Chapter 10

THE SHOWDOWN

"Is everything okay ?", Cid yells to his crew in Highwind in top of his voice. Most of the crew shows their thumbs to give him a sign that everything is okay.

"Highwind…engage !", Cid orders the crew to move Highwind. They are heading to Ancient Temple. They hope that they are not getting late to reach there.  Time is really the essence. They also have no idea what kind of danger waits for them.

"Aeris, how do you feel ?", Yuffie asks Aeris. Aeris only smiles to Yuffie and speaks, "I am fine, I'll do my duty as best as I can". Yuffie smirks at her. Although Aeris is much older than she is, Yuffie looks Aeris as a close person to her. Aeris does not give her friends different treat, except for Cloud.

"Just tell me anytime you need a hand !", Yuffie pats Aeris' shoulder with playful motion. Aeris giggles. "Sure", Aeris replies shortly, but nicely.

"Whatcha gonna do once we reach there, Aeris ?", Barrett suddenly asks Aeris. The person being asked now turns her body to the others and replies,

"As told to me, I have to pray like I did before, but now with different way".

"Told you ? Who told you ?", Cait Sith asks Aeris, confused. She then replies his question,

"I know you will try hard to understand this, but I have…um…how should I call this…Ancient's wisdom, and it is brought to me by my ancestors spirit…I guess…that is simplest thing to explain".

"Was it like when you came into my dream and told me about Sleeping Forest for the first time ?", Cloud now asks Aeris as he gets the point. Aeris nods to him as reply and says,

"That's right. You might had no idea how could I walk into your dream and told you what I knew about Sleeping Forest. Actually, that was my first time doing that, but with help from my ancestors, that was working".

The others don't actually understand what Aeris says, but somehow they trust her. Aeris then adds her sentence with dreadful words, " and be careful with Sephiroth, I can feel his presence is getting stronger….". The other's eyes are widened, almost in unison.

"Y…you mean…Sephiroth is waiting for us…there ?" Tifa asks Aeris with rather shaking voice.

"I don't know exactly about that, but let's just prepare the worst", Aeris replies with calm tone. Cloud is the first who responses Aeris. "Of course we do. Everybody, don't forget to prepare yourself with your best equipment !". His friends nod to him as agreement. Even though they don't tell the others, each of them has a feeling that they will go into a fateful fight again.

……….

"Aeris…", Cloud calls Aeris who is standing near Cid, watching every instrument on the steering device. She turns her face to Cloud, and walks to him after she knows who called her. While she is walking toward him, Cloud notices there is a bit of mental-contradiction inside Aeris. At one side, she seems cheerful, but at the other side she seems to take a distance with him. Somehow, Cloud feels awkward with this situation.

What's wrong with her ? She acts strangely. Is it because of my engagement ? Cloud's mind pops up some questions.

"What's up, Cloud ?", Aeris' nice voice awakens Cloud from his daydreaming. Groggily, Cloud replies, "Ummm…are you alright to go back to Ancient Temple ? That was the place you…you…were…"

"Being murdered ?", Aeris cuts off Cloud's words. She looks at him carefully as she investigates what Cloud thinks.

"Ummm…yes…is that okay ? I…I failed you once there, and this time, I will not fail you again…I promise", Cloud speaks with nervous tone. In his mind, he curses himself for being like this. Aeris giggles, then she says with comforting tone,

"Don't worry, Cloud, I'll be more careful this time…and you too…".

"Great…", Cloud forces himself to smile, but Aeris finds it is funny of him to be like that. She giggles again. After some breath, Aeris starts a serious conversation.

"Cloud…I have…something to tell to you", Aeris approaches Cloud, " it is a matter regarding White Materia…". Cloud responses with a 'please go on' look in his eyes. Aeris then continues her words,

"Do you remember White Materia ? I used it to summon Holy. Its color once was green, but then turned to glowing white when my pray came to Planet. As far as I know, White Materia could only be used once, so it would be remain white, but…I have a sighting from my dream last night…it is unusual dream, but I thought I saw White Materia turned to green again !".

After saying that, Aeris can tell that Cloud is interesting with her story. His eyebrow is raised. He then says, "Do you want me to find that White Materia ?".

Aeris nods and speaks, "Yes, but unfortunately, I have no idea where that thing is right now…". She frowns, and hangs her head down.

"Don't worry about that", Cloud replies, "Bugenhagen ever showed us that White Materia had fallen into Ancient Lake, inside Ancient Temple". Aeris' green eyes blink to hear Cloud's words.

