Chapter 5

Stars at Twilight Hour

In blinded mind you are singing

A glorious hallelujah

The distant flutter of angels

They're all too far, too far to reach for you...

The World- .hackSIGN

A/N: I swear, there is not a hint of Tifa/Seph in this…swear. It just..might seem that way. Though, I kinda do like the idea of the couple, I've read some that are good, but you have to be a awesome author to pull that pairing off convincingly, which, sadly, I am not.  And yeah, I gave the Highwind a landing ramp…I couldn't stand that rope bit. I swear there had to be a ramp somewhere. Who builds a ship/plane bit without a ramp?

"Hey, Spike! Cid said don't forget to grab that bag of healing stuff on your way out!" Yuffie screeched from her perch on the Highwind's railing, her legs dangling freely over the edge.

Cloud shook his head, "Aren't you a little too chipper? This isn't exactly a vacation, Yuff."

She scowled down at him, "Oh, bite me. You're all so gloomy, and I can't stand it. Nothing's gonna get me down, not even those loser Shinra punks. Now grab that damn bag and hurry up. We gotta get moving!"

Cloud couldn't help but laugh at her tone, "Yes ma'am." he shot back, giving her his best Soldier salute. He bent over to pick up the bag, vaguely realizing that the bag seemed slightly more heavy that it usually would have. In the rush of preparing for the fight, he'd almost forgotten about Jenova's poison, but the growing weakness in his body left little room for forgetfulness. He paid it little attention, though, as there was nothing to be done for it yet, and he didn't want to worry the others. Setting his lips in a thin line, he trudged up the ramp and dumped the bag in the control room with the other supplies they had gathered. Weapons, healing items, communications equipment were all stacked haphazardly, awaiting organization.

This is it. We're finally going to end Shinra's madness. But what about that Weapon Red mentioned...?

"Spike!" Yuffie's agitated voice was muffled by the hull of the ship, "Can you give me a hand with this!?"

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Cloud grinned to himself and headed back down the ramp.

Tifa gently stroked the neck of her chocobo, smoothing the deep golden feathers, "We'll be back, girl, promise. You and Renon be good for Alex, okay?"

The two golden chocobos replied with an affirmative sounding "kweh!".

Tifa smiled, "Good. I can always count on you guys. When we get back, how does a race at the Gold Saucer sound?"

Both enormous birds chirped again, jumping into the air, and drawing a long laugh from Tifa.

"It is good to see you laugh, Tifa." A quiet, deep voice commented from behind her.

Tifa whirled around, her eyes wide in pure shock, unsure if her ears were deceiving her. A tall, built man stepped from the shadows, his long white hair stirring behind him in the light breeze. His turquoise eyes narrowed as the silence stretched on.

"Sephiroth?" she finally managed to ask. During her time under Jenova's control, she had finally realized that Sephiroth had been nothing more than an extension of Jenova, the destruction wrought in his path nothing more than Jenova acting through him, moving him like a puppeteer. And somehow, Tifa had finally been able to forgive him. She, too, had been used by Jenova, and had very nearly killed Cloud with her own hands. Perhaps that was what had moved her heart to forgive the man she once swore to kill, though she suspected she'd never fully understand why she did it. Perhaps it was just her way of finally letting go of the past. Either way, they had become tentative friends during their shared mental captivity, but him seeking her out still shocked her.

His eyes closed for a moment as he shook his head, "Forgive me. I should not have come."

Tifa tilted her head, "Why are you here?"

He lifted his face to the sky for a moment, his brow wrinkled in thought, "I can hear the Planet. The...circumstances of my birth assure that. There is something malignant stirring within. Something that feeds off the greed of man, and yet seeks to destroy man. It sleeps now beneath an island, where I believe Rufus Shinra has been constructing Neo-Midgar."

Tifa nodded, "Yeah, Red mentioned something like that. Do you think it's wanting to destroy Neo-Midgar?"

A slightly amused look came to his eyes, "Do you think it coincidence that it slumbers there?"

Tifa merely narrowed her eyes, realization dawning on her at last, "It will attack…when we get there, won't it?"

Sephiroth shifted his stance slightly, looking to the sky, "More than likely. I came to offer my assistance, though..I doubt the others would accept me. I, too, have a score to settle with Shinra."

"Your…genetic manipulation?"

