgotten, little-known area where some of the most abominable experiments in the history of the Planet took place... the place that began the cataclysmic events of...
FINAL FANTASY VII: Beyond Apocalypse.
So many memories. Born with memories. It was strange to be born with memories.
The being understood the reason for his very life from the second he came into existance. He was so many different things, with so much knowledge from beings passed. But there was one conciousness that consumed him, that was the majority of him, but altered by that which had been added to him.
He was Sephiroth. And yet, not Sephiroth. Sephiroth was an individual separate from this entity- but they were one and the same in all respects. Same memories, same knowledge, but it went deeper than that; he thought what Sephiroth would think, felt what Sephiroth would feel; in essence, he was a recreation of everything Sephiroth with the addition of hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of little chunks of Mako, little chunks called Materia. Inside this Materia was every last drop of knowledge the Cetra possessed, and every last drop of their power in addition to that of Sephiroth. He was the Cetra, he was Sephiroth, he was Jenova- he was the great combination of ultimate forces of power. And rippling through his entire body, he felt that power. He knew everything that had happened- the fight with Cloud Strife and his companions, the Meteor, Holy, the LifeStream- everything was crystal clear in his memory.
And despite that he was all these things, he was Sephiroth most of all, because Sephiroth was the core of it all. When Sephiroth was finally killed by Cloud Strife's incredible, final Omnislash, he went to the LifeStream like any ordinary person would. But his mind was so powerful that he resisted the LifeStream, and would not be recycled to give the Planet life. He would not be part of the Planet, he could not be. And he eventually broke free from it, where it travelled underneath Shinra Headquarters, and there his counciousness emerged into the world again. And there, deep under Shinra Headquarters, was where he found a vast cave, filled with unimaginable research on cloning. And then he made a great, incredible discovery: His DNA. This lair contained thousands of samples of his DNA. He instantly bonded his mind and the Mako he brought with him from the LifeStream with his DNA, and the result was a fusion of incredible power that was not meant to be. No mind but Sephiroth's could have withstood it, and when it was done, the power he overflowed with was far greater than that of all the Cetra. Because Mako was part of him, he could constantly take more in from the LifeStream. Anyone who died could be drawn to Sephiroth and made part of him, and part of his endless power.
And there he was. Born again. Sephiroth's offspring, and yet Sephiroth. But he was a new Sephiroth, and so he named himself Sepheros, because, as his new knowledge of the Cetra told him, their language provided an "oth" as the suffix meaning "Of great power", but the suffix "os" meant "Of ultimate power". Fully concious and with a normal, physical body, he began to experiment with his powers. Because his body's DNA was mixed with Mako, he contained access to all the knowledge and power of the ancients to an unlimited extent. It was as though he had the power of all the Materia in the world combined, and never would spend all his power because he could always draw more to himself from the LifeStream. He could cast ten Ultimas at a time, each one ten times as powerful as an ordinary Ultima spell; he could mix the powers of two Materias, producing seemingly impossible, customized elements by mixing water and fire, earth and air, and anything else, creating dozens of new, ultra-powerful spells that would devastate enemies no matter what affinity they were based on. He was the ultimate in power. The indescructable. The perfect warrior.
And then he found the room. Something locked deep away forever, a disgusting abomination that payed tribute to the perversion of cloning: Hundreds and hundreds of identical copies of his body were lined up against the wall. They were all Sephiroths. Hojo, that fool. Sepheros saw now what he was trying to do all along. Once he saw that he had created a perfect soldier, this Sephiroth, this invincible legend, he duplicated the process hundreds of times. But why had these clones never been awakened? Sepheros turned to the file cabinets. Rummaging through all of Hojo's old files, he finally located what he was looking for, the record of the Sephiroth Army Project:
This is my greatest, most ambitous project to date. I, Proffessor Hojo, will soon go down in history as the man who created the perfect soldier, the ultimate warrior, the new secret weapon of the mighty Shinra. Now, I have created aproximately five-hundred clones of Sephiroth, the legendary warrior of SOLDIER. This army will be a force that no other can match- an incredible wave of destruction that cannot be countered by any force alive.
Unfortunately, one obstacle remains: I must find a way to alter their minds so that they will be utterly obedient to me. If I cannot do this, they are all a waste. But I will do research. I have some ideas I can try out.
It was the last update, and the date was just before Hojo was killed as he took control of the Sister Ray. This horrible experiment would never be completed.
But now, there were hundreds of Sephiroths... it took away his uniqueness. It was disgusting. There, sitting in front of him, was five hundred of himself. Should he destroy them?
No, of course not, it was okay. He wasn't them anymore. Now his body was different from them. They were the old Sephiroth. No, they were just Sephiroth, and he was Sepheros.
He smashed fist through one of the egg-like chambers that held the unliving clones, pulled out the limp body, and stripped it of its clothes, then put them on himself. He took the great Marasume from the clone as well, and he was now as his old self, his father, again. But now he was infinitely powerful. Now, there would be nothing to stop him from taking everything he wanted. Nothing to stop him from gaining what was rightfully his: The Planet.
Sepheros began to destroy the cave. His awesome powers did the job easily. Then, he began to break out above the surface of the planet, blowing away the earth and destroying what lay above him. Victorious and ready to finally breath the cool air of the world above once more, he flew swiftly upward toward the hole he had created and emerged into the world, ready to begin his new life.
He was Sephiroth. He was the Cetra. He was Mako. He was none of those. He was all of them. He was Sepheros. He was invincible. He was the perfect warrior. And he was ready to begin his quest.
I'll avenge you, Sephiroth.
A CHOCOBO FARM, EASTERN CONTINENT, SOUTHEAST OF MIDGAR
"You're sure you need to go?" Cloud asked sadly.
"Cloud, my father is finally standing up for himself," Yuffie explained. "I want to be there and help! Wu Tai will be great again."
Cloud smiled. It was all Yuffie had ever wanted for her homeland to return to its former glory. He understood this, but would miss her. They had become good friends over the course of their past adventure, sharing conversations only the two of them could share. Of course Cloud didn't have any romantic feelings for Yuffie- she was only sixteen, afterall- but he sure would miss her. Even her unfortunate tendancy to try and take things that didn't exactly belong to her. He decided he'd let the Lightning, Ice, and Fire Materia she had pocketed go. They had way more than one for everybody of each of these Materia because of their respawning process, so it certainly wouldn't hurt.
"Good luck," he smiled at her, bringing himself back to the present as she climbed onto a black chocobo specifically bred to take her across the mountains, since Shinra wasn't letting anyone through the Mithril Mines.
"Have fun," Tifa added.
"Kill some Shinra," Barret grinned.
The three of them waved as Yuffie rode off laughing at Barret's commenting and yelling affectionate farewells. Cloud hoped that she had remembered to say goodbye to the others, too. While they hadn't all been particularly close to her, she was a part of the team, and her absence would always be a void in it.
"Now I'm off," Barret said sadly, and swung onto his own black chocobo, Marlene on his shoulder.
"Good luck to you too, Barret," Cloud said warmly, extending a hand to his friend. Cloud and Barret didn't get along when they first met, but they were good friends now. With a wierd expression Barret shook Cloud's hand.
"Goodbye, Barret," Tifa said affectionately, giving him a big hug. Barret really didn't know how to respond to that. Then she turned to Marlene, who now sat in Barret's lap. "It was very brave of you to agree to go to Corel, Marlene," she said encouragingly.
"Daddy says we'll help the poor people there," Marlene said in all the innocent bliss of a young girl eager to be the best she can be. "So I think it will be fun!"
"That's great," Tifa smiled, noting the big grin on Barrett's face.
"Here's the twenty-thousand Gil," Cloud said, and loaded a heavy chest of cash in the Chocobo's back. The tall, proud chocobo didn't even seem to notice.
"You sure ya wanna send that much away?" Barrett asked for the millionth time.
"Barrett, this is just a small fraction of the money we made on the trip. Please, take it! We're richer than we could possibly ever have need for, and besides, it's going to help those people at Corel, so it's for a good cause."
Barrett nodded. "Allright, I guess twenty-thousand is the highest I'll go," he mused, "Just because it's helpin' those folks at Corel."
"Right," Cloud agreed.
Marlene and Barrett waved as they rode off. "Don't forget to write!" Marlene called back.
"We won't!" Tifa shouted reassuringly.
Cloud chuckled to himself as they rode off.
"What's so funny?" Tifa asked suspiciously.
"I really stuck forty-thousand in there," Cloud said miscievously. "I couldn't help it. The people in Corel are so poor, they need the money."
Tifa beamed at him. "You've come a lot way from the cold mercenary you were when I found you at the train station in Midgar," she commented. Cloud shrugged. "Well, finding out you're a clone and then finding out you're not afterall sort of makes you feel perpetually happy," he pointed out. His mood was genuine, too, and it felt great. Cloud had forgotten what it felt like to be really happy.
Tifa laughed. "I guess that's true."
"Well, that's two of us gone," Cloud returned the conversation to the subject of Barret leaving. "I wonder who's next. Personally, I just want to find some nice place to stay- maybe Mideel- and settle down for a while. Just lead a normal life. Can't see why they'd want to go get involved in the world again."
Tifa smiled. "I'm so happy I don't care what we do!" she announced. "If only Barrett and Yuffie weren't leaving... but we'll see them again after everything's calmed down. All they need to do is help out in their homelands."
"I wonder if Shinra will have learned their lesson," Cloud mused as they walked back to the farm. Red XIII emerged as they approached the doorway.
"Ah, Cloud and Tifa," he nodded. "The two of you are the last ones I must say farewell to."
Cloud and Tifa's shoulders slumped.
"I'm sorry," Red said apolagetically, noticing their motion. "But I am the guardian of Cosmo Canyon, and my presence is neccessary there."
"I guess so," Cloud admitted. "Well, see you around Red. It's been great."
Red nodded. "We will undoubtedly see one another again sometime in the future," he said solemnly. He shook paws with Cloud and Tifa, then ran off, howling a final farewell.
"That's three down," Cloud sighed as they entered the kitchen of the chocobo farm. Choco Billy was getting out a package of chocobo feed. He looked up as the two of them entered.
"Oh, Cloud, Tifa," he said in an offhand manner as he picked up the heavy bag. "I heard something on the radio this morning that I thought might interest you."
"Yeah?" Cloud asked curiously. Tifa didn't seem too interested, but payed attention to be polite. She really didn't want to get involved in the outside world right now either, even though they had agreed they would continue to fight against Shinra in the Midgar Area if necessary, at least as long as they were at the chocobo farm.
"They say that Shinra has moved forces toward Mideel and are occupying it," Billy explained. "Everyone expects they're going to try to turn Mideel into another Midgar, what with all the vast Mako resources under it."
Cloud groaned. He couldn't believe that Shinra was already causing this much trouble. First they block the path through the Mithril Mines, and now this. Next they'd take the Gold Saucer and turn it into an air base.
"Well," he sighed, "I guess that means I'm not going to Mideel."
"You can stay here as long as you like," Billy said reassuringly as he exited the house to feed the chocobos their lunch.
"Thanks," Cloud called. He decided to relax a little. He walked into the living room and flopped down wearily on the couch. It felt good to wear normal clothes. His mercenary/SOLDIER outfit was now hung up, hopefully for good, and the Ultima Weapon rested safaley under his matress, no longer strapped across his back. He could flop down comfortably now.
Instead of his old adventuring attire, he now wore a casual t-shirt and flannel button-up shirt over it with a pair of baggy shorts. It wasn't particularly nice whether around there, but it wasn't cold, and fortunately it was summer. Nice relaxing weather, just what he needed. He snapped on the radio, hoping to hear something encouraging.
"The Midgar Reconstruction Project has now been officially abandoned," the news reporter announced. "Details are sketchy, but suppossedly un unstable experimental power source located under the former headquarters of Shinra Inc. has detonated, leaving the area unsuitable for construction and destroying what little progress the wokers had already made. Shinra reports that they will soon send a team to investigate the situation and see if they can discover more information about the nature of this-"
Cloud switched it off. This was interesting news. Could it have been another of Hojo's odd experiments? Whatever the case, he didn't feel like hearing about Shinra right now. He was comfortable and happy to be through with his adventure. Shinra could wait for a while. Wait until there's another Sephiroth. Then, if that happened, he might pick up his sword again.
Instead, his thoughts drifted once again back to old times. He went over in his head for the millionth time all the amazing moments of the trip; the times that he and Tifa had spent chatting in the bar after she found him at the train station, his negotiations with Yuffie when they first found her, the feel of being among the first humans in the world to fly into outer space... the list was endless. Then, like a runner without shoes will inevitably stub his toe if he runs for long enough, Cloud's memories hit Aeris again. He had tried not to think about her anymore. The pain he had felt when her death first occured had been covered up now. He had barried it over with thoughts of vengeance upon her killer at first, but now he covered it with thoughts of joy at his success in stopping Meteor and the fact that his life was finally sorted out. But every so often, he accidentally dug the memories up again, like he was drawn there and could not resist it for too long. And every time it happened, every time he thought of his memories of Aeris, he felt all the pain go tumbling back into his chest, his head, his mind, that he had felt just as the death of Aeris took place. He had loved her- how much he did not know, and in what way- but all he knew now was that she was gone and would never come back.
But it was worst of all when one horrible sentence ran through his mind, a sentece he couldn't block off completely, a question he had to ask himself every now and then, though he despised it: What could I have done to prevent it?
Cloud knew that there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. And he also knew that if he had, the Planet probably would have been hit by Meteor, and then Sephiroth would have controlled everything. He knew that Aeris had to die. He just hated it, and was ashamed of the fact that he had almost done it himself.
And then, the last step in the horrible chain would kick in. His hatred of Aeris's killer would well up again. Sephiroth. The damned name of the man who tried to control the Planet, burnt down Nibelheim, killed Tifa's father, and murdered all of the innocent people still in Midgar at the near-impact of Meteor. He had done all this, but Cloud didn't care about that at times like this. He had killed Aeris, and for that he could never be forgiven, even though in doing it he defeated himself. Cloud could not force himself to forgive Sephiroth, only to understand that he should forgive him.
MIDGAR RUINS
"Hey Rude, do you still like Tifa?" Reno asked lazily as he picked his way over some rocks.
Elena rolled her eyes.
"Umm... well..." Rude shifted around uneasily, looking over at Elena.
"Oh, please," Elena threw her hands up in the air. "You two are so childish. I wish Tseng was still here. He was actually a man. You two sound like adolescant boys. Except that they're usually able to talk about the opposite sex without squirming."
"Fine," said Rude. "I'll just come out and say it. I like Tifa. Umm... a little. Maybe just sort of... heh umm... er..." Rude nervously pulled at his collar and undid his top shirt button.
Elena sighed and hung her head hopelessly.
"Well," said Reno, "I liked that Aeris girl, but I dunno where she is. She just wasn't with them anymore."
"Maybe she died," Elena suggested viciously.
"I think Yuffie was hot," Rude mused.
"She was like sixteen, you perv!" Reno replied in disgust.
"Hey, I'm not saying I wanna do it with her, I just think-"
"Shuttup!!" Elena screamed.
"Sorry," Reno and Rude muttered in unison.
They had been sent on a rather unpredictable mission, which was why they were so uneasy. Making light conversation was Reno and Rude's way of making light of the situation- but Elena would rather just go about it seriously. That was why the turks bounced off eachother so insanely.
"So," Elena began a new, more serious conversation, "What do you guys think we'll find at the ruins of Midgar?"
Reno shrugged. "I dunno. Hey, Rude, did you ever see Scarlet before she got killed in that robot? She was pretty hot."
"Yeah, but she was an ass."
"Definately an ass. A pretty good one, though-"
Elena felt like crying.
When the turks finally reached the ruins of Midgar, Elena was almost relieved at their creepy emptiness- perhaps Reno and Rude would be a little scared and stop talking about who was hot. She had had so much of that that she felt she could blow chunks if she heard it one more time. And they wouldn't even mention her! Elena knew she was a fairly decent looking girl. Why were they too nervous to talk about her in her presence?
They split up and started looking around. Elena hoped that Reno and Rude would take their work seriously. Ever since Tseng had been killed, there was no order in the turks. Reno and Rude were complete slackers. She was the only one left who tried to get any work done. It was far from the glory days under Tseng. If only he was still around...
Elena shook her head and told herself to concentrate on her work. There didn't seem to be anything abnormal about the ruins of Midgar- just the ruins of Midgar. That was when she almost fell in the hole.