"Really ?", she asks hopefully. Cloud nods to her and speaks, "At least, we know where it is, but we still need time to look for it…but, what will you do if that Materia is found and really becomes green again ? Pray for Holy again ?".

"Well…yes…with a different way, maybe…", Aeris replies hesitantly.

"Huh…?", Cloud responses as he catches uncertainty in Aeris' words.

"I don't know exactly about that right now, Cloud…I was just being told to come to Ancient Temple and pray, the rest will come later…", Aeris explains.

"It's okay, Aeris, don't push yourself too hard. After all, we are your backup, right ?", Cloud tries to comfort Aeris.

"Thank you, Cloud…", Aeris smiles at him. "Oh…and by the way, I haven't seen you with Tifa together since we depart,…take your time, Cloud, the view is very beautiful from the deck". After saying that, Aeris turns back and leaves Cloud who is confused. She does not have heart to leave Cloud in a sudden, but she has to. Otherwise, things will go worse between herself, Cloud, and Tifa.

"Everybody, gather around the bridge ! We are above Ancient Temple now !", Cid shouts on top of his voice, echoing every corner inside Highwind. Shortly afterward, Highwind is landing gracefully on the open area. After shutting down the machine, Cid orders his crew, including Shera to stay alert inside the ship.

"Be careful, Captain. Please remember that you'll be back alive", she says with serious but concerned tone. Cid only looks into her eyes, and then nods to her.

"I promise", he replies as he turns his body and walks to meet the others.

Cid walks down to bridge where The Avalanche is gathering, waiting for next order from their cocky-leader. One by one, Cloud looks at his friends. He finds that everybody is well prepared.

"Is everyone ready ? We don't know what we will face beneath there, so prepare your best, team !", Cloud announces some words.

"We're ready, Cloud", Red XIII says as the representative of the others. Cloud nods to him, and says, "Then, let's go !".

Cloud and friends are walking through the path to Ancient Temple. After reaching outside of the temple, they stop for a moment, gazing the building in front of them. It is still like those old days, everything seems very quiet, with wind plays on their face. Cloud turns to Aeris and asks her,

"What should we do now ?"

Aeris' face now turns into a serious expression. She looks different from her daily face. 

"We move in, and once we are inside, we will head to altar where I…prayed", she replies calmly. She gives the others a requesting look for any subjection, but she finds none. As they make a step, suddenly, Red XIII growls with low voice. This makes the others stop their step at once and look at him.

"What's up, Red ?", Cid asks the intelligent beast with low but careful tone. Red replies, "I am not sure, it's like a trick of wind, but I sense something…".

"Sephiroth …?", Yuffie gulps while saying the word. She holds her shuriken tighter.

"Yes", a voice response with calm but serious tone. It is Aeris' voice. She then adds, "I can sense he is nearby…very strong presence…yet, we must proceed". She walks to temple entrance with alert.

"Yer right ! C'mon, guys ! We won't kick his ass if we just stand here !", Barrett shouts to the others, gives an encouragement to his companies. He then starts to walk again, followed by the others. After reaching the entrance, they then move inside, heading to altar in which Aeris mentioned before. Everyone is feeling a tension on his or her shoulders. Their adrenaline pumps them up. Everyone is busy managing the tension, and nobody notices a change on Cloud. Like the others, he also feels a heart pacing, but he feels something different. His breath grows heavy. Cloud begins sweating. He feels a bit dizzy.

 "Cloud, what's the matter ?", Cait Sith inquiries Cloud on his condition. Cloud turns his face to the cat-creature. Without saying any words, he just shakes his head as reply to Cait Sith, and then continues his steps, ignoring Cait Sith. However, he feels that he is not quite all right, and he feels that something will be happened again. He is sure about that.

"Here we are, the altar", Aeris announces as they come to the destination. The place is still the same to the others, except for Aeris. She watches the altar with mixed feelings. Once she saved the world on this place before, and this was the same place where she lost her life, as well as her love. With a miracle, she has been brought back to life, with an important task on her shoulder.

"Where is Sephiroth ?", Vincent raises his guard. He is right. Even though Aeris has said that Sephiroth is near, they do not know where he is. The others only draw their respective weapons for response to him. They know that in someplace, Sephiroth watches them all.

"Aeris…do you know where Sephiroth is ?", Red XIII asks Aeris. She shakes her head.

