Escaping the Hands of Sephiroth

A Sequel to "A Day in the Life of Sephiroth" by Galaxy of GalaxyDreams

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7. This is all in the good nature of fun. Also, if you haven't read the first story "A Day in the Life of Sephiroth," I strongly urge you to read that first. one. This story is a sequel to it. The first one explains what happened before all of this, and is packed with comedy. So, please search that story first, and you will understand everything here. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: A Vision and an Enemy

"Boy, oh boy! This feels like a GRREEAATT day! I can feel as if something wonderful is going to happen today! I guess it's because of these new Jenova cells I got from Mother," Sephiroth exclaimed happily as he hopped down the mountains of Corel Village holding the tiny vial of cells. Costa Del Sol was just around the corner. "I better hurry and attend to my newest recruit at home! Bwahaha.." the silver-haired man said with amusement.

~~~

Red 13 stood in front of the door pacing. His limit break gauge was full and he was trying to peek into the holes again. He looked around the room helplessly as his eyes rested on Cloud. Cloud looked very cold and it seemed like he was dead.

Suddenly, Red froze in his tracks. His mind blurred and he collapsed against the wall. He saw something form in his mind.

Red 13 vision sequence

Red saw Cloud trapped in the water. Then a ray of light began to take form. It was a green light. Something was behind the light, but he could only see some of it. He could see the color pink, and....green eyes. It was holding something...a pipe...no...a rod! Was it Aeris?!

Red's eyes flew open. He had seen a vision of Aeris in his mind! But how could that be? Aeris was gone-wasn't she?

"Red! Come quick! We found a way inside the room!" Yuffie said hurriedly as she ran in the room anxiously.

"Ok...but I must tell you all something when we meet up with the others," he said slowly.

"Ok, ok! But first we gotta get down to the basement! Barret has found a secret elevator for us to go up into the room!" Yuffie said hurriedly as she pulled on Red 13's tail.

Yuffie and Red practically flew down the stairs of the basement. They met up with everyone else. Red could see that they were all looking up into the elevator door with a worried expression on their faces. It was funny how Sephiroth actually made an elevator into the room that happened to be the one Cloud was being held captive in. These things were just ironic. Maybe it was their lucky day today.

