Two Days Ago..
"Great idea, Tifa! Let's make Cloud party leader!" Cid scoffed, shoving the novice pilot out of the way to take control of the Highwind. "He handed the Black Materia to Sephiroth on a silver platter, how bad could he be?!"
"It wasn't his fault," Tifa said desperately, following behind Cid as he moved about the bridge. "He was…!"
"Cid's right, ain't no way we are letting that fool out of our sight, let alone let him run the show!" Barret said.
"We need him!"
"Like a goddamn hole in the head!"
"He's right, it doesn't matter." Cid turned suddenly to face her, touching her shoulder in an uncharacteristic display of sympathy. He opened his mouth then closed it again, his grip on her arm tightening. He shook his head once. "Tifa, he's a loose cannon with a barrel pointed right at us!"
The members of Cid's hired crew were now having difficulty focusing on their assigned tasks.
"We're not going to make it anyway," Vincent murmured from his dark corner at the controls behind the pilot's station. His usually calm expression was suddenly wild, a strange smile spreading across his pale face. "It's finally happening," he raved, his normally low voice rising. "Soon they'll call us Ancients. A whole planet extinct…"
"Stop it," Yuffie cried, her tear streaked face painted with an expression of horror. Red XIII edged closer to her as Cid smacked the control panel with a curse.
"Like hell I'm just gonna sit here and die," he shouted, moving to the opposite set of controls for radar. "This Sephiroth shit has ShinRa by the balls. I say we raid them for supplies, head back to my place, and build something to get us the hell off this planet."
"You're just gonna turn tail and run?!" Barret was in Cid's face now, shouting and staring him down. "We have a duty to this planet…!"
"And you've got a daughter to think about don't ya, Mr. AVALANCE?"
"Damn right, and I won't be shooting her off into space to live another month before your shit machine runs out of oxygen."
"The hell you say?!" Cid snagged Barret's collar.
"Stop!" Tifa forced the two men apart. "Nobody is dying here or in space. We've already lost enough."
"She's right."
The bridge grew suddenly and eerily silent as Cloud finally spoke up.
"And one of us lost everything."
Cid and Barret looked to the floor. The crew had stopped working for a moment to listen. The Highwind simply hovered in place as everything grew absolutely still.
"She sacrificed everything so we could be here. On this Planet." Cloud opened his eyes and stood from his place on the bridge deck. "None of us can afford to look back now, or try to escape from what we've got to do. We all have people on this planet we have to protect. We can't run away with them and out of danger because the danger is already here."
"Listen to me. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I'm Cloud, ex-Soldier born in Nibelheim. I came to settle things with Sephiroth. I came here of my own free will or so I thought." Cloud hesitated, looking toward Tifa without meeting her gaze. "But…to tell the truth I'm afraid of myself. There is a part of me I don't understand…the part that made me give the Black Materia to Sephiroth. If you hadn't stopped me, Aeris might have been…," his fist tightened and shook visibly. "There is something inside of me, a person who is not really me. That's why I should quit this journey. Before I do something terrible. But I have to go. He destroyed my hometown five years ago, killed Aeris, and is now trying to destroy the planet. I'll never forgive…Sephiroth. I…I must go on. So I'm going to ask you this favor. Will you let me go on? Will you come with me?...to save me from doing something terrible."
Through the course of his speech, Clouds voice had taken on the old tone Tifa missed. His back was straight and he surveyed the party and the crew with a look of authority. She couldn't place the change she witnessed in him. If she wasn't so doubtful herself, she would have called it "hope." But as she watched him pace around Barret and Cid, explaining his impossible actions and imploring them to continue on, she could only think of one thing: Our party leader has returned.
Everyone was silent for a moment. Cloud looked to each of them. He met Tifa's eyes and she could see a spark in them. A determination that she hope the others would recognize.
"Well when you put it like that, Spike…" Barret scratched the back of his head.
"Ah hell," Cid swore, "Where to next ya chocobo-livered materia wastin' loon?"
"Looks like you're stuck with us," Tifa said with a smile. "We won't let you get into any more trouble."
"Count on us," Yuffie said weakly, her stomach getting the best of her as she rushed off the bridge toward the cargo hold.
"Till the end," murmured Red XII as Cait Sith sang out a cheer.
Vincent simply nodded, skulking off toward the vessels darker places.
Cloud walked to the helm, and Cid stood aside to let him take control of the Highwind.
"If we're going to save a planet, we'll need some supplies."
End of Chapter Note:
Ok so I took some liberties with the dialogue. Part of Cloud's speech here is actually given to two of your party members in game while in Coral some time after Aeris's death. I just felt like it would be fun to try to write a scene where everybody sort of doubts Cloud's ability to lead. It felt like in the game they never really had a full out discussion about how Cloud's mental stability and connection to Sephiroth could spell disaster for the entire team. Also, I feel like they weren't as freaked out as they should be at the end of the world, thus Cid and Vincent's meltdown. I had Barret still hoping to save the planet because he sort of started AVALANCHE. Also I feel like his questioning of Cloud's abilities is natural considering that he was the former leader of their ragtag team of eco-terrorists. Anywho, I didn't feel like I did a very good job with this chapter. Might edit it later. Thanks for reading!