Chapter 3: A Way Out
Tifa knocked on the front door, that was nearly as burly as the man that lived past it. A gruff voice yelled out, "I'ma comin." Heavy foot steps were heard thudding their way toward the door. Tifa stood their anticipating the door as she heard the step come closer. But, when Barret slamed the door open she still jumped.
"Tifa? What ya doin here?" He asked, trying to keep use bass voice a little more quiet than usual.
Tears began to stream down her face. "I-I-I'm-" She couldn't seem to get the words out, and she began to sob, cupping her hands over her face.
Barret put his big arm around her smaller figure and led her into the living room. Sittin her down on the couch, he took a seat opposite her and waited for her to regain her compsure.
After a few minutes she stopped sobbing and looked back up at Barret. "I'm pregnant." She said hastily.
Barret gawked at her for a moment. "You're gonna have a baby?!"
"Yes..." She said, looking at her feet.
"When'd ya find out?" His voice dropped to a lower bass, as it usually did when his emotions started running on overdrive.
"Just yesterday." She said, sniffing back a tear.
"Wh-Whaddya want me to do?"
"I just want your help. You're support. Please, with Cloud gone...I just can't raise this baby by myself. And you've had experience with Marlene."
"Well you helped me with Marlene too." He mumbled
"But not while she was a baby."
"Yea, well, alright. I'll help ya. Jist as long as ya don't go makin me do everything." She smiled brightly at his consent, it was the first thing that went right in quite a while. Barret returned the smile, finally seeing some joy in Tifa's eyes. It was the first time he had seen that since Cloud had passed.
"Well, we've got nine months right?" Barret asked.
"Yea, plenty of time to get ready." She smiled again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another headache. The pain was going beyond anything Sephiroth had ever felt. Hell has followed me back to earth. He thought, rolled up in a ball on the ground, grabbing his head. He couldn't move the pain was so great. I...can't...go... ON!!!!!!! His mind tried to fight off the pain that pounded at his skull.
The pain just increased. It seemed to pound at his very existence. Every second bringing more pain, more pounding. It was insane!
Suddenly, the pain was gone. It disappeared as quickly as it had come. Sephiroth got to his feet, somewhat disoriented. He looked around, wondering if someone or something around him and cause it. He began to walk away from the spot were he had lay. He thought he felt someone behind him. He spun, but nothing was there. He resumed his walk, faster now. Then it came back. He spun again. And again, nothing. He now broke into a jog. And then a run as he felt the presence still at his back. He was in a dead sprint now. Suddenly he cleared the forest and saw a town ahead.
As he approached the town the presence seemed to disappear. He looked around, wondering why it had left. Oh well, at least it's gone now. He sat down at the very outskirts of the town, hoping that no one saw, or recognized him. It's been three years. I doubt anyone would remember me anyway. Humans are so pathetic. Always forgetting what they want.
He took out his sword, again seeing the images of Hell in its reflection. Death. Pain. Torture. Everything that was evil. Sephiroth smiled though. He had escaped. He was free from the place. And he had killed him. Cloud was dead. He had won. But, still nothing seemed to be better now. He had always thought the revenge would be so sweet. Of course the moment was amazing. His body tingled to the bone as he had stabbed Cloud over and over. But now, now everything was different. The headaches, and the presence. It was all too much for him. He had brought Hell with him. Or maybe Cloud was back to haunt him. Maybe his mother, Lucrecia. He wasn't sure, but this had to be better then Hell. Right?
Another headache began to pound at his head. Swinging its mighty power, knocking Sephiroth to the ground again. He curled up and tried to cope with the pain as best he could. But he had to struggle to keep from screaming out in pain. The headache was worse this time. He couldn't go on like this. Insanity began to grip at his already insane mind. An insane man going even further insane.
He screamed out in pain as the headache intensified. No one seemed to noticed. The city was deserted he seemed to notice in some corner of his mind as he continued to scream out in pain.
Then the worst got worse. The presence came back and just seemed to hover over Sephiroth. Watching him struggle in pain, watching him roll on the ground screaming out in pain. He could almost feel sympathy being empathically recieved from the presence. It was trying to calm him down.