It was huge. At least twenty yards across. And it looked like some sort of crater, except more like it had been made from the inside. Whatever the case, it looked like some enormously powerful blast had erupted through the ground here. She ran back to find Reno and Rude and show them her discovery. She found them sitting behind a heap of trash, having another conversation.
"Man, Elena's the hottest of them all," Reno was saying.
"I know," Rude agreed. "She's gorgeous."
Elena snickered silently. Maybe they did think she was something special afterall. But... she should be mad at them. "Hey, you guys, come look what I found!" she exclaimed as she appraoched them, pretending not to have heard their conversation.
They practically jumped out of their suits. They quickly snapped to attention, stammering, "Oh, yes of course Elena, er, we were just taking a break, let's go!"
Elena looked at them suspiciously, then led the way to her find.
THE CHOCOBO FARM, 3 MONTHS AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF BARRET AND YUFFIE
Cloud had gotten up early that morning to watch the sunrise. It looked spectacular this morning, lighting up the sky with just the right combo of pinks and purples to look absolutely gorgeous. He could really learn to like this casual living stuff. He had made so much gil over his adventures that he could be financially well off for the rest of his life. From now on, it was going to be the good life. Maybe he'd move to town and find a girlfriend. Six years ago, at the age of sixteen, he hadn't been interested, but now it seemed like a pretty good idea.
He started as he heard footsteps coming through the door and onto the deck behind him, but saw that it was only Tifa coming up to watch the sunrise too.
"Fancy meeting you here," he smiled at her.
Tifa pulled up a chair. "Nice to live in such a relaxed atmosphere, isn't it?"
"I'll say."
They sat and watched the sunrise for a while longer, chatting idly about nothing in particular. Just as the last traces of the glorious sight were beginning to fade away, Cloud suddenly noticed a small red speck in the distance- coming closer to them. Pretty fast, too.
"Hey Tifa," he pointed, "Doesn't that sort of look like-?"
She seemed to have seen just as he started talking. "The buggy!" she finished for him. They exchanged a couple of puzzled glances, then went running downstairs to meet whoever it was who had found the buggy again.
The red dot approached pretty quickly, and they realized that yes, this was definately the buggy. The driver slammed on the brakes near the chocobo farm, and out leapt Barret, Marlene on his shoulder, and surprisingly, Yuffie jumped out after him.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Cloud exclaimed happily.
"Hey, what sorta greetin' is that?!" a happy Barret yelled back in response, as the reunited companions came together.
"I missed you guys!" Yuffie yelled as she ran towards them. "Oh man, Wu Tai is so cool now! We're like, kicking every Shinra's ass over there..."
"Whoa, slow down, Yuffie!" Cloud laughed as Barret caught up with his now-17 companion.
"So what brought you guys back here?" Tifa inquired.
Barret's face grew somber. "Well, to tell ya the truth I need help. Shinra's beginnin' to try and take Corel. Things were goin' real smoothly, but then those Shinra came in, and... damn, they ruined everything!"
That made Cloud's insides burn with rage- the gil he had happily donated to the good cause of restoring poor Corel had now been wasted by his greedy enemies.
Tifa was upset too. "What?!" she exclaimed. "They've already got the Mithril Mines, what do they need Corel for?"
"They don't," Barret growled. "They're just greedy punks!" He had collected himself enough not to swear around Marlene.
"They ruined the fort me and Denny built," Marlene said on the verge of tears.
"Oh, don't worry Marlene, we'll set everything right again," Tifa promised, stooping down to comfort the crying girl. Marlene immediately grabbed Tifa in a tight hug and wouldn't let go. Cloud almost laughed at Barret's thankful expression. He was no good at that sort of thing.
"So," he concluded, "You came back to ask us to help get Shinra out of Corel?"
"Yeah," Barret admitted. "But I was actually thinkin somethin more along the lines of invading Shinra HQ. We dun it before, and they were a lot stronger then- I say, why not do it again?"
Cloud thought about it. "It has possibilities," he mused. "We should discuss it in detail later. So what are you doing here?" He turned his attention to Yuffie.
"Well, when I heard what they were doing to Corel, I came to help!" Yuffie announced proudly. "They didn't want me to trash the guys that were ruining Marlene's fun, though." She looked sullen.
"Thanks anyway, Miss Yuffie," Marlene said politely, hugging Yuffie's legs as high as she could reach. Yuffie laughed. "I've never been very good with kids," she mused.
"Well, what are we all standing around here for?" Tifa suddenly broke in. "Let's go inside! It may not be good news what's happened to Corel, but at least we can enjoy being reunited!"
So, they went inside and had a big breakfast with everybody. Cid, Reeve (Cait Sith's actual personage), and even Vincent were happy to see Barret and Yuffie back. If only Red XIII had been there, too, everything would be complete.
That night, they all gathered around to discuss whether or not to attack the new Shinra HQ.
"You know," Vincent pointed out, "It's a very easy structure to attack. Shinra is conducting operations in the Mithril Mines, Mideel, and now Corel. Their forces are extremely spread out, and they don't have much left as it is. Not only that, but this new base they've set up is not a tower, as the old Shinra HQ was. It is simply a flat building that stretches far out. That is not a good formation to defend an attack. I think if we used our stronger Materia, we could pull this off and take care of their leaders. Without leaders, an organization like Shinra falls apart completely."
"Vincent has a good point," Cloud acknowledged. They all agreed. "It's about time we ended Shinra, anyway," Cloud shrugged. He was trying to cover up his regret at having to put on his old SOLDIER uniform again. But what was necessary was necessary, and he would do it.
SHINRA HQ
"I'm telling you, we did find something," Elena persisted at the unhearing ears of High Commander Ashroth. "Something was working its way up from the inside. It was trying to break free, to get out. We need to look at what's beneath the hole it came from."
Ashroth stared at his nails, which he was carefully and painstakingly trimming. He would not so much as make one glance in Elena's direction. It irritated her beyond control. She almost lost it, but at the last minute reminded herself that her job was at stake.
"I'm not interested in where it came from," Ashroth said nonchalantly. "I wanted you to give me information on what sort of creature this thing could be. Instead you give me a hole in the ground."
Elena gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry we didn't find what you wanted, sir," she forced out.
"Well," Ashroth replied coldly, his face not changing expression, "That still doesn't tell me what I want to know. Why don't the three of you get back there and see if you can find me something useful?"
Elena blinked. They were being sent back there again? What did he consider them to be, the useless leftovers of Rufus Shinra that he had to find something to do with?
"Sir, we have already-"
"Dismissed," he said emotionlessly, even now not looking at her.
Reno and Rude stood up to leave. Elena looked at them helplessly, then back at Ashroth. Reno and Rude walked out.
"Was there something, Elena?" Ashroth asked, and he still wouldn't look up at her.
"No," she replied. It was all she could do not to blow up at him. She stood up, turned on her heel, and left.
AN HOUR LATER
Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, and Cait Sith- who Reeve was controlling to help out with the attack- stood on a peak overlooking the new Shinra HQ. Like Vincent had said, it was a flat building.
"I wonder if we could come from above somehow, like when we parachuted into Midgar that one time," Cid mused.
"What would we parachute from?" asked Cait Sith.
"I'm working on it," Cid admitted.
"We can't parachute in," Vincent argued. "I say we attack with heavy summons from many sides, and have one main group who'll make the big offensive strike amidst all the confusion."
"That sounds like a plan," Cloud consented. "Everybody okay with that?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay," Cloud mused. "Who's going to do what?"
"You decide," Tifa said, pointing at him. "You're the leader, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Cloud said sullenly. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I want the main strike force to consist of three people, one will carry the Master Summon, one will carry the Master Magic, and one will carry the Master Skill. That should be enough to take them to High Commander Ashroth, the key figure we want to assasinate here."
Everybody nodded.
"I want volunteers to be part of the main attack force. I know I'll go, and I'll take the Master Magic. I just want to make sure everyone realizes this is the most dangerous job, so don't volunteer unless you're sure. Who volunteers?"
Everybody raised their hand. They started laughing, and even Cloud did.
"Looks like you'll have to do it tough-like," Barret grinned at him.
"Okay," said Cloud, "Me, Tifa, and Barret will be the main attack force. I want Cait Sith to attack from the north with Bahamut. Cid attacks from the south with Neo Bahamut. Vincent from the east with Bahamut Zero. And Yuffie, take the Knights of the Round Table. You're the backup."
Yuffie stared at him with huge eyes. "Me?" she whispered in disbelief. Yuffie had a soft spot for powerful Materia, and Knights of the Round was absolutely the most powerful Materia there was. Nothing else came close, not even Ultima, not even the legendary Bahamut Zero.
"Just so long as I know you won't run off with it," Cloud grinned at her. Yuffie blushed as the embarrasing memories of her immature Materia theft swept back.
"Okay," Cloud continued, "Now I also want each one of the side-attackers to have one mastered magic Materia, like lighting, fire, earth, any of those. Don't take Contain, give that to Yuffie, she's the backup and she needs the powerful stuff."
Yuffie began to tremble. Except for Ultima, Contain was the best Magic Materia there was.
"Why does the backup need so much power?" asked Cid.
"Because if we're in trouble and we need to get out of there, Knights of the Round and Flare are what will do that the best, don't you think? My top priority here is that everybody lives. Allright, take your Materia, and move out!"
Everybody took their Materia and moved out. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret stood ready to come in fast and hard. Blitzkrieg. Cloud prayed that Yuffie would do a good job should she be needed.
Then, the special effects show began. First, a great gray cloud began to billow up in the sky. The soldiers began to scamper over to it, wondering what was happening- a minute ago, the sky had been sunny and clear. They immediately wished they hadn't as a tremendous, jet-black dragon-like creature emerged from the smoke, and began to charge up a huge energy ball in its mouth.
On the other side of Shinra HQ, a similar event was taking place, only this time, the dragon was descending from the sky, and it was bigger than the other one. This dragon looked like the other one except with dark red biological armor all over its body. It began to charge its own energy ball.
Then, both dragons released their energy. The smaller dragon's energy released as a flying ball of purple force, and slammed into the base with tremendous, spherical nexus of destruction, starting fires, crumbling beams, and sending human bodies flying apart in several pieces. The other blast came as a steady stream of pure firey energy, seeming to utterly desintegrate everything in its path. Eventually it subsided, leaving even greater destruction in its wake, and the dragons departed. Finally, one gigantic, precicely aimed blast of pure solar energy came rushing down from the heavens, slamming into the center of the building and sending debris hurling all over the area.
"Charge!" Cloud shouted, and they did so. The blasts of the Bahamuts had utterly confused the guards, who had never seen anything like this, and precious few of them even noticed the companions running into the complex. Every time they came up against an impassable door, Cloud smashed it down with the Ultima Weapon, or, if it was reinforced, blew it apart with a well-aimed Ultima. Tifa took care of the guards with her Master Skill Materia by using the All-Enemies power to smash down a row of guards with a single punch. Barret helped by simply firing his Missing Score. Sometimes the simplest method was still the best, even when you're carrying a Master Summon Materia.
The problem was that they didn't know where they were going. But soon they blew into a highly guarded area, and found High Commander Ashroth making an emergency exit up to the roof. They ran up after him. The roof was not a desirable place to do this- the fires from the attacks of the Bahamuts were not natural and thus were spreading over the entire base, and many parts of it felt like they could cave in any moment. They began to run after Ashroth, and Cloud quickly took him down by casting Quake and knocking him to the ground. They surrounded him.
"What are you going to do, kill me?" he asked, not looking up at them. Guards were following them up.
"Barret, could you take care of them?" Cloud asked, waving in an offhand manner at the guards. Barret nodded and cast Leviathan, sending out a huge wave that neatly dumped the soldiers off of the roof.
"As you can see, we're a lot more powerful than you assumed," Cloud said menacinly. "Would you like to know who we are?" He had to admit, he sort of enjoyed moments like this.
Ashroth smiled, picked himself up, and dusted his pants off. "I know who you are, Mister Strife," he said confidently. "And I believe that there is something in the air right now that should be consuming more of your attention than myself."
Startled, Cloud turned abruptly to look into the sky. Someone had cast Comet at him! Cloud countered with a well-aimed Flare that blew the Comet to pieces. It wasn't any good- whoever had done it had now cast Comet 2.
"Everybody get outa here!" he yelled, and they scattered in confusion. Ashroth, however, simply stood and stared into the sky. Cloud felt explosions all around him, knocking him off his balance and singing him. Sometimes a chunk of a comet would hit him in the leg, or the back. He eventually collapsed, the Comet rain over, but his stamina depleted.
He looked up and saw something new in the sky. There was a small, glowing dot heading towards him. As it grew, he could see that it pulsed with an awesome power, and as it got even closer, it took the form of a man. Then, when Cloud realized what form that was, he almost had a heart attack.
It couldn't be. And yet, the entity had now floated gently down to the ground in front of him. It wasn't possible, but standing a mere ten feet in front of Cloud was the greatest enemy of his life, the one he hated for the death of one he loved. It was Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth," he whispered. He felt the wounds he had taken begin to strengthen something in him. He just needed to be beaten a little more...
"No," Sephiroth shook his head. "I am not Sephiroth. Although, he is part of me, a large part, enough that I have chosen to accept his life as my own. But I am Sepheros, the greater Sephiroth, the new and improved Sephiroth, the ultimate Sephiroth."
Cloud's head spun. He heard Tifa mutter a curse from behind him, and Barret yelled the same word a second later. They had seen the vision from a nightmare, too.
Cloud slowly stood up. Sepheros smiled. "You will feel my power mercilessly destroy you. You do not realize what you are dealing with. But you will, you will."
"Hit me," Cloud whispered to Tifa.
"What?!" Tifa exclaimed.
"Do it!"
Tifa hit him a little.
"Hard!"
"Cloud, I can't!"
Barret did it instead. It hurt, but suddenly Cloud felt a jolting sensation and his body pumped with an inhuman power.
"Meteorain!" he shouted, and leapt high into the air, utterly defying the forces of gravity, and furiously slashed the Ultima Weapon through the air, sending a shower of mini-meteors down on Sepheros. He flinched at each one as it exploded on impact with his body, but when Cloud's rush was finished and he returned to the ground as weak as before, he suddenly realized that his attack had had virtually no effect on this "Sepheros." Whatever he was, he was beyond the power of the original Sephiroth an almost infinite amount.
"That's just the beginning," Sepheros said as if he could read Cloud's thoughts. He floated a ways back, as easily as if he weren't affected by gravity in the slightest. Perhaps he wasn't.
Cloud wasn't going to wait for Sepheros to take action, though. Realizing the next attack was probably going to dish out serious pain, he cast Full Cure on himself immediately. Barret had thought to bring along a couple of X-Potions, which he and Tifa quickly drank. Now they were ready to take on what Sepheros was going to do.
And yet, nothing happened. "Okay guys, let's take him down while we can," Cloud suggested. "Everbody ready the strongest you have!"
He charged up for a blast of Ultima. Barret summoned Bahamut Zero. Tifa prepared for a 4X attack.
Then, they simultaniously released. The Ultima exploded in a fury of green light, mixing with the deep white light of the tremendous Bahamut Zero blast, and Tifa's furious attacks were swift and true. When the smoke cleared, Sepheros stood unswayed.
"You can't seem to do much to me," Sepheros chuckled. Cloud didn't remember Sephiroth ever chuckling, or even smiling. There was something in this besides Sephiroth, allright.
"I won't let you win!" Cloud screamed in rage. He had to do something. He cast Ultima again. It didn't seem to do anything.
"Okay," Sepheros said with feigned resignation, "I guess I'm going to have to show you how to cast Ultima, because you're obviously not doing a very good job. Actually, let me show you three." Cloud's eyes went wide as he saw not one, but three glowing balls of green energy form at Sepheros's oustretched hands. They released before he could run, and as the blast made impact, he felt his body thrown wildly around and the heat of the incredible amount of energy in Ultima singe him painfully. When it was done, he could barely move. He weakly lifted his torso. It was all he could do; standing was out of the question. Three? was the question that running through his head. Three?
Cloud looked around. Barret and Tifa were unconcious. Sepheros began to float closer. This was the end. It had to be.
"Have you ever felt lighting, ice, and fire all hit your body in tremendous force at the same time?" Sepheros whispered. Cloud didn't answer. He couldn't move his jaw. Sepheros raised his hand and unleashed another fraction of his power. Cloud screamed as the multi-affinity attack thrashed his body back and forth, and then all was utter blackness.