"I won't let him touch Aeris again !", Barrett's clasps his fist. Suddenly Yuffie jumps in front of them and takes a guarding stance. For some moments, she keeps quiet as she scans the surrounding.

"What's up Yuffie ?", Tifa asks with worried tone. Yuffie's stance is back to normal again and replies, "I scanned our surrounding with my ninja skill. Even Aeris said that sick bastard is around here, we don't know where he is now, but at least, he is not too close to us". She sweeps her sweaty forehead.

"Then it's better to move in group", Cloud advises the others. The others nod to him.

"But we can't stay like that", Aeris raises her subjection, "Cloud, we must find White Materia again. Planet has just told me that I must have White Materia to proceed".

"White Materia ???", the others ask in unison. They don't know what Aeris talked about. With a rather guilty expression, Aeris explains,

"Yes, and sorry for not telling all of you before. I had a dream…I saw White Materia turned to green again. I don't know what it means, but somehow I have feeling that we could use that Materia again to fight Sephiroth. Now, as we progress through here, actually I had a little communication with Planet. It only gave me sign that I must find White Materia, quickly".

"If that is the case, I will dive into the lake and search that thing", Cloud says, "meanwhile, the rest should wait for me here". Cloud then walks to the lake side, he then says to others, "Everybody, please be careful for Sephiroth, and…please protect Aeris with all costs. She is our only hope". Again, his friends nod to him as agreement.

"Hey, don't you need to remove your armor and sword first ? It must be heavy to dive in with your equipment still on your body", Red XIII advises Cloud. Cloud replies calmly, "I might need them below the water". Red only shrugs his shoulder to know Cloud's answer.

Cloud takes a deep breath to fill his lungs with fresh air. Without saying any word, with clothes and equipment still on his body, he dives into cold Ancient lake. Water splashes as his body touches the lake surface. In some seconds, he is completely unseen from surface.

"I didn't even tell him to be careful", Tifa sighs. Barrett pats her shoulder, "Dat guy will be all right, missy". Tifa only smiles to Barrett who is trying to comfort her and says, "I hope so, he must be…".

"And what should we do now ? Aeris said that she cannot pray without White Materia, and now Cloud is searching for it…", Yuffie exclaims. Cid inhales his smoke deeply and adds to Yuffie's words, "And don't forget that $#%#&*($ Sephiroth is ready to attack us anytime he wants !"

"Hope everything's fine", Aeris says. She then continues, "I will try to communicate with Planet to acquire more information here".

"Umm…guys…I think you should know about something", Cait Sith's voice suddenly pops up with hesitant voice. The others give him a wondering look. It is seldom that this cat-creature acts like this. They know that Cait Sith will tell them rather a worse thing than a good one.

Cait Sith continue his sentence, "When we walked here, I saw Cloud was…kindda different…He was like…he didn't seem well. He was sweating much, and his breath looked heavy. He looked sick. Does anyone know about his health recently ?".

The rest are looking to each other with mixed expression. If Cait Sith was telling the truth, then that was not a wise action to let Cloud dive into the lake, on his own. Moreover, Tifa and Aeris look more surprised and worried.

"Last time I saw Cloud not in good condition was when he was unconscious on the bed at Cosmo Canyon..after being hit by Tifa", Vincent gives his opinion. Again, Tifa and Aeris act like thunder strikes them. They turn to Vincent and look at him with horror.

"Hey…wh..what's the matter Tifa…Aeris… ?", Vincent becomes a bit nervous with those girls. Tifa speaks with trembling voice, "You said that incident at Cosmo Canyon….I hope this is not true, but…Cloud also looked like what Cait Sith said when he was being controlled by…Sephiroth…I was on his side at that time !".

"WHAT !!!???", Cid suddenly shouts with top of his voice. He jumps backward, startled. He yells again, " You mean that kid is being &&#^$#$ controlled by that $@#&^ maniac again ???".

Red XIII joins with his words, "That's absolutely possible. I sensed something evil here, so did Aeris, and if that was really Sephiroth, after witnessing what he had done to Cloud, everything becomes clear !". Red's eyes are narrowed, "We are anxious to fight him here, but none of us is realizing another consequence of Sephiroth's existence here".

"We have to get him back to surface as soon as possible !", Aeris is getting nervous. She cannot imagine what Sephiroth can do while Cloud is underwater. With a simple command, Sephiroth can control Cloud to dive deeper or stay underwater…forever. This frightens Aeris. Quickly, she removes her thought. She knows she has to do something.