~~~

Meanwhile Sephiroth got caught up in a battle with Ruby Weapon, and was having some trouble beating him. He laughed wickedly as he slashed and fought the big juggernaut.

~~~

"Ready to go up everyone?" Barret asked solemnly.

"Yes, let's go," replied Tifa.

The group looked at the elevator one last time, and walked inside it. The wooden elevator creaked and groaned under their weight, and there was dust everywhere. It was also very dark and smelled very moldy. Fortunately, Red 13's tail lit the way for everyone to see. Vincent looked at the top of the elevator room and it said "Open." That meant that they had reached the room. The doors slowly opened with a ding, and they were inside Cloud's chamber.

Tifa was the first to run to Cloud. "Cloud!" Tifa yelled as tears began to form in her eyes. Cloud was in the water, and his face looked very cold. "Please don't die... I still have so much to tell you," she sobbed. She put a hand to the glass where Cloud was kept.

Cid came and put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Tifa, if you love Cloud so much, you wouldn't sit there and cry like there was no hope for him. You would help us and break him the hell outta there!" Cid said.

Tifa got up slowly. She wiped her eyes with her hand. The group looked at her waiting for her to say something, but instead she walked over to the glass chamber. She began to glow red, and the group knew what she was gonna do. They backed up.

"Beat Rush! Somersault! Waterkick! Meteokick! Dolphin Blow! Meteor Strike! FINAL HEAVEN!!!" Tifa said as she unleashed all of her limit break attacks. Tifa stood breathless, and seemed very tired after her attacks, but her soul burned strong in hopes of saving her long time friend whom she also loved dearly, Cloud. She looked at the glass with confidence.

To everyone else's surprise, the glass cracked. The whole group stood in awed silence as the glass broke, and the water came rushing out. Cloud fell through the water as well. He hit the ground with a thud. Tifa rushed over to him. She held his head in her lap and began to sob.

"Cloud!" Tifa said as she felt his face. It was very cold. Red 13 rushed over.

"Tifa, is he still breathing?" he asked with concern. Red waved his tail in front of Cloud's face hoping to warm him up a little.

Tifa tried to feel a pulse. Her face twisted in agony when she found out Cloud was no longer breathing. Her eyes filled with tears again. She looked up into the face of Barret. He too had some tears forming in his usually strong eyes. Barret placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"No! he can't be dead! There's gotta be some way!" she screamed in frustration.

But Cait Sith was the one who shocked everyone the most. He hopped over to Cloud. With a wave of his megaphone, the huge stuffed mog tried to concentrate all his power on one magic spell.

"Life 2!" Cait Sith said. The group watched as a tiny angel came and waved its wand on Cloud's dead body. Cloud stirred a little, and then finally he woke up. When Barret saw Cloud come through, he was about to hug the little guy, but then remembered what Sephiroth did to Cloud. Immediately, Barret pulled Tifa up on her feet while she was still hugging Cloud.

"Barret! What's the matter with you?! Didn't you see that Cloud is ok now? We can all go home, and-" Tifa was cut short by Barret's voice.

"Tifa, don't you remember what happened to that spikey headed jerk?! Your childhood friend has now joined forces with Sephiroth! He's not the Cloud we all knew before! Can't you see that?" Barret yelled. He looked at Cloud. The boy was still dripping wet, but he looked at Barret as if he was talking crazy. Barret saw Cloud eyeing him suspiciously, so he too looked over at him.

"Well...well...look at what we've got here. Looks like you finally decided to be friends with old Seph. What're you gonna do? You're outnumbered," Barret challenged looking directly into Cloud's mako blue eyes. Barret knew it wasn't anything he had ever planned on saying to his former teammate in the past, but Cloud was now a threat to all of them.

Cloud just stood there. He looked so helpless and he remained very silent for a while looking into the eyes of everyone, finally settling at Tifa.

"Are ya gonna say something ya traitor?!" Barret screamed. Anything had to be done to save Cloud from the evil that took over him.

Cloud stood with his arms crossed. "I know you all won't believe me on what I'm about to say. But this is the truth," Cloud paused. His eyes darted to everyone's face. He could tell they all doubted him. Who could blame them? He did try to kill them all. He continued. "Everything I did at the Gold Saucer was a lie. I never joined Sephiroth. I did that act to fool him. I did it because I knew that if he thought I was on his side, he would give up searching for the Promised Land. He would be too busy building up my stats to max so I would be his assistant in fighting battles to help him conquer the planet," Cloud explained to them all.

The group just stared at him not knowing what to say or do. Barret looked at Cloud as if he was drunk. "What are ya saying, kid?! You tellin' me that you ain't on HIS side? You've been with us all along?" Barret asked as hope was returning to him.

"That's right," Cloud explained.

Still, there was some doubt in them all. Vincent didn't know what to think. But Yuffie had a way.

"Hey Cloud!," Yuffie called.

Cloud looked over at her. "Yeah?" he asked.

"If you really are the good Cloud we all knew, prove it," Yuffie dared. She crossed her arms in front of her.

"How do you want me to do that?" Cloud asked. He had nothing to prove to them. He was already way too powerful to them all. "But it's already understood that I'm a God compared to you weaklings," Cloud bragged as he pulled out Ultima Weapon.

"No! No! You idiot! Not that kind of prove!" Yuffie yelled in a frustrated way. She couldn't believe how conceited Cloud was. (But hey..the guy was a God...hehe) Getting back to the story. "I want you to say something or do something that proves that you are indeed the old Cloud we all knew.

Cloud thought for a moment. He knew he was the good Cloud. But how could he convince them? But then he remembered. "How bout you guys ask me questions and if I answer them ALL correctly, then I am indeed the real Cloud Strife," he asked them.

"Fine. First question. Cloud, what class were you in in SOLDIER?" Yuffie asked.

"That's easy. I wasn't really First Class in SOLDIER. It was really Zack who was, and the Jenova cells made me think I was the one," Cloud said.

"Hmmm....pretty good. That was a trick question. Next question. What's my main goal in life?" Yuffie asked again.

"That's another simple one. You goal in life is to own every single materia there ever was," Cloud replied confidently.

"Good! And how many of each kind of materia does Yuffie want?" Yuffie asked as her eyes shined greedily. Everyone sweatdropped. They knew what Yuffie was aiming for.

"Four of every kind, of course. And they all have to be MASTERED materia," Cloud said.

Yuffie clapped her hands happily. "You guys! He's the Cloud all right! A fake evil Cloud with no soul would never have known that, she said.

"Welcome back, buddy," Barret beamed.

"It's good to have you back," Red 13 said happily.

Cloud smiled at them. HIs face turned serious again. "Now, we have a new plan. It involves Sephiroth and... Aeris," Cloud said to them darkly.

Cid looked up. "Aeris? But how?" he said completely baffled. Barret was also confused.

"Just wait and see. Now....Sephiroth should be coming home now. We should get ready," Cloud said taking out his materia.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement. But they were somewhat confused about what their leader was talking about. Nevertheless, whatever Cloud had planned was good enough for them because they now had their leader back.

~*End of Ch.*~

Author's Notes: Hope you liked what happened to Cloud! Wait for the next chapter soon!