Cloud never knew how long that blackness lasted- but the next thing he knew, he was standing again, his energy fully restored, feeling like he was ready to take on the world. What was going on? He looked around, and saw that Tifa and Barret had felt the same effect. He looked upward and saw the summon monster Phoenix moving back into the ground at the feet of... Red XIII! But that wasn't what really got his attention. Knights of the Round was smacking Sepheros around like a little rubber ball. So even he wasn't invincible.
"Come on, you guys!" Yuffie shouted from below them. "Get down from there! We gotta get outa here while we can!"
They didn't take any time to try and figure out what was happening. Cloud gave Red a thumbs up, who in turn winked and smiled at him, then the four companions on the rooftop ran to the edge and leapt down.
"Let's get outa here!" Cloud yelled as they all hopped into the buggy. Cloud floored it, heading in a northeastward direction, up past Midgar. The buggy was just out of Sepheros's sight by the time he pulled himself to his feet after being beaten around. It appeared that there was a power that could stop him afterall...
SHINRA HQ, TWO HOURS AFTER THE ATTACK IS OVER
Elena had just finished packing to go on her new assignment. Much as she hated it, she had to obey orders. As she walked through the twisting corridors of what remained of the decimated Shinra HQ, she happened to walk past Ashroth's office. Inside she overheard a small fragment of a conversation he was having:
"The goal is no longer to harness this power, Hojo," said the commander. "We now need to find a way to make sure it cannot destroy us. I want you to develop a shield that repels all energy discharge from Mako-"
That was interesting. Hojo still alive? Elena stored the info away for future reference. She met up with Reno and Rude a minute or so later, and decided not to tell them about it. Soon she had placed other things in her mind above it.
The three turks exited Shinra HQ. Reno and Rude were discussing what happened on a soap opera last night. Elena didn't think she could take this today. But instead of blowing up at them, she finally understood them. The turks weren't the turks anymore. Now that Ashroth was in charge, they weren't being taken seriously. He was just sending them off on things he made sound important, when they were really completely useless. She was furious. What would Tseng have done?
Well, there was only one thing to do. Exactly what Reno and Rude were doing. If they weren't going to be taken seriously, they wouldn't take Shinra seriously. But she decided to check with them first.
"Why do you guys slack off?" she asked bluntly as they began the trek back to the Midgar ruins.
Reno and Rude began laughing. "Good one, Elena," Rude commented.
"No, I'm serious," Elena persisted.
"You mean you really don't know?" Reno asked in amusement.
"I have a theory. Just humor me."
"Okay," Reno shrugged. "It's that Ashroth guy. He doesn't take us seriously. I mean, when's the last time the turks had a real job? We're not useful anymore, so why even try to make good on the assignments we're given?"
"That's what I thought," Elena confirmed. "Okay, you guys are right about that. But why not take it the next step? Why not just quit?"
"Because, they still pay us," Rude pointed out.
"That's true, I guess," Elena shrugged. "But wouldn't you feel better if you were doing something real? Getting out and living, instead of just sitting on your asses?"
"What exactly did you have in mind?" Reno asked suspiciously.
"Let's be adventurers!" Elena threw it out in the open. She would much rather do that than be a useless turk.
Reno and Rude looked at her like she was crazy.
"Why?!" Reno asked in utter puzzlement.
"Because!" Elena shouted. "We'd be living! Not this stupid life of sitting in the doldrums pretending to be part of Shinra! I hate Shinra! Why would I want to pretend to be part of it?! Well I'm quitting, and I'm going to be an adventurer. You guys do what you like."
Elena felt pretty good about that. She felt better when Reno and Rude exchanged glances that seemed to say "This is COOL!" and vigorously agreed to come along. So it was official. They were no longer part of Shinra. It was the most fun Elena had had in years. If only Tseng was there...
"The first thing we need to do is get out of these stuffy suits," Elena decided. She had unnoficially made herself the leader. "I mean, who wants to go adventuring in uniforms? Come on, let's head to Kalm and go clothes shopping."
"Whatever you say," Reno said happily. So the ex-turks turned from a northward path to a northeast path, heading toward the little town of Kalm.
MIDGAR PLAINS, NORTHEAST OF MIDGAR
The buggy blazed across the fields, just generally going nowhere.
"Why are you here, Red?" Cloud asked as they made their escape.
"I came for help," Red explained. "Shinra has attacked Cosmo Canyon. They're occupying it and there's nothing I can do because they have hostages."
"Not you too!" Cloud exclaimed in disbelief.
"What?" Red asked curiously.
"Barret came back because Corel was being invaded already," Tifa explained.
"I see," Red mused. "It's sort of strange, don't you think? All three of the places that we split up to have been attacked by Shinra. Wu Tai, Corel, and now Cosmo Canyon. Do you think that perhaps Shinra is following us?"
"Interesting," Cait Sith mused. "I wish I could still be an insider in Shinra. It would probably help a lot."
"Well, what do we do now?" asked Yuffie.
"We need stuff. Potions, ethers, 'n what not," Cid offered.
"But getting away from Sepheros should be our highest priority," Vincent argued. "Another meeting with him could be absolutely fatal."
"We should go ta Kalm 'n stock up on supplies!" Cid insisted. "We ain't got nothin' but our weapons and Materia! Besides, I'm almost outa cigs."
"That's all you can think of when we're being chased by Sephiroth the Second with more power than the whole LifeStream?" Red asked in a amusement.
"We can't go to Kalm," Cloud shook his head. "If that maniac finds us again while we're in Kalm the whole town will go up in flames."
"Do you really think he's that strong?" Yuffie shivered at Red's comment.
"He could be," Red admitted. "I don't know. But anyone who can fire three Ultimas at the same time should be feared."
"You can say that again," Cloud said bitterly as painful memories of what it was like to be smashed by three Ultimas seeped back into his head. Barret and Tifa nodded.
"Why would he have attacked us?" Vincent wondered aloud.
"He seems to sort of be Sephiroth, but something else, too. Maybe he thinks that the whole Jenova-Meteor thing isn't over yet, because there he is," Cloud suggested. "And even worse, maybe it isn't," he added as an afterthought. "Anyway, our main concern right now should be trying to fight this guy. We know that Knights of the Round can at least hold him back, but we don't know how much of a lasting effect it has on him. For now we'll just have to run until we know how to fight effectively. But I think I have an idea for how we can slow him down even more."
"And that would be?" Barret prompted him.
"If we attatch Knights of the Round to Quadra Magic, we should be able to keep him occupied with that for quite a long time."
"That should work," Vincent agreed. "And I believe I have an idea of who may be able to help us. Shinra."
"What?!" half the companions exclaimed in surprise.
"Think about it," Vincent said quietly. "We have a common enemy now. We don't know if he was after us or the Shinra base. Wouldn't it be in the best interest of both sides to try to defeat him together?"
"Ain't no way I'm gonna be no ally with Shinra!" Barret yelled stubbornly.
"It may be our only hope. Shinra is perhaps the only ones with enough research power to figure out a way to block this... Sepheros's power."
"I think Vincent's right again," Cloud admitted. "Let's turn back towards Shinra HQ and see if we can find a common cause after all this."
Barret grumbled a few curses and sank down into his seat. Cloud swung the buggy back around and began heading southwest back toward Shinra HQ.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
The turks were a little startled to see a car coming their way. Cars weren't too common outside Midgar. This was one of those big off-roaders, too.
"Hey, why not ask for a lift?" asked Rude.
"They're going the other direction," Elena pointed out.
"That's why we might have to do a little more than ask," Reno explained.
"Ooooh, I get it," Elena grinned. "Why not? We're free, we can do whatever we want! I'll use my Earth Materia."
As the buggy approached, the three turks hid behind a rock. "This'll be good," Reno said excitedly.
"Quake 2," Elena whispered, and the ground began to shake furiously.
Cloud suddenly felt the buggy go wildly out of control, and then it began bouncing up and down furiously.
"What're ya doin', kid?!" Cid yelled, trying to keep his cigarette in his mouth.
"I'm not doing anything!" Cloud responded helplessly. The rumbling eventually stopped.
"That was a Quake spell, I'm sure of it," Red announced.
"Well then, let's go out there and give whoever's doing it a piece of our minds," Cloud said angrily. He was already stressed out enough, and certainly didn't need this right now.
The nine companions leapt from the buggy, brandishing their weapons and landing in their battle poses. When he saw the three Turks standing there looking at them stupidly, he almost screamed.
"YOU!" was a yell that could be heard from several places at once several different times for the next minute.
"We didn't know it was you," Elena said apolagetically.
"Hey, why apolagize to them?!" shouted Reno.
"Because they outnumber us 3 to 1," Elena muttered back at him through the corner of her mouth.
"Oh yeah," he said dissapointedly.
"You just made a really bad day a lot worse," Cloud said menacingly.
"Sorry. We really don't want a fight right now."
"Then why the hell did you just try to highjack us?!"
"We didn't know it was you!"
"Oh, so you think that means you have the right to-"
"Cloud," came a small, sweet voice from behind him.
He turned around to face Tifa. "Uh.. what?" he asked in confusion.
"Shinra... turks," said Tifa.
Cloud scratched his head for a moment, then realization slowly dawned on his face, followed by anger. "Can't we talk to Ashroth directly?"
"Actually, this is probably a more prudent method," Red argued.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Elena asked suspiciously.
Cloud turned around. "Okay, you guys, truce," he forced himself to say. The turks let out sighs of relief. "But, on one condition," added Cloud.
"What?" Elena asked apprehensively.
"You need to arrange for us to meet with High Commander Ashroth."
"Ocrap," said Reno.
"We'rescrewed," said Rude.
"Shuttup," said Elena. "Well, to be honest with you we can't really do that," she explained cautiously.
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Well," Elena began, "When Ashroth took over Shinra, he changed a lot of things that Rufus had set up. He didn't really like Rufus very much, you see. And since we were Rufus's special assignment group, he treated us like we were nothings, sending us on these stupid little errands that weren't even useful. He made a joke out of us. So, we quit. Now we're just ordinary adventurers."
"Adventurers?" Cloud had to try not to laugh. He'd done a lot of adventuring, and it was hilarious to think of the turks doing what he had done in their nice suits and everything.
"We're going to get better clothes as soon as we can," put in Reno.
"But does Ashroth know this yet?" Tifa asked, hoping they could still get something out of this.
"Well, no, not yet, but even if we tried to arrange it, he wouldn't listen to us. I swear."
"Allright," said Tifa. "Nevermind. See you later."
"Yeah," Cloud said lamely. He hoped he wouldn't, though.
"Why would you want to see Ashroth?" Elena asked as if they hadn't said farewell.
"Why would you care?" Barret asked suspiciously.
"I'm just curious. Maybe it's something we can help you with instead."
"What are you doing?!" Reno whispered desperately to Elena.
"Watch me work," Elena winked at him.
"I don't think so," Cloud shook his head. "We're looking for a way to fight back against the power of the entity that they found underneath Midgar. It seems to have taken the form of Sephiroth, and it also seems to want to kill us."
"That can't be good," Elena mused. "But, believe it or not, I can help you."
Barret snorted. "Yeah right."
"What do you want to say, Elena?" Tifa asked politely.
"Well, I don't particularly want to say it," Elena shrugged. "I'm indifferent. It's you that I think wants to hear it."
"Okay, let's hear," Cloud prompted her.
"First you have to give us something."
Reno and Rude were looking at her strangely.
"Of course," Cloud rolled his eyes. "I should have known."
"We want to come with you!" Elena announced. "Let's be partners!"
"We do?!" Reno exclaimed.
"Yes," Elena said firmly.
"Oh," said Reno. "Did you know that, Rude?"
"Yeah. I want to."
"Hmm," Reno mused. "Okay, let's join them."
"Good idea."
"Hey!" Cloud objected. "We didn't say that was okay yet!"
"I think we should kick their asses," said Yuffie.
"I like that girl more every time I see her," Barret commented.
"Let us talk about this for a second," Cloud told the turks. The companions had a mini-meeting.
"Okay," Cloud began. "We want to know what this thing Elena's talking about is because it's our only lead. It's better than nothing. The question is whether or not we can trust them enough to let them tavel with us."
"They sounded honest to me," Tifa shrugged.
"I agree," Red nodded.
"Anyone else?" asked Cloud. Vincent raised his hand.
"Yeah, why not," Cait Sith added. "They aren't going to cause any trouble, and besides, in times like these, you have to admit we could use all the help we can get, and as aloof as they are the turks are pretty good in a fight."
"I vote that one, too," said Cloud. "Cait Sith has a good point."
"Whatever," Cid shrugged. "It's fine with me."
"Well," Yuffie mused, "I guess that Reno one is sort of cute. Okay."
Everybody looked at Barret. Barret grumbled some barely intelligable swears, then quietly agreed. They turned around.
"Allright," Cloud announced, "You're in."
"Cool," said Elena. "Now, let's talk."
Sephiroth coming back to haunt him, but Hojo too. "How's that possible?!"
"Actually, you shouldn't be surprised at all," said Vincent.
"What?"
"Hojo's cloning experiments were extensive. Obviously, either the Hojo we fought at the Sister Ray or the
Hojo that Ashroth was talking to was a clone."
"That makes sense," Elena agreed. "But anyway, the point is that they're going to make some sort of machine
that repels Mako energy discharge- which would probably defend you from that maniac who looks like
Sephiroth."
"He is Sephiroth," Cloud muttered. "But nevermind. So, I guess that talking to Shinra won't help anymore,
they've already got something."
"We better attack them!" Reno said eagerly.
"Again?" Yuffie's heart sank. Cloud had spent a whole half hour after their departure trying to convince her
that she had done a good job at being the backup, but she still wasn't convinced.
"Of course!" said Rude. "We weren't there the first time! We missed the fun!"
"That's not really fair to Shinra I suppose... but then, they don't really need the machine like we do."
"Not fair to Shinra?!" Barret yelled in disgust. "So what! You think what they're doin ta Corel is fair?! You
think that company was founded on fairnes?! I say this is the best way to help bring them down!"
"He has a point," Red agreed.
"Allright," Cloud nodded. "Let's go for it."
"Partners?" Elena extended a hand to him.
"Partners," he nodded. He shook Elena's hand. The turks weren't really so bad afterall. In time, he could
probably make friends with them.
"I guess we have to stay in our suits for a while longer," Rude said dissapointedly.
SHINRA HQ
Hojo was very proud of himself. He had already done exactly what the Supreme General wanted! This would
be an excellent way for him to elevate himself in Ashroth's eyes. All he had to do was say he had just made
this after he had been asked, and it would appear he was many times as quick and intelligent as he was. It
was this sort of a cleverness that made it so he actually sort of was many times as quick and intelligent as he
was, in a strange way. He picked up the device and decided he had better test it. The best thing was that it
didn't even need a power source- the combination of chemicals inside it repelled Mako discharge like
opposite magnets.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then stretched out his arm and allowed it to mutate into
a long, disgusting tentacle. "Ultima!" he yelled. The blast of Ultima did not even touch the machine, although
it was aimed straight at it. Instead, it hit the wall, blowing a hole in it that connected to the women's locker
room. Fortunately, no one was inside. That gave Hojo an idea. Snickering at his cleverness, he pulled out his
large one-way mirror and quickly attatched it to the wall, covering up the hole and making it appear from
inside the locker room that they had just installed a new mirror there. He then put up a movable blackboard
with some fake scientific calculations on it over the hole on his end. He snickered at his cleverness and then
picked up the machine to take up to Ashroth. He'd been searching for a use for that one-way mirror for a
while...
The soldiers outside Ashroth's office looked awfully silly, since the door was now one of three different
entrances into the room thanks to the attack. They didn't ask Hojo to identify himself as he walked through
the gaping hole in the wall next to the doorway- they knew who he was, and had been in enough trouble for
not knowing it before.
"Hojo," the Supreme General greeted him, "Was there any particular reason why you felt you had to walk
through the hole in the wall instead of the door?"
"My apolagies," Hojo said exquisitly, "It amuses my immature mind."
"I see. Do something like that again and you're fired. Not only that, but we'll take everything you own and
burn it and make sure you never conduct a scientific experiment again."
This amount of ferocity startled even Hojo. He wouldn't have been surprised at Ashroth's reaction if it were a
lowly soldier who had commited the offense, but he was one of Ashroth's most valuable assets. Obviously,
the man had very low tolerance. He probably would have shot a less important individual in this situation.
Not that it would matter to Hojo if he were shot, but...
"Well, sir, I completed the invention you wanted," Hojo grinned.