"I'll help him ! I'm the most agile, remember ?", Yuffie starts to run to the lake with her light steps. When she is just about to make some more steps, suddenly she cries and steps back as a big fireball is shot to her, came from somewhere. With her ninja reflexes, she avoids the fireball and rolls back with acrobatic moves. A loud 'boom' sound is echoing when the mysterious fireball hits the ground. After Yuffie stands up and poses a fighting stance, her friends are coming to give her help.

"What was dat ??", Barrett says angrily.

"That was Fire 3 magic", Aeris responses, " and that means, he is here !". She turns her head to the direction in which the fireball came from. There, she sees an image of man standing solemnly. Aeris stares at him with horror. She gasps. Cid notices this and looks at the same direction Aeris saw before. His mouth is opened as he recognizes the image.

"What the… ^&^#% !! Damn you !! What the #*$&@* hell are you doing !!", Cid curses the man who shot the fireball. Now everybody looks at the man and find another surprise that shocks them for sure.

"No ! It can't be !!", Tifa cries out loudly, "it can't be…happened again…Cloud..no…".

"What's da matter, Spikey ? Where did ya put yer eyes !?", Barrett shouts to the man with top of his voice.

The man is actually Cloud. He is standing on one spot near the lake. He lets no word comes out for explanation to his friends. He looks so cold and heartless.

"How could he be like this…Tifa… ? Aeris…?", Yuffie pops up a question. She has no idea why Cloud attacked her with powerful magic.

"This is the same thing that happened at Cosmo Canyon", Tifa replies. Her eyes still on Cloud. Even though she has faced this situation before, she still cannot believe it happens again, here and now.

"You mean…Sephiroth controls him again ?", Cait Sith tries to inquiry the circumstance. Tifa nods as reply.

"No !! That's not it !", Aeris cuts off quickly, "He is not Cloud after all…that's him…Sephiroth !!". As Aeris finishes her words, Tifa and the others look at her with confused expression. Holding her Princess Guard tightly with her eyes still on Cloud like Tifa did, Aeris explains,

"I know that. Trust me. Physically he is Cloud, but inside his mind, he is absolutely Sephiroth. No, Sephiroth does not control him, that Cloud right now is Sephiroth himself ! I don't know how, but I am very sure". With Aeris' explanation, the others now understand that they have to fight so-called Sephiroth in Cloud's form even though questions still remain inside their own mind.

"All right, let's spread out and attack him simultaneously !!", Barrett gives order and rushes toward Cloud. The others do his command and each of them splits from the group and attacks Cloud from different angles. Cloud now draws his sword on knowing he is attacked from many sides. After their distance is close, Cid thrusts his spear to Cloud with high speed, but Cloud successfully blocks Cid's attack while making a spin. With a surprising attack, Cloud jumps to Tifa and tries to chop her with his huge sword. Tifa steps aside and sends Cloud a roundhouse kick, but quickly Cloud takes cover on his front chest. With that, he can block Tifa's attack. With a smirk on his face, he then leaps to Tifa and gives her another slash. This time Tifa jumps back to avoid his sword, but as his huge sword slashes air, Tifa feels pain on her shoulder. Cloud's sword has slashed Tifa's shoulder skin and makes her bleeding a little. Without giving Tifa another chance, Cloud rushes to Tifa again with his sword. He is going to make a final blow, but this time Tifa is more prepared. Clenching her fist and ignoring her wound, Tifa gathers her might to counter attack Cloud. When he is about a feet distance to Tifa and prepares his attack, suddenly Cloud feels something approaches him with high speed. Sensing that his life is threatened, Cloud spins his body to avoid anything that approaches him, but it is too late. He gets his chest is being hit by a long staff, Princess Guard. He coughs and thrown for some feet, but he then lands safely. Before he moves again, his eyes meet two medium-sized fireballs directed to him. At last seconds, Cloud jumps high to escape from those fireballs and makes them hit the ground where he was before. Now is Yuffie's turn. As she notices that Cloud is going to land from air, she chases him with her light steps and attacks him with her shuriken. Cloud's expression now becomes a raging one. With a scream, he swings his word powerfully to Yuffie's shuriken. A sound of clashing steels is echoing their surrounding. Yuffie is forced to step back because of Cloud's powerful counter attack. Before Yuffie poses a stance, Cloud kicks her directly to her stomach and makes her thrown to the ground. Seeing that Yuffie is in danger, Barrett quickly raises his gunarm and shoots Cloud, but Cloud dodges bullets and Barrett must be satisfy to find that not even a bullet hits Cloud.