Slowly the headache weakend until it turned into nothing. Sephiroth stood up, looking around, seeing no one. But, feeling someone. "What do you want?" He demanded, talking into the thin air. Silence. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He shouted, with silence as his only response. "WHAT DO YOU wANT?!?!?!" He screamed it this time.
Drawing his sword he quieted his voice. "Tell me what you want or die." And after another pause with filled with silence ge began to slash at the air. "TELL...ME....WHAT...YoU...WANT!!!!" He shouted inbetween swipes of the Masamune.
Finally, he stopped, deciding that it couldn't be hit by his sword. He could still feel it thought, mocking him now. He finally gave up and hit himself over the head with his sword, knocking himself unconscious.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--9 months later--
"Push!" The doctor yelled, his hands ready to help the baby out of the womb.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!" She yelled at him, pushing with all her might.
The head slowly poked through and the doctor helped as Tifa strained to get the rest of the baby out. "It's a boy!" He said, as Tifa slumped back into the hospital bed. Barret stood by, blinking in amazment at what just took place.
"Damn..." Was all that Barret could mutter.
Tifa's eyes began to water once again. But this time the tears were of joy, and not of saddness. Though, that baby did remind her of Cloud. It looked so much like him.
"What're ya gonna name him?" Barret asked, smiling at the baby.
"I'm not too sure." She said, not having thought about that too much over the last few months.
"That's ok, ya got plenty of time t'thinkin about it now." Barret said, smiling down at her. She smiled back, which had become less and less rare.
"Thank you Barret."
"Awww...s$#@..."His face turned red, though it wasn't very visible under his already dark skin.
She glared at him for a moment for his language. "Not in front of the baby." she said sternly.
"I-I'm sorry." He mumbled.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nananki was laying on his bed, reading a book. Never had he become so completely engrossed in a topic. His eyes sped through the words, always wanting to get to the next one. Marching on, absorbing the information that the book told him.
Three days straight now. For three days he had been reading books on the same topic, locked away in his room. Information started to piece together in his mind as he read on. Everybook adding its own piece to the puzzle. Soon, very soon he would have all the info he needed. And then, just maybe it would work. He prayed to what ever God or gods that lived out there to let it all be true. It HAS to be true. It is written in the sacred writings of the Ancients. It just HAS to be true...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cid looked over to Shera. He couldn't believe that they had gotten maried. Crazy woman was always running around the house cleanin up his stuff. Making the perfectly good mess clean. So, he had gone out to work on his new baby. Finally a place where he could be alone. Alone with his new airship.
"Oh HONEY!!! Do you need any help with your air ship?" Her voice rang out to him.
"God damnit woman. Leave me ^$@#*&^ alone for five minutes." He muttered a few more obsanities before crawling back into the small shaft where the problem was. Something in here was preventing it from starting, and he was determined to find that something.
Shera walked into the house, disgusted with her husband. HOw can he be so cruel? She wondered only to herself. Well, I did marry him, and I did know that he was like that. So I guess there's not much to complain about. With that she took out the broom and began to sweep the kitchen. She thought of it as one of her nervous habits. Cleaning that is. She had just swept the kitchen this morning, but somehow Cid had managed to get it just as dirty as before in only a few minutes. Oh well, at least it gives me something to do. She began to hum to herself as she went on with her chores.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vincent wondered what had happened. He looked at the dead body. It was rotting and smelling up the place. Flies buzzed around, landing on the corpse occasionaly. The stench was horrible, but not horrible enough to cause Vincent to back away. He looked at the corpse, realizing fully who it was.
"Lucrecia..." He whispered, coming closer to the body. "Lucrecia, who did this to you?" He mused, looking at the stab wound through her mid section. "A sword...It appears to be a thin, long sword...Sephiroth!"
He began digging a hole in the ground. She at least deserves a proper buriel. He thought as he worked. My god, how could he have done that. I always thought that Hojo had done the worst things I would ever see. But, Killing your own mother... He lay the body in the hole and began to fill it with the dirt that he had just dug.