"Yes, a month ago, wasn't it? I was actually expecting you to deliver it to me sooner. Let's have a look." He
hadn't made eye contact with Hojo once this whole time. He hadn't even looked in his general direction,
simply staring down at some paper he was dabbing at with a pen on his desk.
Hojo really hated Ashroth at this point, but telling himself his job was at stake, he handed the device over to
the Supreme General, who still would not even look up at him.
"How does it work?"
"It mixes the chemicals inside it in just the right way that Mako discharge bounces away from them far before
it gets near it. I haven't figured out why yet, I think it has to do with the fact that Mako isn't on our plain of
existance. Anyway, all you have to do is shake it, and it repels Mako for the next 24 hours."
"Interesting. Good job, Hojo. I want these installed all over the base with automatic, once-every-24-hours
shaking machines or something so we don't have to worry about that."
"That will be up the engineers, I believe."
"No, that will be up to you, I believe. The engineers have enough on their hands trying to rebuild this base."
"Understood."
"You may leave my presence now."
"Yes sir."
Hojo left. Someday he would have to get back at that man.
SLIGHTLY NORTH OF SHINRA HQ
"I made you say underwear!" Reno gloated as the deadly effects of his joke sank in on Rude.
"That's a stupid joke," Rude said defensively.
"Hey Elena!" yelled Reno. "I made Rude say underwear!"
"Cool," said Elena. She was obsorbed in her thoughts about what had happened in the last few hours, and
didn't really want to hear about it.
"Hey, Reno," said Rude. "After everything I say, say 'pea-green soup', okay?"
"Okay," shrugged Reno. Cloud almost laughed as he brainlessly followed along.
Cloud saw Shinra HQ begin to approach in the distance. He slammed on the brakes of the buggy and
announced to everyone that they were there. They all jumped out, while Rude laughed at Reno for saying
that he had peed green soup all night.
"Okay, guys, let's get this organized," Cloud said loudly. "Who wants to be the leader this time?"
Reno and Rude both raised their hands, but everybody else pointed at Cloud. Cloud cursed and then said,
"Okay, well if you don't want any variety. Allright, what we need to do here is find the device and take it.
That's not going to work if we go barging in there because we'll never figure out what to take. So what we
need to do is get someone on the inside." He turned and looked at the turks.
"What? We quit!" Reno said indignantly.
"They don't know that yet," Tifa smiled at them.
Reno grumbled and crossed his arms.
"Come on, you two! This is exciting!" Elena encouraged them. "We're finally striking back at Ashroth for
making a joke out of us!"
"Good point," Reno agreed.
"Allright!" Rude said enthuisiastically. "Let's get going!"
"Here," Cloud said as he gave them the PHS. "Call us if you get in trouble, and we'll create a diversion. What
we want you to do is find out what the device is, not take it. Remember that."
"Right," Elena acknowledged. The turks strolled toward Shinra HQ, feeling really good about themselves.
The guard seemed a bit suspicious when Elena asked him where professor Hojo was. The turks had never
had any business with Hojo. But, he knew better than to talk back, and directed them to the laboratory. Elena
was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She pressed on, hoping that it was just her mind
getting worked up. Afterall, Hojo had always scared her a little. Maybe she just didn't want to talk to him, and
her subconciousness was blowing it out of proportion.
They walked straight into the laboratory without knocking. "We need one of the devices that repels Mako
discharge," Elena announced bluntly. It was strange, but Elena felt great doing this. This was how the turks
were supposed to be. Surprisingly, Reno and Rude were their old selves again, standing menacingly behind
her with their arms folded across their chests. It was just like how things had been under President Shinra
and his son Rufus, only this time they were working against Shinra.
Hojo looked at them with an amused expression. "I'm afraid there's only one," he shrugged, "And you can't
have it."
"Let me see," Elena demanded.
Hojo shrugged. He picked up the device and held it out in front of him.
"How does it work?" Elena asked in a businesslike fashion.
"You shake it, and it mixes the chemicals inside in a way that causes them to repel Mako discharge for the
next 24 hours," Hojo explained. "Why would you be interested?"
"It's not for your ears," Elena said stiffly, then turned on her heel and left, followed by Reno and Rude. As
soon as they were out of earshot, Hojo turned to his intercom and pressed a button. "They just left, Sir," he
told the person on the other end.
"Good," Ashroth replied. "You showed them the bomb?"
"I did," Hojo acknowledged.
"Good. This ought to get AVALANCHE out of my way once and for all. Now leave me alone."
"Yessir." Hojo let go of the button and snickered at the clever plan he had just put into motion. All his
enemies would soon be getting some unpleasant surprises.
Colonal Jeraz walked fearfully toward Supreme General Ashroth's office. He was going to have to give the
Supreme General some bad news, and Ashroth was known not to take to bad news very well.
"What is it, Colonel?" Ashroth asked as Jeraz entered the room. He didn't look up at him.
"Well, sir, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news."
Ashroth leaned back in his chair, away from the paperwork he was going to do, as though he was about to
look at Jeraz in anger- but instead, he still just stared at his desk.
"Really," he asked in a menacing tone. "And what would that be?"
"Well," Jeraz began, "It appears AVALANCHE is still alive and active."
"I see," Ashroth mused. "You needn't be afraid, Colonel. It's Hojo's incompetence that caused this. You are
dismissed."
"Yes sir,' Jeraz nodded, and walked out. One of these days, he felt he'd be killed when he went in there, and
he didn't want it to be soon.
Back inside his office, Ashroth clicked a button on his intercom. "Hojo," he said menacingly, "I need to
speak with you."
The turks came walking casually out of the building. "Looks like everything went smoothly," Cloud
announced to everyone after peeking around a rock. They waited a bit longer, and then the turks showed up.
Elena carefully explained what the device Hojo had shown her looked like.
"Allright," Cloud brought everyone to attention. "We're going to do it the opposite way this time. One force
does the fake main attack to attract attention, then three of us go in from the sides to steal the device. I want
the turks to stay behind."
"What?!" Elena yelled indignantly. "Why?!"
"You're still a valuable asset," Cloud explained. "Shinra still doesn't know you quit. We want to preserve that
advantage as long as possible, just in case."
Elena grumbled a little, but realized he was right. Reno and Rude didn't seem to care. They were whispering
about something.
"Allright," Cloud mused. "We're going to have the same positions, so me, Barret, and Tifa will make an
attack, while the others take their positions to come in from different directions and try to find the device.
Red, you can take the western attack, since no one was there last time."
Everybody nodded, and once again took their assigned Materia. Red got two Summon Materia since the
most powerful ones had been taken- he equipped himself with the ultra-powerful duo of Alexander and
Kujata. Everyone also took their one Magic Materia for close-quarters fighting.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret waited for Red to phone in and tell them he was in position. Since his journey was the
farthest, they figured when Red was ready, everyone would be.
Finally, the PHS rang, and Red confirmed that the attack could begin.
"Let's go, guys," Cloud nodded, and they charged down in the buggy. Barret leaned out the window and
cast Odin to begin their assault. The tremendous horse and rider swept through the ranks of the guards that
came out to meet them, swinging his tremendous sword and slashing them to ribbons. Cloud tried not to look
at the grisly scene as he cast Quake 3 and sent the bodies of the guards hurling through the air. Tifa leaned
out the window and used All-Enemies to smack down a row of guards. By now, most of the remaining guards
had fled to seek reinforcements. They jumped out of the buggy, and started casting spells to destroy the area
around them. It wasn't long before there were guards swarming everywhere, and they even started to have
trouble keeping them at bay. Strangely, though, the guards sometimes seemed to botch shots that should
have been overly easy. Cloud began to suspect something.
He suddenly saw the awesome power of the summons that the side-attackers used rear up from all sides. It
went as before, except for two great additions: First Kujata reared up, and attacks of lightning, fire, and ice
spread across the base, short-cuircuting machinery, tearing apart rafters and structures, and rendering
halways impassible with icey blocks. Next, in his place, sprang the mighty Alexander, whose firey weapons
of justice spread over the base, absolutely obliterating everything in the path of the awesome fire's
consuming wrath. At the end, a great hole opened in the ground, and a huge chunk of the base fell into its
steaming depths, only to be crushed as the earth closed in upon it.
The four of them charged into the base, meeting almost no resistance since most of the soldiers were
concentrating on the first attackers. It wasn't long before Red XIII ran into Cait Sith, holding the device in his
jaws. "Great, Red!" Cait exclaimed. Since Red's jaws were full, he radioed the others to tell them to get out.
Cloud got the message. "Allright, guys, we're outa here!" he said. They began to work their way back to the
buggy, though the guards didn't make it easy for them.
Meanwhile, the four attackers all left through the north exit of the base. Cid was busy examining the machine.
"There's somethin funny about this device," Cid mused.
"Wait a second," Cait said suspiciously. Everyone stopped. "Just what's funny?"
"I dunno," Cid shrugged. "There's somethin fishy, though."
"What if it's a fake... or a trap... or a bomb or something?" Cait asked worriedly.
"Well, if it's a bomb, there'll probably be a ticking," Vincent shrugged. He took it from Cid and listened.
"Nothing."
"That won't tell ya everything," Cid shook his head. "They have way of makin em silent. Plus it could be set
to go off when somethin happenes, fer example when ya shake it."
"Is there any way to find out?" Red asked.
"I'll have to open it up," Cid shrugged. He took out a screwdriver and began to undo the screws.
"Work while we move," Vincent suggested. "We need to get out of here before Shinra comes looking for
us."
"How do you know so much about this, Cid?" Cait Sith asked as they walked.
"I know some stuff about machines. Happen to of learned a lot about bombs... well I took a lotta machinery
courses and stuff. Just somethin that's always interested me." He took out the last screw and looked inside.
"Nothin but wierd green ooze," he shrugged.
"So you're sure it's not a fake," Cait Sith confirmed.
"Well, all I know is it ain't a trap. I dunno if it works."
"We better find out, then," Cait Sith decided. "Give it to me."
"Nah it's okay," Cid shrugged. "I can handle it if it doesn't work... just use somethin small."
"No, it's better this way, because I'm just a stuffed animal," Cait Sith reminded him.
"Oh yeah," Cid recalled. He gave the small machine to Cait, who shook it vigorously. Red cast Fire 1 on him-
only it missed and lit a tree next to him on fire.
"Put it out!" Cait yelled, but not two seconds later Vincent had quelled the fire by covering it in ice with a
well-aimed Ice2.
"Okay, it works," Vincent nodded. "Now let's get out of here."
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret finally made their retreat successfully. It almost seemed too easy. Cloud hoped
nothing was wrong.
They rondevoused a little bit east of the ruins of Midgar, and Cloud called everyone to a meeting.
"Okay," he began, "So we know this thing works, right?"
"Yep," Cait Sith affirmed.
"Good. Now, did anyone notice anything-" he was cut off as Vincent jumped up, pointing at the sky with his
clawed hand. "Sepheros has found us," he announced in his cold, gentle manner, but yelling nonetheless.
Cloud grabbed the machine and shook it a few times. "Everybody get in a small group around the machine,"
he ordered. "We don't know how far its protection ranges." They did as he asked, and Sepheros floated
down near their small group.
"What is this?" he asked suspiciously. "Your strategy seems a bit less than prudent."
"It's more prudent than you think, Sephiroth," Cloud said quietly. He knew that this wasn't exactly Sephiroth,
but the part he wanted to kill was Sephiroth, the part that he hated.
Sepheros narrowed his eyes, staring unwaveringly into Cloud's. "You didn't call me that out of ignorance,"
he stated, more a question than a comment.
"No," Cloud answered firmly. "I don't care about the rest of you."
"I remember you," Sepheros said in reply. "You're Sephiroth's worst enemy, the one who defeated him. That
means you're my greatest enemy, too, for I am Sephiroth. And now, I will destroy you, and avenge him." And
he began to charge. Cloud realized that he was charging not three, not four, but five Ultimas. Five. Cloud
wondered how many he could fire at a time. Cloud resisted the urge to tightly shut his eyes as the mighty
spells were unleashed. He must stand tall.
The five awesome spells went flying every which way. The area around the companions was absolutely and
totally destroyed. Everything obliterated. Fortunately, civilization was miles away. Sepheros stared in
disbelieving fury at the companions just sitting there, invincible against his magic.
"Allright," he said, collecting himself in an instant. "That's an interesting trick." He unsheathed his
Murasame. "I may have to do this the old-fashioned way."
"Not today," Cloud shook his head. "I won't do that until I'm more firmly protected from your magic. Until
then, I've got some knights for you to play with instead, they should give you a nice sword fight if that's
what you're looking for." And with that, he raised the Ultima Weapon high and cast Knights of the Round,
enhanced by Quadra Magic. Before Sepheros could escape, the knights were upon him. The companions
retreated as Sepheros was helplessly smacked around. It was time to find out just how useful this machine
could be.
MIDGAR PLAINS, A LITTLE NORTH OF MIDGAR RUINS
Aers Majorik's new assistant was a mixed bag. While on the one hand he was extremely capable at what he
was hired for- fending off the annoying Shinra types- he was also rather difficult to deal with sometimes,
always acting in upredicable ways and reacting in odd ways to almost everything that happened. He was like
a six-year-old in the body of a man. Needless to say, Aers didn't get along with him too well, but he put up
with him anyway because his services were invaluable.
He had just risen on an early Monday morning and strolled out to the porch to get some fresh air. After
putting fresh food in his bird feeder, he sat down on his wooden chair and looked out over the Midgar
Plains, his eyes every now and then stopping on the old ruins of the once-great "capital of the world",
Midgar, and every time he smiled at the welcome sight. He knew Shinra was still around, but he didn't really
care as long as that bleak, ugly Midgar wasn't there anymore.
Then, coming from a bit south of the ruins, he saw a small red speck moving closer to him on the horizon. It
couldn't be a monster, it's path was too straight, it had to be some sort of vehicle- and it was heading right for
his small, out-of-the-way home.
"Hey, Dar' Tos, come on down here, I think there's Shinras comin' here again!" he yelled to his assistant.
Since the man was clearly Taian, Aers knew that "Dar' Tos" was definately not his real name, but he humored
the man.
Dar' Tos leapt down from the roof, which he made his living area, even in the rain. He swung his gatling gun
out in front of him and rested it on the small fence surrounding the porch.
"It's time ta KICK SOME ASS!" he shouted extravagantly. Aers rolled his eyes.
As the vehicle drew closer, Dar' Tos began to open fire on it. It was a tough vehicle and the bullets simply
bounced off, but Dar' Tos was not one to give up, and he continued to fire.
Back in the buggy, Cloud was puzzled. "Why are we being shot at?" he asked.
"Couldn't tell ya," Barret shrugged, "But we better git the punk who's doin that."
Cloud nodded, and leaned out the window.
"Careful, Cloud!" Tifa cautioned. "Let me do it!" she leaned out her window. Cloud was going to tell her not
to, but by now he was within sight of the guy doing the shooting, so he aimed a good blast of Lightning3.
Just as he released it, he heard Tifa gasp and then shout, "Stop Cloud, don't!" but it was too late, he had
already fired the spell. His aim was true, and it struck the man at the gatling gun, sending him flying back into
the house through a window.
"Oh no no no no no," Tifa muttered on the verge of tears, and jumped out of the buggy as Cloud parked it
next to the house.
"Tifa, what is it?!" Cloud yelled after her, but she ignored him and ran to the house.
"We surrendur!" Aers said with his hands on his head as Tifa rushed passed him, but she didn't even glance
in his direction. The others walked curiously toward the small house.
"You don't look like Shinra types," Aers said, scratching his head.
"We're not," Cloud nodded, and then heard someone yell, "Tifa?!!" from inside the house, followed by a
resounding crash. Everybody stood and waited. Thirty seconds later Tifa came through the doorway with a
young, Taian man using her for support. He wore an old hanky on his head, baggy brown pants, and a silk
jacked that covered little more than his arms. He was tall, well-built, and a katana rested at his side.
"Oh no," Barret groaned and sank the ground. Cloud looked at him questioningly.
"Okay," said the Taian man, "Who's the bastard that used magic on me?"
"I am," Cloud said raising his hand, "And I think I had a right to, seeing as you were shooting at us."
"It was just a misunderstanding," Tifa told them both like a mother. "Now, I'd like to introduce you all to an
old friend of mine and Barret's. His name is Hanshi."
"I knew that your name wasn't Dar' Tos," Aers muttered.
"Yo," said Hanshi.