After some moments of breath-taking action, Cid spits his cigar and begins to attack Cloud. He attacks and attacks Cloud fiercely, but none of them hits the target. Cloud successfully blocks either avoids Cid's spear. However, he is forced to step back since Cid rushed forward to him. After Cid's attack is a bit loosened, Cloud swings his sword upward to make a distance between him and Cid. This time it is Cid's turn to be forced back. He then finds that his chin is bleeding a little. He hopes that the others assist him to attack Cloud. Without letting Cid gives another attack, Cloud jumps back near Ancient lake. He laughs evilly and it frightens his enemies.

"Fool !! You will not defeat me !!", Cloud finally says something. It is Cloud's voice. Realizing this, the others look at each other as if they doubt that the one they fight is real Sephiroth.

"Don't be fooled ! He is really Sephiroth ! Our Cloud will not laugh like that !", Aeris removes everyone hesitation. Cloud only gives her a weird smirk, and then mumbles something. Suddenly, a lightning appears and strikes The Avalanche.

"Everyone !! Watch out !!", Red XIII orders the others to spread out and avoids the lightning. Almost everyone tries his or her best not to being hit by Lightning magic, except Cait Sith. His big moogle he rides on is too sluggish to react quickly. To his eyes, he now sees that the lightning is coming to him. In last seconds, someone slams into him and makes him out of danger. That someone is Vincent. Now Cait Sith is safe, but his helper now stands on his dangerous position before. It is too late for Vincent. Without mercy, the lightning strikes him and gives him an incredible pain. Vincent screams loudly as his body is thrown to the ground harshly. Without waiting any seconds longer, Aeris approaches him and casts Cure to heal Vincent's wound. At the same time, the others attack Cloud again with rage. Red XIII prepares his Fire 3. Cloud only grins, and before his attackers reach for him, he jumps to Ancient lake and dives in.

"Wait !! Don't gooo !!!", Tifa shouts loudly. She is going to follow Cloud, dive to lake, but Red XIII quickly runs to her front as he tells her to stop from doing so.

"Red…? Why ?", Tifa asks Red XIII, she sounds impatience. Red XIII shakes his head and replies, "Doing so would be a trivial, remember, he is Sephiroth ! You cannot face him alone !". He spoke his words with sharp tone as a sign that he really meant it. Tifa only lets out a sigh. She must admire that Red is right.

"Coward !!! Aaargghh !!!  How dis could be happened !!!?? ", Barrett shouts with top of his voice madly after witnessing how Cloud fled. Amongst the others, he is the angriest one. He then lets himself fall to the ground on his knees and punches the ground with his fist. The others admire him as a second leader after Cloud, but now he does not know what to do. Chasing down Cloud beneath the Ancient lake would be a good thing, but he cannot let Vincent suffers from his pain. Furthermore, chasing Cloud on his own would be a suicide since he would chase Sephiroth within Cloud's form.

"Hey ! What's going on here ? Why are you all looked so….Vincent ! What really happened ?". Suddenly a voice pops up from a corner. Barrett, as well as the others, knows very well the voice. He quickly stands up and rushes to the voice source, Cloud, and points his gunarm to his head. This action startles Cloud a lot. With his reflex, he jumps back and holds his sword, ready to pull it from its sheath. His eyes tell Barrett that he is confused.

"Barrett… ??", those are only Cloud's words.

"Are ya really Cloud ?", Barrett asks coldly. His gunarm is still pointed to Cloud's head. He gives Cloud a sharp look. Cloud, being asked like this, grows more confused. He replies, "What the heck, it's me, pal ! Cloud Strife !"

"Prove it !!", Barrett cuts off roughly. Cloud only sighs. He shrugs his shoulder and puts his hand down. Tifa walks to Barrett and says, "I think this one is different, he is the real one…".

"How could ya be sure, Tifa ?", Barrett asks Tifa without letting his eyes go away from Cloud. Tifa replies,

"I know that, Barrett, I know him for sure, it's really him. Tell him to remove his gloves, and you will find a ring on his finger".

"Hmm…", Barrett mumbles, and with a sign he tells Cloud to follow what Tifa has just said. Cloud raises his eyebrow, but he removes his gloves and shows to Barrett his engagement ring.