He nodded, "Yes, that and…many other things. I'm going to offer my services now…do you want to come?"

"Sure. I'll probably need to do some convincing for you, they…they can't understand…they've not been where we've been. I…I wanted to hate you for so long, you know? But as the days passed with me under Jenova's control, I saw…I realized what she could make you do, and…I saw…I felt…your despair. I saw your past, and I remembered what I saw of you when you first visited Nibelheim. I knew then that you were a person just like the rest of us, you had just been used in the worse way imaginable. How can I blame you for that? I'd…I'd be a hypocrite."

He made a gesture that looked for all the world like a slight bow, "And I value that forgiveness more than you can ever know. Come, let us go."

Tifa sprinted ahead of him, making her way to the massive bulk of Cid's prized airship, a sense of apprehension settling over her. There was no way the others would ever be so forgiving. At times, she surprised herself knowing that she had forgiven him herself, but she also knew that the threats they were about to face could turn out to be bigger than all of them, and Sephiroth's skills would be a huge weight in their favor. She could hear the bustle around the ship as she drew closer, the laughter and friendly jibes of the group that prepared for their final assault on what they prayed was the Planet's last threat. However, someone must have spotted them approaching, because a deathly silence suddenly descended. Drawing in a deep breath to steel herself against the verbal assault she knew was coming, Tifa took the final steps into the Highwind's shadow and waited for the others to emerge. She could see Sephiroth's long shadow fall in just beside hers as he arrived a second behind her. The thump of multiple footfalls on metal reached her ears just as the others appeared, each of their faces taut with emotion, their eyes burning with hatred and a pure lust for revenge.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Cid growled, his eyes narrowed at Tifa as if she were in on some conspiracy against him.

Sephiroth said nothing, almost as if he sense that Tifa wanted to speak to them first. She pondered briefly if that idea weren't too far a field, as he had always seemed to have some sort of pseudo-psychic abilities.

"He's here because he wants to help us take out Shinra and that Weapon." Tifa replied flatly.

Cid merely gave her a look that said, 'Yeah, right.'

Cloud stood leaning against one of the landing struts, his arms crossed as he looked between Tifa and Sephiroth, his eyes unreadable, "How does he know about the Weapon? Or our strike against Shinra for that matter?"

Sephiroth moved to Tifa's side, answering Cloud without the faintest ghost of malice, "The strike is apparent. I've actually been watching you all for days, contemplating if I should offer to help, or set out alone. As for the Weapon, I can sense it stirring within. As I told Tifa, it slumbers beneath Neo-Midgar, waiting now to strike at the most opportune moment and devour it. I am almost certain it will awaken when you attack, as it will sense the lapse in defenses it has been waiting for."

It was Yuffie's turn to protest, and she actually moved to stand in front of Sephiroth, her not-yet-fully-grown teenage form looking almost comical as she stood in defiance against a man who stood over a foot taller than she.

"Why should we trust you? Just because Tifa says so? I don't know why she even forgave you in the first place. Sure, you may not act like a bad guy anymore, but that doesn't mean much of anything. Besides, we're strong enough without you."

Tifa's brown eyes narrowed in agitation, and she fixed them each with her icy glare, "Guys, come on! Listen to me…Sephiroth…he's not who we fought. He's not the monster that you all believe him to be." She turned her gaze to Cloud's and held it as she continued, "He didn't kill Aeris..he didn't burn down Nibelheim…and he didn't kill me. Jenova did. None of you understand, because you've never been there. You've not felt what we felt, been through what we have. Even you, Cloud. Jenova's control over you never lasted more than minutes. Sephiroth has been prisoner for years, and I was prisoner for nearly a month. Her control is absolute. She can make you do whatever she wills, and it will seem to anyone else as if you alone are acting. You may even swear there is no one pulling your strings…"

Cloud's eyes widened a bit as he remembered the day Tifa had attacked him in the Nibelheim mountains, swearing she was doing it of her own volition.