"Good bye...Lucrecia..." He stuck a few flowers by the grave. A tear rolled down his usually dry face. "I love you..." He whispered so low that someone standing right by him would not have heard it.
"You will pay Sephiroth. Cloud and Lucrecia will be avenged. You will face your maked again. And this time you won't come back."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reeve looked around the new ShinRa company building. Amazing what they can do with enough money. He thought, looking at the completely rebuilt building. The walls were now made of glass. Well, up to the 50th floor. But the rest was in 2 foot thick cement. But, the more secretive experiments had always been in the higher levels. Except the sub levels. But not even he knew much about those dark places. He was too afraid to set foot down there.
He finally reached his office, right on the 49th floor. "Amazing they let me still work here, but they've improved." He began to talking to himself. A habit that drove some people nuts.
He began to think about Cloud again. His mind always seemed to wander to him. "Damn Sephiroth...Damn him to Hell..." He sat down and thought of a way to get back at him.
"IF only there was some way to get Cloud back. Then maybe we could win. I bet we could if we worked as a team. But, how could we possibly get Cloud back? Who would know the most about resurection? Hummmm...probably some where in the City of the Ancients. But, I'm never going there again. Jeesh, bad memories. Maybe, yea, I bet he would know." With that Reeve left the ShinRa building and got in his ShinRa made car, which was the nicest that money could buy and drove off into the setting sun.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nananki suddenly heard a short rap on the front door. Not many people would bother coming by here, I wonder who it is.
"Come in." He said in his normal voice. Reeve pushed the door open and walked in. "Hello Reeve, nice to see you again."
"Heya Red, what's up? Hey, I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about how we could resurect Cloud."
Nananki's eyes widdened. "Interesting, I have been researching that very thing. But it seems, that only an ancient can be restored to life."
Reeve thought for a moment, "But that means we could bring that Aeris girl back to life, right?"
"Correct, however there are some draw backs." Nananki added.
"Yea, like what?"
"Like you can only use it once, and that you only come back for one year."
"One year huh? I don't think I'd wanna come back just to die in a year..."
"But Aeris can't tell us what she wants to do. So we have to make a judgement." Nananki's voice was grave.
"We should probably assemble everyone for this then."
"Yes, I already arranged that. We're meeting at Tifa's house tomarrow afternoon."
"Great, let's go." Reeve's voice was filled with enthusiasm. Finally, the girl of my dreams will be back... But she's always had that thing for Cloud...Damn him...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The group sat in the circle, waiting for Red to speak. Everyone was there; Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Reeve, Cid, Shera, Nanaki, Vincent, and L'il Cloud as everyone had come to call him.
"We can resurrect her." He suddenly said, breaking the silence.
"Aeris?!" Tifa gawked at him. L'il Cloud looked up from the toy he happened to be chewing on at the moment. He held out his arms toward Tifa and looked at her with his best puppy eyes. She bent down and picked him up. "Come here you." She said, setting him on her lap.
"Yes, we can resurrect Aeris."
"Well then why the hell haven't we yet?" Barret demanded.
"There are some drawbacks." Nananki's voice never fluctuated as he spoke.
"Like what?" Cid asked.
"We can only do it once, and it only lasts for a year, then she will die again."
"What the hell kinda drawbacks are those? Why the hell does that have to happen." Barret's gruff voice got a little deeper as his emotions began to boil over agian.
"The ancients designed all this. Not me." Nananki said, defending himself.
"Well I say we go for it." Yuffie piped in.
"I agree." Tifa said, bouncing L'il Cloud on her knee.
"I'm in." Cid said, speaking for himself and Shera.
"I will go." Vincent said.
"Me too." Barret replied.
"Of course I'm going." Reeve spoke up.
"Then it is agreed. Tomarrow morning we will set out to resurect Aeris."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The black materia glowed in his hands. He didn't care anymore. Anything to get out of this world. But, if he was going to kill himself, might as well take the whole Planet with him. He began to laugh, his now demented laugh.