You need to rest," Tifa told him, and took him inside. She lay him down on the couch and then came back
outside to meet everybody.
"Who is he?" Red asked curiously.
"It's a long story," Tifa said with a sigh. "You're sure you want to hear it?"
They all nodded. "I do, too," said Aers.
"If he calls me Barry just once, I will-" Barret began, but Tifa fixed him with a dangerous expression that shut
him up.
"Okay, everybody sit down," Tifa instruced. So they all gathered on Aers's porch, and she and Barret
recalled the story of how they had met up with Hanshi while trying to help Kylos Viper prove his innocence
years ago in Midgar. [Please refer to "Seventh Heaven, Sector 7" by Maniac to read this story yourself, if
you haven't already]. By the time it was over, Cid was grinning maliciously at Barret and had already called
him "Berry" several times.
"I never knew he was a criminal," Aers muttered.
"Why's he here?" Tifa inquired.
"I hired him to protect me from Shinras," Aers shrugged. "He was a mercenary."
Tifa glanced up at Cloud, probably without meaning to. He smiled.
"So," Aers changed the subject, "What brings you people here, anyway?"
"We dunno," Barret shrugged. "Cloud wanted ta ask ya somethin."
Cloud nodded. "Zack Taren told me to come here if I ever needed something made for me," he told Aers
directly.
Aers looked up sharply, his eyes showing deep sorrow. "You know Zack?"
"I..." Cloud hadn't realized it would be this important to the old man. And it seemed that he thought Zack was
still alive, too, which would make it even harder to do this.
"Where is Zack?" Aers asked.
"Oh shit," Cloud shook his head. "I... thought you'd already know... Zack... is... well..."
"I see," Aers nodded. Cloud thankfully nodded back, glad he didn't have to say it. "I thought it might be that
way. You were a friend of his?"
Cloud nodded. "I was a guard for Shinra while he was in SOLDIER. We worked together."
"Allright," Aers sighed, "Well whatever ya need, I'll see what I can do for ya."
"I'm gonna go check on Hanshi," Tifa interjected, and went back inside.
"We need you to make copies of this that we can slip around our wrists, or something like that," Cloud said
to Aers, handing him the anti-Mako device. "You'll have to open it to see what it really is."
Aers took a screwdriver out of his pocket and carefully opened up the machine. "Chemicals," he mused. "I
see. I can make you what you want, but you gotta bring me the chemicals. I'll write you up a list and you can
go to Kalm and buy them."
Cloud nodded. That should be fine. He just prayed that Sepheros would not find them while they were
engaged in this activity.
Cid offered to go pick up the chemicals they needed and declined to have any accompanyment. He said he
also wanted to take care of something else in Kalm that was a hush-hush deal for now, so everyone just let
him go. Aers invited them inside for a drink, and Tifa began to whip up one of her special customs for
everyone.
"I really appreciate what you're doing, Mr. Majorik," Cloud commented as he sat down.
Aers waved his hand in a gesture of nonchalance. "Call me Aers. A friend of Zack's is a friend of mine."
"Aers..." Cloud mused.
"What?"
Cloud looked at him questioningly for a moment, then realized he was expecting a question. "Oh," Cloud
shook his head, "I was just thinking about the name. It's the male version of Aeris, isn't it?"
Aers nodded. "You knew Zack's old girlfriend?"
Cloud's heart stung, and he didn't answer. Aers seemed to notice how he bent his head downward a bit and
didn't say anything else about the matter. There was a breif uncomfortable silence.
"So..." Tifa broke the silence. "What's your relation to Zack, Aers?"
Aers sighed for a moment. "The kid was my little bro," he said sadly.
Everyone was a little startled. Aers looked over forty years old. Aers seemed to sense it. "I'm a lot younger
than I look," he smiled. "I'm a little worn out. I was a first-class SOLDIER member, you know."
"Just like Zack," Cloud mumbled.
Aers nodded. "I was a role-model to him. I hate myself for the path I led him down. Shinra... damn the souls
of those self-centered bastards. Zack's death is just one more reason for me to hate them."
Cloud noticed that Barret sat up and payed more attention after that, and would have been amused had the
conversation been lighter.
"Why do you hate Shinra with such passion?" asked Red.
Aers smiled. "Yer a funny lookin thing," he remarked.
"My species is... very rare these days," Red admitted.
"I'll say. Well, anyway, they've really trampled on my life. When I was a boy, I was pretty wimpy. I was
always gettin into fights, but never winnin em. So I looked up to strong people. One of the strongest figures
in my life was the legend of SOLDIER, Sephiroth. What a big mistake that was."
Cloud felt a strange pang as he heard those words. It was not a pain, it wasn't a sadness; it was actually a
good feeling, a feeling that there was someone who shared his childhood plight. The others glanced at him
strangely as Aers told his story. Cloud barely paid attention to their glances, he was too busy reminiscing.
"Anyway," Aers continued, "I wanted nothing more than to get into SOLDIER. So I went to try out. But I
was afraid of being weak... so before I went, I ran out into the world to live in the wild and fight the monsters
until I felt I was strong enough to be in SOLDIER. Somehow, I survived, and I really did grow strong. Very
strong, actually. And so I did get into SOLDIER- and hell I was proud. What a little fool I was back then."
This was where the story began to differ from Cloud's. He wondered how his life would have been different if
he actually had gotten into SOLDIER. Back then, he would have been thrilled, but now he was glad he never
made it. If he had, this world probably would have been destroyed by Meteor.
"Well, Zack wanted to join SOLDIER too, when he heard I did. And he did join. So there we were, two perfect
little SOLDIER members. Both first-class too. We were the best of friends. So happy with life. Then it all
changed. I was taking a tour of Shinra headquarters, which I thought was very cool at the time, and they
were telling me about how Mako was produced. That was when I realized that the use of Mako was wrong. It
was destroying this planet. I tried to talk to the authorities about it, but they didn't want to hear it, and before
I knew it I had been thrown in the front lines of a hideous battle against a rebellion in some town. I survived,
but barely. Left me wounded for life, and definately not able to fight anymore. Still feel it today. Bad back,
knee, and hip, crippled like an old man at the age of twenty-nine. Well, needless to say, I quit SOLDIER after
that. Zack and I had a huge fight about it. He was only sixteen at the time, but SOLDIER meant everything to
him, and if I wasn't there, it wouldn't be the same. I tried to convince him that Shinra was evil, that they were
destroying the Planet, but he wouldn't listen to me. The last time I talked to him, he was excited about going
somewhere on an asignment with the legendary Sephiroth. I remembered when I used to look up to
Sephiroth. I hated him then. I was glad when he dissapeared. But I sure wasn't glad that Zack dissapeared.
Guess I'll never see him again. Well, I'm sorry about that, I been ramblin."
Everyone was silent. The sad story offered yet another insight into the epic history of Cloud, Zack,
Sephiroth, and SOLDIER. They finished their drinks in solemn quiet.
Cid returned an hour later, only to find everyone quiet and reserved. Cloud especially was in a bad mood. He
shrugged, and offered Aers the chemicals, who began to get to work on the bracelets that would defend
them from Sepheros.
Cloud walked slowly outside after a while, and sat back down on the porch. He didn't feel so great. All his old
memories were springing up again, paining him. He had lost so much of his life to Shinra. There were so many
people whose lives they had turned rotten... and they were still doing it.
"Man, why's everybody all depressed?" asked an irritated voice from behind him. Cloud turned and saw the
man that Tifa had previously identified as Hanshi walk onto the porch and sit on the steps next to him.
Cloud sighed and took a bit to respond. "The history of your employer ties in strongly with my own, and that
of all my old friends somehow or other- more strongly for some than others."
"I still don't get why you're depressed," Hanshi shrugged. "That's the past, it's not like that anymore." He
was really being sincere. Completely puzzled. Cloud was amazed at how purely optimistic he was.
"What's your history?" Cloud asked on a whim.
Hanshi snorted. "I don't know and I don't care. I'm an orphan. I was raised by a bunch of thieves. I've always
been a thief, always will be. I like it that way."
"You'd get along well with Yuffie," Cloud said with a smile.
"A chick?" Hanshi's eyes brightened.
Cloud laughed. "Don't go getting any ideas," he cautioned. "She's only seventeen. Besides, you might find
her more trouble than she's worth."
"Not for old Hanshi. Nothin's trouble for me." He said it so sternly that Cloud almost believed him.
"How'd you learn to use that katana?" Cloud changed the subject, noting Hanshi's weapon. "What style to
you use?"
"Well... I was raised by Taian thieves. What else would they have taught me? As for style, I ain't got a clue, I
just use it like they taught me."
"Interesting," Cloud mused. He would always be interested in swordplay.
Tifa came out onto the porch. "Oh," she said with a bit of surprise and a bit of happiness, "I see you two are
meeting eachother."
"Cloud asks technical questions," Hanshi remarked critically, but with a big stupid grin.
"Hanshi replies like an idiot," Cloud remarked back. Tifa smiled. She could see they were getting along well.
"It's really amazing that we met up again after all this time," Tifa thought out loud.
"Well, we did promise we'd see eachother again," Hanshi pointed out. "I'm even glad to see ol' Berry again."
"He's glad to see you, too, though he won't admit it," Tifa laughed.
"So, replaced Kylos yet?" Hanshi asked in an offhand manner. Cloud gave him a smoldering look, and he
responded with a clueless one.
"Umm... no," Tifa mumbled.
It was then that Aers called them all back into the house to get their protective bracelets.
"Now, the cool thing about these little gadgets," Aers explained with pride, "Is that they don't need to be
shaken. Your regular movement should be enough to keep the chemicals mixed all the time."
"Great," Cloud congradulated him. "Could you write up blueprints, in case we need to make more?"
"No problem," Aers nodded. He quickly scribbled some instructions on a piece of paper.
"You've been incredibly helpful," Cloud shook Aers hand. "I hope we meet up again sometime, but we really
need to get going. We wouldn't want to put you in danger, and unfortunately we're being hunted right now."
Aers nodded. "Drop by any time," he invited.
"I'm coming with them," Hanshi announced out of nowhere.
Everyone looked over at him, slightly startled, but then, not so much. Tifa seemed happy about it. Barret
grumbled a little.
"You sure?" Aers asked.
"Yep," Hanshi nodded.
"Here," Aers tossed him a braclet. "I made a few extra for you guys. Partly because I knew he'd do that."
Cloud smiled a little, shook Aers's hand, and turned to his companions. "Okay, gang, let's go," he said, and
they went.
SHINRA HQ, ABOUT THE SAME TIME
Syphe Techro had been summoned to Supreme General Ashroth's office, and was a little uneasy. It wasn't
often that you went to the general's office, and when you did, ninety percent of the time it was for a bad
reason.
He walked nervously through the long, constantly turning corridors of the makeshift Shinra HQ, which was
heavily damaged. Syphe never felt safe in this place. It was like the roof could fall on him any minute. He
always wanted to hold his breath when he walked through these corridors.
He reached the general's office and, at the nod of the guards, he walked through the dual oak doors that led
into the room- a silly thing to do in Syphe's opinion, since there were three unintentional entrances available
to him before he reached the doors. Still, Syphe had heard the rumors of what happened to people who didn't
use the doors, and decided not to take any risks.
Ashroth made no indication that he knew Syphe was there, and at first he thought he didn't at all. But
Ashroth quickly said, "Welcome, Mr. Techro, please have a seat." He still didn't look at Syphe, though.
Syphe sat down. Ashroth immediately hit him with a question: "How far did you get in the reconstruction of
Midgar?"
"We were almost ready to start seriously re-laying the important buildings," Syphe answered thruthfully.
"I see. Then I don't think it's worth trying the project again, especially since something like that explosion
might happen again. Instead, I want everything moved to Mideel. We're making that our new base of
operations. We will tear down Mideel and in its place construct Midgar 2. The LifeStream is very abundant
there, and we'll be able to generate a lot of Mako."
Syphe really had a problem with that. He hadn't liked it when Shinra had taken Mideel, and now they were
going to destroy it and the homes of everyone who lived there.
"Sir-" he began to object.
"Was there something else, Mr. Techro?" Ashroth asked with an edge in his voice.
Syphe struggled to object. He couldn't do it. He sighed internally at his weakness and said, "No, sir."
"Dismissed," Ashroth said decisively.
Syphe wordlessly stood up and left. He went to give the orders. He hated himself.
Cloud stood at his favorite place on the chocobo farm, the high deck overlooking the vast Midgar Plains,
facing toward the east so that he could always watch the sunset. There was a light breeze this evening,
which comforted Cloud's tired body and helped ease the discomfort of wearing his old mercenary outfit. He
had been used to the suit's feel for what seemed like his whole life, but now that he had gotten out of the
habit of wearing it, it was like getting used to it all over again. He sighed deeply as he pondered the recent
momentus events.
He heard soft footsteps behind him, and something deep in his mind told him indesputably that it was Tifa.
He was right. She came and stood next to him. "Strange things," she said quietly. The mood was mutual.
Cloud knew she was talking about the chaos that had erupted in the world recently.
Cloud nodded. "I thought we were done. Now it's like everything we did was just undone, and never
happened. Sometimes I wonder if it's still worth fighting... or if I should just let it go. We've all already done
more than our share."
"If we don't fight, who will?" Tifa asked wisely.
"I know," Cloud agreed. "But it just doesn't seem fair. If only we could be done with it. Sometimes I wonder if
we were destined to fight our whole lives. I wonder if that's the way it is."
"Destiny doesn't exist," Tifa said firmly. "I'm sure of that. It's one of the few things I'm sure of now."
Cloud was sort of comforted by her assurances. He knew he believed it too. It just seemed like something
was holding onto him and not letting him live without having to fight.
"Maybe someday... this will be done..."
The next day, Cloud called everyone together. He had been thinking last night, and he was sure of what they
should do now.
"I know what we need to do," Cloud told everyone when they were assembled. "We have to make one more
final strike against Shinra. We have to end them here and now, or they'll haunt us forever. We have to
destroy everything they have left if we ever want the world to be free of them. Now is when they're weak. We
should go ahead and end it."
Tifa was looking at him with a sort of curious expression on her face, he noticed. He wondered if she was
thinking that he was acting strange. He wished he was perceptive, like she was. She seemed to be able to
read people's faces amazingly well sometimes.
"I like it," Barret said with a grin. He clapped Cloud on the shoulder. "I'm glad somebody else thinks we gotta
end 'em too! Let's do this!"
"We can't just throw all precaution into the wind," Red XIII argued. "I don't think such haste would be wise.
We would be better off trying to take a strategic appraoch- for example, cut off their resources, then let them
die out themselves. People don't have to die that way."
"It's too risky," Cloud shook his head. "We don't know exactly what resources Shinra has. It would be better
to take them out once and for all."
"You've got something else in this," said Vincent. "You've got a driving motive. You want to get rid of Shinra
at this point in time especially. Why?"
Cloud was startled. He had thought Tifa was perceptive; Vincent was obviously even more so. The firmness
with which he stated Cloud's feelings was shocking, especially since he was right.
Cloud sighed deeply, and figured he may as well explain what was on his mind. "We're never going to see the
end of fighting if we don't end Shinra," he said quietly. "I want to be done with it all. I don't ever want to get
into something like the Meteor incident again. I've had enough of that, my life is complete, and I don't want
to do more."
"We have a responsibility," Red said sympathetically. "I am the guardian of Cosmo Canyon, but I have come
here to fulfill it. It is what we must do."
"I know," Cloud agreed. "But I want it to be over as soon as possible."
"What about that other Sephiroth guy?" Cid asked.
"We'll be able to deal with him much better when we don't have Shinra to worry about at the same time,"
Cloud reasoned.
"But isn't Sepheros a greater threat?" Reeve asked through Cait Sith.
"Yes, that's why we need to be able to concentrate on him without Shinra getting in the way," Cloud
explained.
"But what if Sepheros is in the way of getting rid of Shinra?" asked Cid.
"Stop!" Tifa suddenly demanded, standing up from where she had been thinking solemnly the whole time.
She turned to Cloud. "We made Cloud the leader. I trust him, and I always will. If we made him the leader, we
better go by it."
Cloud was a little startled by Tifa's intense feeling about it. She usually didn't get this caught up in such
matters, even things such as Meteor. She was usually down to earth, thoughtful, and reserved. Such
directness wasn't really like her. But then, everyone has their unseen sides.
"She's right, of course," Red decided.
Vincent nodded. "Guess so," Cid shrugged.
"You're right," Cait Sith nodded.