"…Even when it's obvious there is. Don't you remember, Cloud? In Nibelheim seven years ago? Sephiroth was normal then. He was just like us…a young man with hopes and dreams. But when he saw the tanks…he snapped. You know it…Zack saw it, and he told you. And when he snapped, Jenova took him. She needed a strong vessel to carry out her will on this Planet, and Sephiroth was the ultimate vessel. She took her chance when his mind had no hope of resisting, and she put strings on him he could never break…at least, not until we destroyed her. It was the same with me, Cloud…if you hadn't defeated her, I would be just like him. I would burn, kill, and I would laugh as I did it. I would be the demon. Or so it would appear. Because that is how Jenova works. You can blame him if you want, you can never forgive him, but if you do, realize the hypocrites you all are. And realize that if you hold him to all he has done, you have to hold me to my actions as well. I almost killed Cloud, and he did kill me under Jenova's control."

The group was suddenly silent, each of them avoiding Tifa's intense gaze as she turned her eyes on them. They knew she was right, they couldn't forgive them and still hold Sephiroth to what he had done, no matter how heinous.

"I know it's hard, guys. The hatred for him..and Shinra, it's what kept us going. Pushing us beyond the point where we otherwise would have broken. But it's time to let go of that. Shinra is the only enemy now, and we have to end this. The Planet can't take any more of it. Aeris isn't here to help us now. Her prayers can't save us. We have to do this on our own and let her find peace. She would want that. Aeris..she always forgave everyone, she tried to see the best in all. We have to be like her. It has to start somewhere…"

Red was the first to step forward, nodding his head slowly, "Tifa is right. A hatred based on nothing is worse than a hatred based on a reality. We can't hold him responsible. Not…not with what we know of Jenova's power."

A reluctant murmur of agreement rippled through the group, and Tifa noted the near imperceptible release of tension from Sephiroth's face.  He turned to her, bowing to her slightly again before glancing at the few bags of supplies still left outside the Highwind.

"We welcome your help, Sephiroth…" Cloud said, drawing shocked glances from the rest of the group. No one had expected him to forgive Sephiroth, though Tifa couldn't help but let her shoulders slump in a sigh of relief.

"Well then, Mr. All-Powerful, how about helping load this thing up?" Yuffie challenged, still standing only inches from the towering form of the Ex-General.

A rare smile formed at the corners of Sephiroth's lips, "Very well." He shouldered the heaviest of the bags, following the young ninja into the airship as she directed him to the cargo hold.

As the rest of the group scattered to finish last-minute preparations, Tifa made her way to Cloud's side. He hadn't moved from his spot against the landing strut, his eyes now distant as he stared off at nothing in particular.

"Cloud…?"

He shifted his piercing sapphire gaze to her, "Yeah?"

She stared back at him, trying to read his emotions, but failing for once, "Are you okay with this?"

Pushing himself off of the landing strut, he turned his eyes heavenward, "Yeah. I mean..you're right, you know. About being hypocrites. I do remember how I looked up to him as a kid, how normal he was in Nibelheim before the reactor. I guess we all just got so lost in revenge and hatred, maybe it's because that's all we had to hold on to, but…that's in the past. I can't blame him for something that damned alien did, not…not when I'm just as guilty of actions that are just as evil." He let the last words hang in the air, Tifa realizing that Cloud still held himself at least somewhat responsible for her death. She knew nothing she would say could ever truly erase that, just as nothing he could say would take away her own stings of guilt from the attack in the mountains. Instead, she simply lay her hand on his shoulder, giving him her trademark reassuring smile, the smile that most of the group looked to when they felt lost. Though Tifa was aware of how much the others looked to her for optimism, she had never once felt the burden of responsibility. It was just her nature to look to the happier side, and support her friends, as they were the only family she had left.

Turning from Cloud, she started toward the airship again, only to feel his hand  wrap around hers and pull her gently back toward him.

"Tifa…"

She tilted her head slightly, "..yeah?"

He leaned down, pressing his lips softly to her own for the briefest of seconds. "Promise me you'll be careful out there," he whispered as he pulled back, his eyes staring intently into her own.

Tifa nodded slowly, squeezing his hand for reassurance, "Promise. You'll be there, and so will the others. Everything will be fine. This time, we will finish it, and maybe…we can finally find peace."

"Tifa! Cloud! Come on! We're ready to go." Yuffie called from where she sat perched on the railing of the upper deck, one arm waving wildly at them.

Tifa pulled away from Cloud, giggling as she waved back to the hyper teenager, "Alright! We're coming!" She ran up the landing ramp, Cloud close at her side. In minutes the Highwind took to the air, cutting its way through the atmosphere as the group bore down on the final stronghold of Shinra, and the cradle of the rouge Weapon.