Tifa knocked on the front door, that was nearly as burly as the man that lived past it. A gruff voice yelled out, "I'ma comin." Heavy foot steps were heard thudding their way toward the door. Tifa stood their anticipating the door as she heard the step come closer. But, when Barret slamed the door open she still jumped.
"Tifa? What ya doin here?" He asked, trying to keep use bass voice a little more quiet than usual.
Tears began to stream down her face. "I-I-I'm-" She couldn't seem to get the words out, and she began to sob, cupping her hands over her face.
Barret put his big arm around her smaller figure and led her into the living room. Sittin her down on the couch, he took a seat opposite her and waited for her to regain her compsure.
After a few minutes she stopped sobbing and looked back up at Barret. "I'm pregnant." She said hastily.
Barret gawked at her for a moment. "You're gonna have a baby?!"
"Yes..." She said, looking at her feet.
"When'd ya find out?" His voice dropped to a lower bass, as it usually did when his emotions started running on overdrive.
"Just yesterday." She said, sniffing back a tear.
"Wh-Whaddya want me to do?"
"I just want your help. You're support. Please, with Cloud gone...I just can't raise this baby by myself. And you've had experience with Marlene."
"Well you helped me with Marlene too." He mumbled
"But not while she was a baby."
"Yea, well, alright. I'll help ya. Jist as long as ya don't go makin me do everything." She smiled brightly at his consent, it was the first thing that went right in quite a while. Barret returned the smile, finally seeing some joy in Tifa's eyes. It was the first time he had seen that since Cloud had passed.
"Well, we've got nine months right?" Barret asked.
"Yea, plenty of time to get ready." She smiled again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another headache. The pain was going beyond anything Sephiroth had ever felt. Hell has followed me back to earth. He thought, rolled up in a ball on the ground, grabbing his head. He couldn't move the pain was so great. I...can't...go... ON!!!!!!! His mind tried to fight off the pain that pounded at his skull.
The pain just increased. It seemed to pound at his very existence. Every second bringing more pain, more pounding. It was insane!
Suddenly, the pain was gone. It disappeared as quickly as it had come. Sephiroth got to his feet, somewhat disoriented. He looked around, wondering if someone or something around him and cause it. He began to walk away from the spot were he had lay. He thought he felt someone behind him. He spun, but nothing was there. He resumed his walk, faster now. Then it came back. He spun again. And again, nothing. He now broke into a jog. And then a run as he felt the presence still at his back. He was in a dead sprint now. Suddenly he cleared the forest and saw a town ahead.
As he approached the town the presence seemed to disappear. He looked around, wondering why it had left. Oh well, at least it's gone now. He sat down at the very outskirts of the town, hoping that no one saw, or recognized him. It's been three years. I doubt anyone would remember me anyway. Humans are so pathetic. Always forgetting what they want.
He took out his sword, again seeing the images of Hell in its reflection. Death. Pain. Torture. Everything that was evil. Sephiroth smiled though. He had escaped. He was free from the place. And he had killed him. Cloud was dead. He had won. But, still nothing seemed to be better now. He had always thought the revenge would be so sweet. Of course the moment was amazing. His body tingled to the bone as he had stabbed Cloud over and over. But now, now everything was different. The headaches, and the presence. It was all too much for him. He had brought Hell with him. Or maybe Cloud was back to haunt him. Maybe his mother, Lucrecia. He wasn't sure, but this had to be better then Hell. Right?
Another headache began to pound at his head. Swinging its mighty power, knocking Sephiroth to the ground again. He curled up and tried to cope with the pain as best he could. But he had to struggle to keep from screaming out in pain. The headache was worse this time. He couldn't go on like this. Insanity began to grip at his already insane mind. An insane man going even further insane.
He screamed out in pain as the headache intensified. No one seemed to noticed. The city was deserted he seemed to notice in some corner of his mind as he continued to scream out in pain.
Then the worst got worse. The presence came back and just seemed to hover over Sephiroth. Watching him struggle in pain, watching him roll on the ground screaming out in pain. He could almost feel sympathy being empathically recieved from the presence. It was trying to calm him down.