"This is confusing," said Hanshi.
Cloud had forgotten Hanshi was there. He had been quietly regarding the argument without much interest.
"Why?" asked Cloud.
"Because, you people talk too much. Why don't you just go attack Shinra? It's that simple."
"Well, we need to plan-"
"Plan on the way," Hanshi scoffed. He got up and headed for the buggy. Cloud couldn't help but crack a
smile at Hanshi's strangeness. Everything he did was amusing somehow or another.
Yuffie giggled. "He's cute," she remarked, and was the first to follow Hanshi outside. It was time to put an
end to the reign of Shinra once and for all.
The buggy blazed across the Midgar Plains once again, this time for what Cloud hoped would be the last
assault he'd ever have to make on Shinra HQ. He was getting rather tired of blowing apart this building.
But something didn't seem right. There was no action in the base. Usually, as they approached, there were
tanks and soldiers swarming around the area by the time they got close because the Shinra would pick them
up on radar- but there was no one. Not even repair workers fixing the damage from the last attack.
Cloud parked the buggy right next to the entrance to Shinra HQ, and everyone jumped out.
"The hell's goin on?!" Barret yelled angrily. "They ain't even here!"
"We don't know that for sure," Elena mused, as she approached the large, wide doors leading inside Shinra
HQ. Cloud realized that she and the other turks had changed into more appropriate clothes for action. She
was now wearing a short leather skirt similar to Tifa's and a black tank-top. Cloud hadn't ever really thought
about it, but Elena was pretty attractive.
Reno and Rude had changed too- but they didn't really get adventuring attire. Reno wore a light blue
Hawaian-looking button-up shirt and baggy, loose-fitting jean shorts, and Rude looked ridiculous in his
rambo-style outfit. Cloud almost laughed. The two of them seemed to have lost all trace of intelligence after
being neglected by Supreme General Ashroth.
But that wasn't the first thing on Cloud's mind, and he turned his attention back to the Shinra base.
"It's deserted," Hanshi shrugged. "We'll have to go home and wait to find out where their new base is."
Cloud shook his head. "We're going to investigate first. Come on." He lead the way inside the base, and,
weapons at the ready, the companions began a search of the building. There was nothing. Not a single life
form to be found other than the spiders that had built massive webs across the abandoned hallways. Cloud
wondered how long the building had been like this.
The companions eventually split up, and Cloud wandered into a portion of the building that was not lit. He
was forced to continually cast fire spells in order to see. He searched everywhere for some sort of torch to
light, but of course the Shinra didn't use torches.
Finally, he came into a room with large oak doors leading into it. Cloud chopped a chunk off with the Ultima
Weapon and lit it on fire. It was good enough.
He examined the dark room. There were light switches, but the power had apparently been cut off. There were
filing cabinets all over the place, and lots of strange looking plethoras of wierd chemical-mixing equipment,
pitri dishes, and other scientific perephinelia. He guessed it was probably Hojo's laboratory. Perhaps he
could find something useful here.
Cloud walked up to one of the filing cabinets and tried to open it, but it was locked shut. That wasn't a
problem, however- he simply slashed the whole set of cabinets to pieces and searched the wreckage.
Everything had been taken out. Nothing remained but empty folders.
Cloud methodically went from cabinet to cabinet, hoping that something would have been missed. After half
an hour of searching, he had found nothing, and had ransacked all the cabinets. Tired and frustrated he
turned to leave, but saw Elena walking slowly through the doorway and looking around. He hadn't
recognized her at first; he wasn't used to seeing her in clothes other than a posh suit.
"You're making an aweful mess," she complained with disgust.
"Sorry," Cloud shrugged. "The cabinets were locked. I think this is Hojo's lab, and I thought there might be
something useful in them. Everything's been taken out, though."
Elena nodded. "So you checked all of them?"
' "Yep," Cloud confirmed. "There's nothing here. I was just about to leave."
"What about that door?" Elena asked, pointing behind Cloud. Cloud turned around and saw that in the wall
behind him was the faint outline of a door, exactly the same color as the wall. He scratched his head in
puzzlement.
"How'd you see that so quick?" he asked. The door was quite well camouflaged.
"You have to be attentive to details when you're a turk," Elena smiled. She went up to the door. "It doesn't
seem to have a knob," she mused. She gave it a push. Nothing. Cloud offered his help, but the door still
wouldn't budge.
"Damn," Elena muttered, completely exhausted. "How are you supposed to get that thing open?!"
"Stand back," Cloud instructed. She quickly moved out of the way as Cloud raised the Ultima Weapon above
his head and sent it crashing down against the door. Sparks flew as his blade made contact, but the door
wasn't even dented.
"Okay," he muttered under his breath. "You wanna be like that, we'll do this the hard way. Stand back
further." Elena jumped out of the way.
Cloud gathered a deep breath, and then yelled "Flare!" The power of Flare began to gather at the door, and
when it had collected enough, the Flare exploded in a burst of bright, firey color. In the end, the door hadn't
budged.
Cloud yelled a very nasty curse at the top of his lungs, then screamed "Knights!" It was probably the only
way. Everything around Cloud and Elena became blurry, fluxuating with many bright colors, and gigantic
knights began to appear. Each one smashed his massive weapon against the door- and each on put a bit of a
dent in it. After the twelfth knight had clashed with the door, it was almost smashed off its hinges. The final
knight, Arthur, stood up, raising Excalibur above his head, and flung it with all his might against the door.
Finally, the door broke off its hinges and crashed into the room, and the magic faded away.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Elena screamed at Cloud.
"Sorry," Cloud apolagized, "I was a little caught up in trying to break it down. But, now we've done that, so
let's see what's in there."
The two of them walked slowly out onto a large wooden platform in a small cave. It was lit here, so Cloud put
out his torch by quickly casting Ice on it and then tossed the torch away. He and Elena examined their
surroundings. Next to the platform, a monorail stretched out into a long tunnel, and on it sat a strange
looking vehicle with rocked thrusters in the middle that faced both forwards and backwards. In fact, the
whole thing was entirely symetrical, obviously intended to go backwards and forewards.
"Shall we go?" asked Cloud.
"Sure," Elena shrugged. They went up to the little pod-like vehicle and stepped inside. There were no
seatbelts, so Cloud guessed it would probably not be a very fast ride. There was a lever in the center of the
pod, which Cloud pulled as soon as the two of them were seated.
The jolt was extreme. The afterburners on the vehicle flared up with the force of Ultima, sending the pod
blazing along the track, going all the way from 0-130 MHP in the first second of its travel. Cloud and Elena
were thrown painfully to the back of the pod and landed in a rumpled heap, Cloud on top of Elena.
"Sorry," he mumbled, and got up. The ride was smooth now, so it felt like they weren't even moving.
"Not your fault," Elena laughed.
Cloud looked out the transparent top half of the pod. The walls were solid stone, not well chiseled, and were
flying by at an extremely fast pace. About a minute later, the pod came to a screeching halt as the
afterburners suddenly stopped flaring on the one side and started on the other, a very effective form of
braking. The door opened automatically.
Cloud and Elena stepped out onto another wooden platform in an area identical to the one where they had
gotten on except that the rail ended on the opposite end of the room and stretched off backwards, so Cloud
knew that they hadn't just gone in a big circle. There was another door here, clearly defined against the stone
walls. It didn't have a knob either, but easily pushed open.
What Cloud saw then startled him more than anything else he had seen in his life. Elena gasped and muttered
a curse under her breath, and Cloud proceed towards the horrifying sight, half expecting that his death was
imminent, but forced to investigate out of pure and extreme curiosity.
Barret was getting grumpy. He was tired of mucking around in this old stupid base. He was sitting around on
an old, empty safe when Cid, Vincent, Cait Sith, and Red walked in.
"I'm sick a this," Cid muttered and slumped down next to Barret.
"Me too," Barret agreed.
"It does appear to be a somewhat futile search," Red admitted. "But it was not unwise to try."
Tifa, Yuffie, Hanshi, Rude, and Reno then walked in after them. "This is really stupid," Hanshi complained.
"I'm bored," Yuffie agreed.
"I think it's about time to end the search," Tifa summed up. "Who's not here? I don't see Cloud... or Elena.
That's it. I wonder where they are?"
At that moment, Cloud and Elena came rushing into the room as though being chased.
"Something's up!" Cloud exclaimed. "We found Hojo's lab... and a tunnel that lead all the way to a cave
under Midgar!"
"You walked all that way?!" Tifa asked in disbelief.
"No, there was this vehicle on a rail that took you there really fast..." Elena explained.
"And it was this big cloning laboratory... probably Hojo's! And you wouldn't believe what we found there!"
"So what the hell is it?" Barret asked impatiently.
"Sephiroth clones!" Cloud said excitedly. "Hundreds of them! All lined in rows up along one of the walls, in
these big glass pods!"
Elena nodded quietly, her eyes distant.
"Who's Sephiroth?" asked Hanshi.
"I'll explain later," Cloud brushed him off. "We found something else. Something interesting. The clone lab,
not to mention Hojo's lab in this base, have been ransacked and all files were taken out- but they missed this
one. It was under a desk."
Elena took a little paper out of her pocket and read it aloud-
________________________________________________________________________
The Project is proceeding well. We are formulating plans, and soon, we should be strong enough to control
the world. I am still trying to find a way to complete the side operation of the Project, though- getting behind
my partner's back will not be easy. I will continue to update this information as I make progress.
________________________________________________________________________
"It ends there," Elena finished.
"Wierd," Tifa mused.
"Why doesn't he talk about anything directly in there?" Yuffie asked in annoyance.
"In case someone finds it, just like us, probably," Elena shrugged.
"Well, I say we get out of here. There's nothing more to do," Cait Sith suggested.
"I guess not," Cloud agreed. "But there's still one place we didn't search: The roof. We need to look
everywhere."
"The roof?" Hanshi complained with disgust. "What the hell would be on the roof?"
"Possibly clues as to why this base is abandoned," Red offered.
"Let's just get it over with," Cid mumbled, and they got up and headed for the stairwell that led to the roof.
Out on the wide, flat roof of Shinra HQ, they examined the area a bit, then started fanning out. The search
was soon interrupted, however.
"You!" yelled a voice from behind them. Everyone spun around, they're hands on their weapons. There,
hovering a few feet above the ground, was Sepheros.
"I see you've come to search the ruins of the base, just as I have," Sepheros said emotionlessly.
"You didn't cause this?" Vincent asked in response.
"Of course not," Sepheros shrugged. "They have shields that protect them from my power now. And you
do, too. That's why I'll have to take you out the old fashioned way."
Sepheros drew his Murasame and began to hover slowly towards the group. No one knew it except Sepheros
and Cloud, but the focus was really on the two of them. Cloud hated Sephiroth the most, and Sepheros hated
Cloud the most. The clash could only be between them.
Cloud took the Ultima Weapon in both hands and held it up. "Stay out of it, guys," he ordered. It wasn't a
suggestion, it was an order, and the most serious one he had ever given. No one said anything, but just
stared in awe as he went to meet Sepheros.
Sepheros settled to the ground. "A sword duel, then," he nodded.
"En guarde," Cloud acknowledged, and without further ado, the two of them clashed.
It was like the meeting of two tidal waves. Both extremely powerful and extremely skilled swordsmen, the two
of them seemed invincible against eachother's heavy but precise slashes, like the fight was an impossible one
to end. As the two mighty blades clashed, sparks flew through the air, sometimes coming far enough to land
on the companions who sat and watched the cataclysmic duel in utter silence.
Cloud blocked high, slashed low, was blocked, tried to kick Sepheros with his leg opposite his sword arm;
Sepheros leapt back out of the way, thrusted at Cloud. The battle seemed to rage in favor of neither one, until
Cloud suddenly leapt into the air, yelled, "Meteorain!" and showered burning rocks onto Sepheros. While
this attack did little to harm him, Sepheros was momentarily stunned, and Cloud used it to his advantage,
coming back with an onslaught of furious slashes that Sepheros was hard-pressed to block. Finally, Cloud
disarmed his opponent, and sent him careening backwards with a well-aimed kick to the chin. Sepheros lay
on the ground, looking up at his spikey-haired opponent. He was breathing heavily, his eyes burning, his
fists clenched, his nostrils flaring, his body shaking.
"AAAAAAHH!!!" Sepheros began to scream and then, like a rocket being fired from its launch pad, he shot
into the sky, a blaze of green flames streaming from behind him as he flew.
"Temper, temper," Hanshi muttered. No one had time to respond, though, as the earth began to shake. Blasts
of green energy began to fly in every direction from where Sepheros hovered in the air; they would meet the
ground and explode into huge energy reactions, and sent huge cracks crawling through the earth's crust,
with rivers of LifeStream flowing through them. Shinra HQ began to collapse; the companions ran to the edge
of the roof and leapt. Fortunately, it was not a particularly high building, and they landed safely.
But Sepheros's rage continued to shatter the earth. Cracks were building everywhere, and the shaking of the
earth began to separate the companions. It grew so intense that Cloud could no longer see where he was
going, and he ran aimlessly, praying he could escape the tantrum. Finally, everything stopped. The earth was
calm, Cloud's body no longer shook furiously, and he was able to collect himself. It took a minute to get used
to not being vibrated so intensely that he was unable to see anything ahead of him.
Cloud looked into the sky, and Sepheros was gone. Had he been killed? It was possible. Perhaps the tantrum
had completely destroyed him because of its insane power... perhaps.
He stood up and surveyed the surroundings, and realized what had happened. Facing north, there was a
crack in front of him and to his right- blocking his path southward to the chocobo farm, and leaving the only
available directions north and east.
He turned around. Elena, Barret, and Reno were scattered nearby, and were recovering as well as he was.
Across the gap in front of him stood Tifa, Hanshi, Yuffie, and Rude, who were collecting themselves. Cloud
looked to his right and saw that Cid, Vincent, Red, and Cait Sith were all on that side, able to head north,
south, or west, just not east- not towards the rest of their companions.
Everyone came as close to the edge of the gaps as they could, right where all three met. "What are we going
to do?!" Cloud shouted across.
"You're the leader!" was the reply he got from several people simultaneously.
"Just hold on a sec!" Cloud sat down and thought a bit, and then came up with a plan. He stood up again.
"We'll go north to the coast!" he explained loudly. "I want the group who can go west to head for Junon! Get
a ship there, and sail to the north coast, and pick us up! The other group, head east and see if you can find a
way around this crack so you can come up north with us! Move out!" Everyone called back their agreement,
and began to move.
Cloud turned to his group. "Okay, guys," he said wearily, "Let's get moving."
Sephiroth was in absolute bafflement. He didn't understand what had happend to Sepheros- the insane,
uncontrollable flury of raw power had taken him completely by surprise. The problem was that Sepheros had
personality traits that Sephiroth did not, such as a temper, and the ability to be amused- and Sephiroth
understood that perfectly, because he was Sepheros. It was frustrating, feeling feelings that were not his
own and yet came from him. It was a concept no mind in the universe other than Sephiroth's could
understand- Sepheros did not understand it, but Sepheros's mind was Sephiroth's mind, so he knew it and
could explain it perfectly- he just didn't understand it. Even that was a concept that only Sephiroth could
conprehend, and Sepheros not, thus restarting this vicious cycle of absolutely logical nonsense.
Sepheros didn't know where he was when he first awoke from the shock of having gone out of control. He
scanned his surroundings, which were slightly off balance in his vision, and realized eventually that he had
blown himself all the way to Corel. In fact, he was hovering right over the town. Now that he knew where he
was, he collected himself.
He was going to have to make sure that did not happen again, to get control over himself. First, though, he
needed a place to think these things through. A lair, of sorts.
Scanning the area, his hawk-level vision picked up a cave in one of the mountains near Corel that looked
quite uninhabited due to its high altitute. He flew down to the level of the mountains and landed inside the
place he would call home. He would meditate on what had happened, now, and then resume his search for
Cloud and his other enemies.
The Midgar plains were very hot around this time of year, even though they were a fair bit above the
equator. There was a total lack of vegetation other than seemingly endless fields of tall brown grass and the
occaisional shrubby tree, usually no taller than Cloud was himself, and a poor umbrella from the sun's rays.
So, walking slowly but surely across the barren plains, Cloud, Barret, Elena, and Reno chatted a bit as they
went.
"Why do you suppose Sephiroth acted up like that?" Elena inquired.
"He's not exactly Sephiroth," Cloud pointed out. "He's called Sepheros now. And as for the outburst, I'd say
he probably just lost his temper and went out of control. He's got a lot of power, perhaps more than he
knows how to use at this point."
"An if he ever does, all hell breaks loose," Barret added ominously.
"On the other hand, maybe he can't use it," Reno suggested. "Maybe it only happens when he's out of
control."
Elena was startled that Reno had offered such an insightful comment. She was happy, though, and it also
proved a theory of hers- that Reno and Rude only acted like idiots when around eachother. She had thought
this may be the case for some time now, but had never been with one and not the other for more than five
minutes. Now she saw that she had been right, and they weren't total bozos afterall. Maybe they'd even
shape up completely, now that they weren't under Shinra anymore. If that happened, it would be just like old
times, back when Tseng was around. Except that Tseng wouldn't be around. She sighed a heavy mental sigh.
"I wonder if it killed him," Cloud mused. "He wasn't in the air where he had been anymore when we came to,
but that doesn't mean he wasn't anywhere in the air."
"It sort of seems like it," Reno decided. "I mean, it seemed sort of like a last breath of destruction to take his
enemies with him. Sort of like on the last level of Star Fox 64."
Everyone looked at Reno like he was crazy. "Sorry," he muttered. Well, maybe he'll always be a little childish,
but I sort of like him that way, Elena thought to herself.
"You can talk about video games if you want to," Elena shrugged.
"Cool!" Reno exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about this video game series called Final Force, there are like
eight installments and the ninth is just about to come out-"
"Yes, a hundred times, Reno," Elena laughed.
"Nuh-uh, there are only eight so far!" Reno argued. Even Cloud cracked up about that.
"So how far d'ya think the coast is?" Barret asked with his attention aimed at Cloud. He wasn't into such idle
talk at a time like this, of course. Barret was all seriousness when things got rough, although he sometimes
entertained people without meaning to.
"It should only be a few days' walk," Cloud shrugged. "If only we had a vehicle, we could be there so fast..."
"Guess we better move fast," Barret nodded.
"Why's he called Sepheros now?" Elena suddenly turned the conversation all the way back to Sephiroth's
alter ego.
"It's tough to explain," Cloud said. "He's not exactly Sephiroth- but part of him is. He is genetically mixed
with other lives as well, but Sephiroth is the dominating life. The thing is, I know they're joined some other
way, too. Like their minds are one. I mean, Sepheros remembers everything that happened to Sephiroth- and
he wouldn't if it was just a simple genetic mixing."
"How d'ya know all that?" Barret asked in puzzlement.
"I don't exactly know," Cloud admitted. "But every time we fight, it's like I get these waves from his head into
mine. Like he's trying to show me what he is. I can almost feel his mind next to mine, or even with mine. And
that's what he's telling me- that he is Sephiroth, but more. Who else is in the mix, I don't know."
Reno turned up his nose in distaste. "I hate all that psychological stuff. Sooner or later he'll start messing
with your head."
"I don't think he can," Cloud argued. "I mean, I can see his mind, but it doesn't have any effect on me. I
doubt he could use it to control me- and besides, if he could, he would have already."
"I guess that's true," Reno admitted.
Sepheros's eyes opened. After hours of sitting in quiet thought, he had sorted some things out. He was
examing the fact that he existed in the first place, and more importantly, why and how he existed. He knew
that he was more than a simple genetic mix- and even that part of it was an anomaly, as he couldn't tell who
would have done this. Perhaps he would ask the one he had allied himself with. He seemed wise.
But for now, Sepheros knew one thing and one thing only: He must still avenge his father who was himself,
Sephiroth. He must destroy his own killer, Cloud Strife, the one who must not be alowed to live if the Events
were to be set in motion. If only he could manage to eliminate Cloud Strife, the Events would be easily done.
But not before.
Sepheros stood up, and walked slowly out to the ledge overlooking the Corel Mountains from his cave. He
removed his Murasame from the rock where he had "sheathed" it, placed it at his side, and lifted himself into
the air, heading for the Midgar plains.
This time, he would not fail.
Elena gritted her teeth as she fruriously spun the stick back and forth in her hands. She had been taught to
do this thousands of times, and yet not once had she managed it. It really pissed her off when she couldn't
do something many others could. She redoubled her efforts, but the stick only slipped out of her hand. She
stood up, yelled, and stamped on the stupid stick that refused to cooperate with her. Wasn't that what Shinra
was about, afterall? Stamping on anything that didn't cooperate with you? But wait, she wasn't in Shinra
anymore. Elena was always mad at herself for thinking like she was still in Shinra. She had to forget about
that, Shinra was the enemy now.
She sat down like a little girl whose parents wouldn't buy her the new doll she wanted and sulked for a while.
Cloud Barret, and Reno were off trying to construct a shelter out of raw materials such as wood and stone,
using a combination of Materia and their weapons as tools. Elena knew what they would do. They'd come
over there, be done their shelter, and cast Fire on the little pile of kindling she'd made to light it. Well, she
didn't want them to do that. She wanted to do it herself.
She turned around and furiously turned the stick back and forth between the palms of her hands once again.
It was just no good. The stick immediately broke. Elena slammed the two pieces down into the pile in
frustration.
She was just about to try it again when she heard a soft, masculine voice behind her: "Need some help?"
It was Cloud, she knew. But she'd never really heard him talk softly before. He had a comforting tone about
his voice when he talked like that, and it really enchanted Elena. In spite of this, she didn't want help.
"No thanks," she said simply, trying to mimic the calm serenity of his voice, but instead sounding like an
angry school girl.
Somehow, a sixth sense told Elena Cloud was cocking his head to the side and smiling at her. She turned her
head around to look at him, and he was.
"At least... not if it's any trouble," she added meekly. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to help her.
She'd never wanted anyone to help her before in her life. Why would it be different now? It pissed her off
almost as much as the uncooperative stick. And yet, she didn't really feel very pissed off about it.
"It's no trouble," Cloud shrugged. "Here, let me show you."
He knelt down behind her, reached over her shoulders, and put his hands on the backs of hers, then put
them around a new stick.
"You have to pace it like this," he said, and began to move her hands back and forth. "Don't get frustrated,
and don't try to twirl it harder if it isn't working."
Elena was breathing heavily. "Okay," she nodded uncomfortably. No, not uncomfortably- she was so
comfortable it came out sounding like she was uncomfortable. She wasn't comfortable with being this
comfortable around Cloud.
Cloud's motions gradually lessened, as he let Elena take over. Eventually, he removed his hands, but still
knelt closely behind her, watching over her shoulder. Finally, a small flame peeled up, and then gradually
grew into a blaze. The funny thing was, Elena felt proud of the fire, even though she'd had to be shown what
to do. Maybe being helped by others wasn't so bad afterall.
Cloud and Elena sat back on the lalf-logs that they had set up earlier around the kindling, staring into the
blaze for a bit. Elena looked up at Cloud. He looked so solemn and satisfied, sitting there, just staring into the
fire. He looked up to meet her gaze, probably sensing her looking at him. She looked away sharply,
embarrased. Elena wasn't used to embarrasment. Cloud made her feel strange.
"How are you such a content person?" Elena suddenly asked. "You've got all this stuff to worry about... and
sometimes you seem downright frustrated. Why are you so happy?"
Cloud smiled. "I thought I was a clone, created as nothing more than a mere scientific experiment. Then I
found out I wasn't- and it was such a good feeling. I understood and loved my past for the first time ever,
and it was great. That changed my whole outlook on the world. Sometimes something huge just happens to
you, and changes everything for you, and when it does, it's an incredible feeling. I don't think I'll ever be
truly depressed again."
Elena was mistified. She'd never thought about life that way. Be your best throughout life, and you'll be
rewarded was what she had always lived by. The idea of not having to do great things- but just to change
yourself- to turn your life around was an interesting one.
"How'd you find out?" she asked, wanting to know more.
"A friend of mine helped out. Probably the greatest friend I have. I owe so much to her."
"Aeris?" asked Elena.
Cloud felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
"No," he said quietly. "Tifa."
"Oh," Elena nodded. She'd been happy when he said it wasn't Aeris, but then sad when she found out it was
still a woman. Why?
And then she finally decided to accept it. Maybe this would the big change in her life. She needed other
people, she needed companionship, she needed love. And yes, she did have feelings for Cloud. She wanted
to tell him right then and there. She decided she would.
"Do you... like Tifa?" she asked. What? That wasn't what she wanted to say.
"Not like that," Cloud shook his head. "I don't think I ever will again, to be honest. I never knew it until she
was gone, but I was in love with Aeris. I'm not sure I can ever feel that way about another woman again. It
wasn't the kind of love you normally feel for another person."
That completely scared Elena away. She couldn't tell him after that. It would be too awkward for him.
After Reno and Barret finished moving a rather heavy log, they sat down to take a break for a bit. Reno
looked up, wondering where Cloud was. That was when he spied Cloud and Elena sitting together by the
camp fire, chatting idly. What had happened here? Had he missed something?
He was very mad. Elena had known him for ages now, and she had never sat around a campfire and chatted
idly with him. Cloud was her former enemy- they'd been friends for what, a day or two? And here they were,
spending time alone. And plus, Cloud had the nerve to leave the work to them, while he went and had a little
conversation. What was wrong with him? Reno wondered if Barret had noticed. He would undoubtedly be
outraged too.
"Look," Reno said in disgust to Barret, "Cloud ditched us, and he's just sittin around."
"Ya just noticed?" Barret asked in surprise. "Let 'em. The guy's been through a lot. If he's finally talkin to
ladies again, I ain't gonna stop him. He needs to get over Aeris." That was the annoying thing about Barret.
He was always so grumpy, and yet he had such a great heart at the times when it wasn't a good thing for
Reno.
Eventually, they all hit the sack for the night. Cloud was the last to fall asleep. He lay awake thinking of
Aeris. He made a descision. He would no longer try to keep Aeris barried in his mind. He would let the
thoughts come, freely, and they did. He wept for a time, then fell asleep and dreamt nightmares that were
nonsense except for one scene, the scene of Aeris's death, being played over and over again in his mind.
Sephiroth was in absolute bafflement. He didn't understand what had happend to Sepheros- the insane,
uncontrollable flury of raw power had taken him completely by surprise. The problem was that Sepheros had
personality traits that Sephiroth did not, such as a temper, and the ability to be amused- and Sephiroth
understood that perfectly, because he was Sepheros. It was frustrating, feeling feelings that were not his
own and yet came from him. It was a concept no mind in the universe other than Sephiroth's could
understand- Sepheros did not understand it, but Sepheros's mind was Sephiroth's mind, so he knew it and
could explain it perfectly- he just didn't understand it. Even that was a concept that only Sephiroth could
conprehend, and Sepheros not, thus restarting this vicious cycle of absolutely logical nonsense.
Sepheros didn't know where he was when he first awoke from the shock of having gone out of control. He
scanned his surroundings, which were slightly off balance in his vision, and realized eventually that he had
blown himself all the way to Corel. In fact, he was hovering right over the town. Now that he knew where he
was, he collected himself.
He was going to have to make sure that did not happen again, to get control over himself. First, though, he
needed a place to think these things through. A lair, of sorts.
Scanning the area, his hawk-level vision picked up a cave in one of the mountains near Corel that looked
quite uninhabited due to its high altitute. He flew down to the level of the mountains and landed inside the
place he would call home. He would meditate on what had happened, now, and then resume his search for
Cloud and his other enemies.
The Midgar plains were very hot around this time of year, even though they were a fair bit above the
equator. There was a total lack of vegetation other than seemingly endless fields of tall brown grass and the
occaisional shrubby tree, usually no taller than Cloud was himself, and a poor umbrella from the sun's rays.
So, walking slowly but surely across the barren plains, Cloud, Barret, Elena, and Reno chatted a bit as they
went.
"Why do you suppose Sephiroth acted up like that?" Elena inquired.
"He's not exactly Sephiroth," Cloud pointed out. "He's called Sepheros now. And as for the outburst, I'd say
he probably just lost his temper and went out of control. He's got a lot of power, perhaps more than he
knows how to use at this point."
"An if he ever does, all hell breaks loose," Barret added ominously.
"On the other hand, maybe he can't use it," Reno suggested. "Maybe it only happens when he's out of
control."
Elena was startled that Reno had offered such an insightful comment. She was happy, though, and it also
proved a theory of hers- that Reno and Rude only acted like idiots when around eachother. She had thought
this may be the case for some time now, but had never been with one and not the other for more than five
minutes. Now she saw that she had been right, and they weren't total bozos afterall. Maybe they'd even
shape up completely, now that they weren't under Shinra anymore. If that happened, it would be just like old
times, back when Tseng was around. Except that Tseng wouldn't be around. She sighed a heavy mental sigh.
"I wonder if it killed him," Cloud mused. "He wasn't in the air where he had been anymore when we came to,
but that doesn't mean he wasn't anywhere in the air."
"It sort of seems like it," Reno decided. "I mean, it seemed sort of like a last breath of destruction to take his
enemies with him. Sort of like on the last level of Star Fox 64."
Everyone looked at Reno like he was crazy. "Sorry," he muttered. Well, maybe he'll always be a little childish,
but I sort of like him that way, Elena thought to herself.
"You can talk about video games if you want to," Elena shrugged.
"Cool!" Reno exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about this video game series called Final Force, there are like
eight installments and the ninth is just about to come out-"
"Yes, a hundred times, Reno," Elena laughed.
"Nuh-uh, there are only eight so far!" Reno argued. Even Cloud cracked up about that.
"So how far d'ya think the coast is?" Barret asked with his attention aimed at Cloud. He wasn't into such idle
talk at a time like this, of course. Barret was all seriousness when things got rough, although he sometimes
entertained people without meaning to.
"It should only be a few days' walk," Cloud shrugged. "If only we had a vehicle, we could be there so fast..."
"Guess we better move fast," Barret nodded.
"Why's he called Sepheros now?" Elena suddenly turned the conversation all the way back to Sephiroth's
alter ego.
"It's tough to explain," Cloud said. "He's not exactly Sephiroth- but part of him is. He is genetically mixed
with other lives as well, but Sephiroth is the dominating life. The thing is, I know they're joined some other
way, too. Like their minds are one. I mean, Sepheros remembers everything that happened to Sephiroth- and
he wouldn't if it was just a simple genetic mixing."
"How d'ya know all that?" Barret asked in puzzlement.
"I don't exactly know," Cloud admitted. "But every time we fight, it's like I get these waves from his head into
mine. Like he's trying to show me what he is. I can almost feel his mind next to mine, or even with mine. And
that's what he's telling me- that he is Sephiroth, but more. Who else is in the mix, I don't know."
Reno turned up his nose in distaste. "I hate all that psychological stuff. Sooner or later he'll start messing
with your head."
"I don't think he can," Cloud argued. "I mean, I can see his mind, but it doesn't have any effect on me. I
doubt he could use it to control me- and besides, if he could, he would have already."
"I guess that's true," Reno admitted.
Sepheros's eyes opened. After hours of sitting in quiet thought, he had sorted some things out. He was
examing the fact that he existed in the first place, and more importantly, why and how he existed. He knew
that he was more than a simple genetic mix- and even that part of it was an anomaly, as he couldn't tell who
would have done this. Perhaps he would ask the one he had allied himself with. He seemed wise.
But for now, Sepheros knew one thing and one thing only: He must still avenge his father who was himself,
Sephiroth. He must destroy his own killer, Cloud Strife, the one who must not be alowed to live if the Events
were to be set in motion. If only he could manage to eliminate Cloud Strife, the Events would be easily done.
But not before.
Sepheros stood up, and walked slowly out to the ledge overlooking the Corel Mountains from his cave. He
removed his Murasame from the rock where he had "sheathed" it, placed it at his side, and lifted himself into
the air, heading for the Midgar plains.
This time, he would not fail.
Elena gritted her teeth as she fruriously spun the stick back and forth in her hands. She had been taught to
do this thousands of times, and yet not once had she managed it. It really pissed her off when she couldn't
do something many others could. She redoubled her efforts, but the stick only slipped out of her hand. She
stood up, yelled, and stamped on the stupid stick that refused to cooperate with her. Wasn't that what Shinra
was about, afterall? Stamping on anything that didn't cooperate with you? But wait, she wasn't in Shinra
anymore. Elena was always mad at herself for thinking like she was still in Shinra. She had to forget about
that, Shinra was the enemy now.
She sat down like a little girl whose parents wouldn't buy her the new doll she wanted and sulked for a while.