Slowly the headache weakend until it turned into nothing. Sephiroth stood up, looking around, seeing no one. But, feeling someone. "What do you want?" He demanded, talking into the thin air. Silence. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He shouted, with silence as his only response. "WHAT DO YOU wANT?!?!?!" He screamed it this time.
Drawing his sword he quieted his voice. "Tell me what you want or die." And after another pause with filled with silence ge began to slash at the air. "TELL...ME....WHAT...YoU...WANT!!!!" He shouted inbetween swipes of the Masamune.
Finally, he stopped, deciding that it couldn't be hit by his sword. He could still feel it thought, mocking him now. He finally gave up and hit himself over the head with his sword, knocking himself unconscious.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--9 months later--
"Push!" The doctor yelled, his hands ready to help the baby out of the womb.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!" She yelled at him, pushing with all her might.
The head slowly poked through and the doctor helped as Tifa strained to get the rest of the baby out. "It's a boy!" He said, as Tifa slumped back into the hospital bed. Barret stood by, blinking in amazment at what just took place.
"Damn..." Was all that Barret could mutter.
Tifa's eyes began to water once again. But this time the tears were of joy, and not of saddness. Though, that baby did remind her of Cloud. It looked so much like him.
"What're ya gonna name him?" Barret asked, smiling at the baby.
"I'm not too sure." She said, not having thought about that too much over the last few months.
"That's ok, ya got plenty of time t'thinkin about it now." Barret said, smiling down at her. She smiled back, which had become less and less rare.
"Thank you Barret."
"Awww...s$#@..."His face turned red, though it wasn't very visible under his already dark skin.
She glared at him for a moment for his language. "Not in front of the baby." she said sternly.
"I-I'm sorry." He mumbled.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nananki was laying on his bed, reading a book. Never had he become so completely engrossed in a topic. His eyes sped through the words, always wanting to get to the next one. Marching on, absorbing the information that the book told him.
Three days straight now. For three days he had been reading books on the same topic, locked away in his room. Information started to piece together in his mind as he read on. Everybook adding its own piece to the puzzle. Soon, very soon he would have all the info he needed. And then, just maybe it would work. He prayed to what ever God or gods that lived out there to let it all be true. It HAS to be true. It is written in the sacred writings of the Ancients. It just HAS to be true...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cid looked over to Shera. He couldn't believe that they had gotten maried. Crazy woman was always running around the house cleanin up his stuff. Making the perfectly good mess clean. So, he had gone out to work on his new baby. Finally a place where he could be alone. Alone with his new airship.
"Oh HONEY!!! Do you need any help with your air ship?" Her voice rang out to him.
"God damnit woman. Leave me ^$@#*&^ alone for five minutes." He muttered a few more obsanities before crawling back into the small shaft where the problem was. Something in here was preventing it from starting, and he was determined to find that something.
Shera walked into the house, disgusted with her husband. HOw can he be so cruel? She wondered only to herself. Well, I did marry him, and I did know that he was like that. So I guess there's not much to complain about. With that she took out the broom and began to sweep the kitchen. She thought of it as one of her nervous habits. Cleaning that is. She had just swept the kitchen this morning, but somehow Cid had managed to get it just as dirty as before in only a few minutes. Oh well, at least it gives me something to do. She began to hum to herself as she went on with her chores.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vincent wondered what had happened. He looked at the dead body. It was rotting and smelling up the place. Flies buzzed around, landing on the corpse occasionaly. The stench was horrible, but not horrible enough to cause Vincent to back away. He looked at the corpse, realizing fully who it was.
"Lucrecia..." He whispered, coming closer to the body. "Lucrecia, who did this to you?" He mused, looking at the stab wound through her mid section. "A sword...It appears to be a thin, long sword...Sephiroth!"
He began digging a hole in the ground. She at least deserves a proper buriel. He thought as he worked. My god, how could he have done that. I always thought that Hojo had done the worst things I would ever see. But, Killing your own mother... He lay the body in the hole and began to fill it with the dirt that he had just dug.