Cloud Barret, and Reno were off trying to construct a shelter out of raw materials such as wood and stone,
using a combination of Materia and their weapons as tools. Elena knew what they would do. They'd come
over there, be done their shelter, and cast Fire on the little pile of kindling she'd made to light it. Well, she
didn't want them to do that. She wanted to do it herself.
She turned around and furiously turned the stick back and forth between the palms of her hands once again.
It was just no good. The stick immediately broke. Elena slammed the two pieces down into the pile in
frustration.
She was just about to try it again when she heard a soft, masculine voice behind her: "Need some help?"
It was Cloud, she knew. But she'd never really heard him talk softly before. He had a comforting tone about
his voice when he talked like that, and it really enchanted Elena. In spite of this, she didn't want help.
"No thanks," she said simply, trying to mimic the calm serenity of his voice, but instead sounding like an
angry school girl.
Somehow, a sixth sense told Elena Cloud was cocking his head to the side and smiling at her. She turned her
head around to look at him, and he was.
"At least... not if it's any trouble," she added meekly. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to help her.
She'd never wanted anyone to help her before in her life. Why would it be different now? It pissed her off
almost as much as the uncooperative stick. And yet, she didn't really feel very pissed off about it.
"It's no trouble," Cloud shrugged. "Here, let me show you."
He knelt down behind her, reached over her shoulders, and put his hands on the backs of hers, then put
them around a new stick.
"You have to pace it like this," he said, and began to move her hands back and forth. "Don't get frustrated,
and don't try to twirl it harder if it isn't working."
Elena was breathing heavily. "Okay," she nodded uncomfortably. No, not uncomfortably- she was so
comfortable it came out sounding like she was uncomfortable. She wasn't comfortable with being this
comfortable around Cloud.
Cloud's motions gradually lessened, as he let Elena take over. Eventually, he removed his hands, but still
knelt closely behind her, watching over her shoulder. Finally, a small flame peeled up, and then gradually
grew into a blaze. The funny thing was, Elena felt proud of the fire, even though she'd had to be shown what
to do. Maybe being helped by others wasn't so bad afterall.
Cloud and Elena sat back on the lalf-logs that they had set up earlier around the kindling, staring into the
blaze for a bit. Elena looked up at Cloud. He looked so solemn and satisfied, sitting there, just staring into the
fire. He looked up to meet her gaze, probably sensing her looking at him. She looked away sharply,
embarrased. Elena wasn't used to embarrasment. Cloud made her feel strange.
"How are you such a content person?" Elena suddenly asked. "You've got all this stuff to worry about... and
sometimes you seem downright frustrated. Why are you so happy?"
Cloud smiled. "I thought I was a clone, created as nothing more than a mere scientific experiment. Then I
found out I wasn't- and it was such a good feeling. I understood and loved my past for the first time ever,
and it was great. That changed my whole outlook on the world. Sometimes something huge just happens to
you, and changes everything for you, and when it does, it's an incredible feeling. I don't think I'll ever be
truly depressed again."
Elena was mistified. She'd never thought about life that way. Be your best throughout life, and you'll be
rewarded was what she had always lived by. The idea of not having to do great things- but just to change
yourself- to turn your life around was an interesting one.
"How'd you find out?" she asked, wanting to know more.
"A friend of mine helped out. Probably the greatest friend I have. I owe so much to her."
"Aeris?" asked Elena.
Cloud felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer.
"No," he said quietly. "Tifa."
"Oh," Elena nodded. She'd been happy when he said it wasn't Aeris, but then sad when she found out it was
still a woman. Why?
And then she finally decided to accept it. Maybe this would the big change in her life. She needed other
people, she needed companionship, she needed love. And yes, she did have feelings for Cloud. She wanted
to tell him right then and there. She decided she would.
"Do you... like Tifa?" she asked. What? That wasn't what she wanted to say.
"Not like that," Cloud shook his head. "I don't think I ever will again, to be honest. I never knew it until she
was gone, but I was in love with Aeris. I'm not sure I can ever feel that way about another woman again. It
wasn't the kind of love you normally feel for another person."
That completely scared Elena away. She couldn't tell him after that. It would be too awkward for him.
After Reno and Barret finished moving a rather heavy log, they sat down to take a break for a bit. Reno
looked up, wondering where Cloud was. That was when he spied Cloud and Elena sitting together by the
camp fire, chatting idly. What had happened here? Had he missed something?
He was very mad. Elena had known him for ages now, and she had never sat around a campfire and chatted
idly with him. Cloud was her former enemy- they'd been friends for what, a day or two? And here they were,
spending time alone. And plus, Cloud had the nerve to leave the work to them, while he went and had a little
conversation. What was wrong with him? Reno wondered if Barret had noticed. He would undoubtedly be
outraged too.
"Look," Reno said in disgust to Barret, "Cloud ditched us, and he's just sittin around."
"Ya just noticed?" Barret asked in surprise. "Let 'em. The guy's been through a lot. If he's finally talkin to
ladies again, I ain't gonna stop him. He needs to get over Aeris." That was the annoying thing about Barret.
He was always so grumpy, and yet he had such a great heart at the times when it wasn't a good thing for
Reno.
Eventually, they all hit the sack for the night. Cloud was the last to fall asleep. He lay awake thinking of
Aeris. He made a descision. He would no longer try to keep Aeris barried in his mind. He would let the
thoughts come, freely, and they did. He wept for a time, then fell asleep and dreamt nightmares that were
nonsense except for one scene, the scene of Aeris's death, being played over and over again in his mind.
The four of them awoke early the next morning, ready to start afresh. Cloud was relieved to be awake and out
of his nightmares, no longer having to remember the horrible scene that had taken Aeris away from him. It
took a while, but he eventually forgot it as he chatted with the others over a breakfast of chocobo eggs.
Cloud had always loved chocobo eggs, and he dug right in.
Reno, on the other hand, looked positively grumpy. Not without reason, either. He eyed Cloud and Elena
suspiciously for a while, seeing how close they were, if they looked at eachother, and basically looking for as
many signs as he could.
"I hope that it's like this for the rest of the trip," Elena commented while they ate.
Of course you do, Reno though bitterly to himself. You're the one having all the romance. Leave me alone
with Barret to talk to. Thanks. What am I supposed to do, fall in love with him?
"What's wrong, Reno?" Elena asked with concern, seeming to notice his discomfort.
"I dunno," Reno muttered. "Didn't sleep too good last night."
"That sucks," Elena sympathized. "Guess you're not an under-the-stars kind of guy."
No, not like Cloud is, is that why you like him so much better?
"Well, we better get movin," Barret changed the subject. "If they get that ship to the coast before we're there,
they'll pass right by where we end up, an then we won't have no ride home."
Cloud nodded. "I hope we're not at this too long, or Shinra may cause some trouble before we can do
anything about it."
"Do we really have to go so early?" Elena asked disappointedly. "I'd much rather stick around and chat for a
while."
"We gotta make good time," Barret shook his head.
"It's okay," Cloud shrugged. "We have pleanty of time, the others have longer to go to Junon then we have
to the coast, and they'll take a day or so to sail up to the coast. It won't matter if we spend another hour or so
here."
"Whatever," muttered Barret.
Elena beamed at Cloud. "Thanks, Cloud," she said sweetly.
Reno got up and walked a ways off of camp. "Gonna go for a little walk," he explained. No one seemed to
give it a second thought. If Cloud had done the same thing, Elena would have immediately jumped up and
offered to go with him. It was the most frustrating thing in the world.
He walked slowly through the dew-sodden grasses of the Midgar Plains, kicking at the ground every other
step and thinking about Elena. Maybe he should just try not to care. Find some other girl who would like him
more than her former enemy.
But he couldn't just make himself not care about Elena- he had been in love with her ever since they first met.
Why he had never told her, he didn't know at all. It irritated him tremendously. He wondered why she didn't
seem to like him very much. He was always so nice to her. Wasn't he? Was he doing something wrong?
Reno's thought wandered back to the old days of the turks, back when President Shinra was still around.
How he longed for those days to return. Back then, they were fearsome, united under their strong leader
Tseng. Reno had always looked up to Tseng, and as soon as he was gone, there was no more meaning for
the turks except to get revenge on his killers. But now that was gone, too, because they'd allied themselves
with them. He couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe he should leave, right now, just leave. Only then he would
never see Elena anymore, and even though she was probably out of his reach, he couldn't live with that
thought.
He turned around to head back to camp.
Barret had gone off to search for some food rations to bring on the journey with them- more for the sake of
letting Cloud be alone with Elena. He wondered how far the two of them were going. He'd have to ask Cloud
about it sometime.
Cloud and Elena sat together on a fairly large rock, looking at the sunrise. "I love sunrises," Cloud was telling
her. "And sunsets. I don't know why, but they've always been something special for me."
"That's really neat," Elena complemented. She only wished this could be a more officially romantic thing. She
imagined how nice it would be if Cloud's arm were around her shoulder and she were leaning her head on his.
But she didn't want to try to start anything. If he liked her back, which it sort of seemed like he did, then he'd
start it. It was the guy's job, afterall.
Barret looked at his watch and decided it was about time he got back. He just hoped he wouldn't interrupt
anything, but he doubted Cloud would be doing anything like that. It wasn't Cloud's style. He'd save it for a
time when they weren't in the middle of an adventure.
Barret didn't notice anything until he heard a twig snap behind him, then wheeled sharply around, and when
he saw the tall, silver-haired form of Sepheros standing behind him, he let out a curse at the top of his lungs
and began unloading his gatling gun. Unfortunately, Barret soon realized that Sepheros had cast Shield, and
his bullets meant nothing.
"Night," said Sepheros, and he smashed the butt of his Murasame into Barret's head, knocking him out. He
didn't want to kill Barret. It would be so much nicer when he awoke to find Cloud gutted to death.
Sepheros knew that Cloud must be nearby if Barret was there. He flew into the air to resume his search.
"Ah, it's starting to end," Cloud said disappointedly. "We should probably get going now. I wonder where
Ba-"
Cloud didn't finish his sentence, but instead stared forward, looking hard into the sunset.
"Cloud?" Elena asked in puzzlement. She looked where he was starting, then gasped. Cloud leapt up, the
Ultima Weapon drawn.
"Sepheros," Elena muttered in fear, as the muscular form of Sephiroth's legacy settled softly to the ground in
front of them.
"Cloud Strife," he whispered. "You've escaped me for the last time. This time, I swear I will defeat you."
"Come and get it," Cloud nodded, his eyes narrowing. He held the Ultima Weapon up in front of him.
Sepheros sneered. "Not this time, Spikes," he said maliciously. It was weird to hear someone who looked
exactly like Sephiroth make a humorous statement, even if it was lame. "I may not be able to use my powers
directly on you, but I've got an idea here," he finished.
He then shot up into the air at top speed, and yelled, "Fire 3!"
It wasn't just one Fire 3, though- with one casting, he started 10 blazes. The sun was so hot here that it had
already dried up most of the dew; what was left was immediately burned away by the intense heat of the
magical flames. A huge fire began to roar across the plains, heading straight for Cloud and Elena.
Cloud turned to run, but stopped as he saw Elena stand there, holding her hand out. He turned in puzzlement
to face her, and was about to tell her to run, when he heard her mutter "Shiva." Cloud didn't know that Elena
had a Shiva Materia, but he was pretty glad of it.
The mighty Shiva rose up from the earth, her frosty presence causing the grass around her to freeze over.
She spread her hands out, and in a flash, a huge blanket of ice spread over the flames, instantly quelling
them. Then she returned to the land of Summoned Monsters.
Sepheros floated down again. "I see you've found a counter yet again," he muttered. "That girl means
nothing to me, however. You and I, we must battle again."
Cloud nodded. "I agree. You'll have to stay out of this one, Elena."
"What?!" Elena yelled indignantly. "I've got to help you!"
"You can't," Cloud shook his head. "It's a personal thing. Sepheros and I have to settle this. Besides, there's
nothing you could do against that sword. Stay back."
Elena nodded reluctantly, and Cloud proceeded towards Sepheros.
If the first duel between the two was a cataclysm, the second was a cataclysm times a cataclysm. The two
blades seemed to be a couple of blurs as they clashed thunderously over and over again, spraying blue
sparks every which way on each impact.
Cloud wasn't prepared for Sepheros's new strategy, however. Sepheros began to use his ability to fly as an
advantage. He would dart quickly backwards, then fly forward with tremendous force before Cloud had time
to form a solid defense, which began to weaken him. Finally, Sepheros flipped over Cloud's head, and, still in
the air behind him, kicked him in the back of the head. Cloud tumbled to the ground. His head ached too
much to get up, and saw about six of Sepheros as he raised the Murasame above his head to deliver the final
strike.
But suddenly, six Elena's kicked the Murasame from each Sepheros's hand, sending it flying off, then used to
element of surprise to deal them a crushing roundhouse quick, stunning them long enough for the Elenas to
cast Cure 3 on Cloud.
Cloud leapt up, revived. Sepheros got up, too, though, and charged back into the fight. Cloud aimed an
overhead slash as Sepheros flew forwards, but Sepheros countered by slamming his fist into Cloud's wrist in
such a way that he let go of the Ultima Weapon, and it fell to the ground. Niether had time enough to try and
grab the weapon, and instead they continued hand to hand. Cloud's prowess at hand-to-hand combat was
not great, but Elena was in the fight now, and the two of them combined were too much for Sepheros. Finally,
beaten and bruised, Sepheros began to feel his anger heating up. His power was beginning to flow harder.
He couldn't let this happen again. If it did, it might completely destroy him. It was the most frustrating thing
to have this weakness when he was so incredibly powerful- but he had no choice.
"I'll see you another time, Cloud," Sepheros finally submitted, and flew into the air, heading west.
"You sure will," Cloud said as he watched Sepheros become a distant speck. He turned to Elena. "Thanks,
Elena," he said solemnly. "You did great." Elena was about to reach out for a handshake, but instead, Cloud
took her in an embrace. "I'm sorry we were enemies once."
"Me too," Elena whispered. She was too much in awe to say much else.
Ashroth stepped out of the large chopper and onto the fertile land of the Mideel Area. He looked around at
the paradise he had landed in, taking in the beautiful waves off the shore, feeling the pleasant sea breeze, and
enjoying the tropical climate. This was a wonderful place to restart Shinra. Midgar 2 would finally be built,
and it would be built here.
He stepped into the town of Mideel, followed by a troop of Shinra soldiers. "Go," he ordered. The soldiers
spread throughout the town, taking people from their homes and then burning them. Ashroth exited the town
again and watched from a high rock as Mideel burnt to the ground. He smiled in pleasure as he heard the
anguished cries of the people whose homes were being destroyed. He loved to have the power to cause
others pain. It was the ultimate form of dominance.
General Argad walked slowly up behind Ashroth. "Sir," he said with a robotic salute.
"What is it, general?" Ashroth asked with a slight hint of irritation. Argad would have to be careful.
"We've just confirmed reports that the members of AVALANCHE have gone missing," Argad reported. "I
thought you might want to know."
"Thank you, general," Ashroth nodded. "Is that all?"
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
"Yes, sir." Argad walked away in relief.
This was an intersting turn of events. Ashroth would have to ponder it for a while. But for now, he had
something else to attend to.
He walked back to the makeshift army camp that the Shinra had set up outside Mideel. "Where is colonel
Jeraz?" he demanded.
"I'll go get him for you, sir," a nearby private immediately offered.
"Make it quick," Ashroth ordered.
"Yes sir," the private nodded obediently, and rushed off to find Jeraz.
Ashroth waited for a minute or so before the colonel rushed out to see him. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he
asked with a salute.
"Yes, colonel," Ashroth nodded. He didn't look at Jeraz at all, of course. "I would like you to take care of a
little operation for me."
Sepheros landed in his cave in anger. He had failed to kill Cloud again, and it was beginning to annoy him. It
seemed ridiculous with all his incredible power that he could not kill a mere mortal man. But he couldn't. It
drove him nuts.
What he needed was a plan. He must think, how could he possible get to Cloud in a better way than direct
confrontation? He was Sephiroth, so he knew many things about Cloud. He searched Sephiroth's memories
for a clue. Then, suddenly, it hit upon him. There was one thing that he knew he could use against Cloud.
This time, the plan was foolproof. Sepheros walked to the edge of his cave, and then flew out into the world
yet again. It was time to create the weapon that would destroy Cloud once and for all.
Here ends Volume 1: The Perfect Warrior of the saga Final Fantasy VII: Beyond Apocalypse. The saga continues in Volume 2: The Rejoining.