"Good bye...Lucrecia..." He stuck a few flowers by the grave. A tear rolled down his usually dry face. "I love you..." He whispered so low that someone standing right by him would not have heard it.
"You will pay Sephiroth. Cloud and Lucrecia will be avenged. You will face your maked again. And this time you won't come back."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reeve looked around the new ShinRa company building. Amazing what they can do with enough money. He thought, looking at the completely rebuilt building. The walls were now made of glass. Well, up to the 50th floor. But the rest was in 2 foot thick cement. But, the more secretive experiments had always been in the higher levels. Except the sub levels. But not even he knew much about those dark places. He was too afraid to set foot down there.
He finally reached his office, right on the 49th floor. "Amazing they let me still work here, but they've improved." He began to talking to himself. A habit that drove some people nuts.
He began to think about Cloud again. His mind always seemed to wander to him. "Damn Sephiroth...Damn him to Hell..." He sat down and thought of a way to get back at him.
"IF only there was some way to get Cloud back. Then maybe we could win. I bet we could if we worked as a team. But, how could we possibly get Cloud back? Who would know the most about resurection? Hummmm...probably some where in the City of the Ancients. But, I'm never going there again. Jeesh, bad memories. Maybe, yea, I bet he would know." With that Reeve left the ShinRa building and got in his ShinRa made car, which was the nicest that money could buy and drove off into the setting sun.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nananki suddenly heard a short rap on the front door. Not many people would bother coming by here, I wonder who it is.
"Come in." He said in his normal voice. Reeve pushed the door open and walked in. "Hello Reeve, nice to see you again."
"Heya Red, what's up? Hey, I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about how we could resurect Cloud."
Nananki's eyes widdened. "Interesting, I have been researching that very thing. But it seems, that only an ancient can be restored to life."
Reeve thought for a moment, "But that means we could bring that Aeris girl back to life, right?"
"Correct, however there are some draw backs." Nananki added.
"Yea, like what?"
"Like you can only use it once, and that you only come back for one year."
"One year huh? I don't think I'd wanna come back just to die in a year..."
"But Aeris can't tell us what she wants to do. So we have to make a judgement." Nananki's voice was grave.
"We should probably assemble everyone for this then."
"Yes, I already arranged that. We're meeting at Tifa's house tomarrow afternoon."
"Great, let's go." Reeve's voice was filled with enthusiasm. Finally, the girl of my dreams will be back... But she's always had that thing for Cloud...Damn him...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The group sat in the circle, waiting for Red to speak. Everyone was there; Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, Reeve, Cid, Shera, Nanaki, Vincent, and L'il Cloud as everyone had come to call him.
"We can resurrect her." He suddenly said, breaking the silence.
"Aeris?!" Tifa gawked at him. L'il Cloud looked up from the toy he happened to be chewing on at the moment. He held out his arms toward Tifa and looked at her with his best puppy eyes. She bent down and picked him up. "Come here you." She said, setting him on her lap.
"Yes, we can resurrect Aeris."
"Well then why the hell haven't we yet?" Barret demanded.
"There are some drawbacks." Nananki's voice never fluctuated as he spoke.
"Like what?" Cid asked.
"We can only do it once, and it only lasts for a year, then she will die again."
"What the hell kinda drawbacks are those? Why the hell does that have to happen." Barret's gruff voice got a little deeper as his emotions began to boil over agian.
"The ancients designed all this. Not me." Nananki said, defending himself.
"Well I say we go for it." Yuffie piped in.
"I agree." Tifa said, bouncing L'il Cloud on her knee.
"I'm in." Cid said, speaking for himself and Shera.
"I will go." Vincent said.
"Me too." Barret replied.
"Of course I'm going." Reeve spoke up.
"Then it is agreed. Tomarrow morning we will set out to resurect Aeris."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The black materia glowed in his hands. He didn't care anymore. Anything to get out of this world. But, if he was going to kill himself, might as well take the whole Planet with him. He began to laugh, his now demented laugh.
