The entire town of Nibelheim was on fire. Huge, very hot flames were on and in all the houses, and some of the ground was also on fire.
Cloud could feel the intense heat of the flames. It felt like fire slowly burning him. The flames were spreading everywhere, with growing intensity and size, and felt even hotter than standing next to a massive bonfire.
Some people were lying dead on the ground with wounds caused by a sword – Sephiroth's sword - and many more people had died inside the houses in the flames, their remains still burning. Cloud quickly ran along the burning village.
Zangan (Tifa's martial arts trainer) was one of the very few people who survived the horrible massacre. Cloud looked around to see the blond-haired Shinra soldier (who had come with them to the Mount Nibel Reactor) lying injured on the ground. Cloud ran over to him to check if he was alright.
The soldier was alive, injured and unconscious, but luckily it seemed that he would live to see another day. Cloud got back up, and searched for more survivors, but there were none in sight. Zangan turned to face Cloud.
"Hey, its you! You're still sane, right? Then come over here and help me!" shouted Zangan.
Cloud nodded, seeing the sense in this, and he quickly ran over to him.
"I am sure there are still some people alive in these burning houses. I'll check this house. You check that one over there," said Zangan.
He quickly ran in one of the fiery houses to check for survivors. Cloud checked another house but there were clearly no survivors, only more and more flames.
Cloud saw his own house burning to the ground, and with horror, ran inside it to try and save his mother. But he was already too late. Walking out of his burning house, Cloud shook his head in despair, and he wiped some tears from his eyes as he stared around at the burning massacre that had befallen Nibelheim.
"Terrible…Sephiroth…this is just…too terrible…you bastard, I swear that you'll pay for this!!" screamed Cloud, wiping tears from his eyes.
Indeed, it was Sephiroth who had set the whole village on fire using a very powerful attack from one of his own Materia that was attached to his Masumane sword.
Suddenly, Cloud spotted Sephiroth. He was standing not too far ahead of Cloud. Sephiroth got his sword out (the Masumane) and slashed and killed four people who were standing nearby, their blood splattering on the ground.
The flames roared greedily behind Sephiroth as he slowly brought his gaze up and glared hard at Cloud. A slow, evil smile crossed his lips as the fires flickered in his cold, pitiless green eyes. Still smiling cruelly, evilly, Sephiroth slowly whirled around and vanished straight into the flames.
It didn't matter, though. Cloud knew where he was going, and he quickly ran along Nibelheim, dodging the flames, and ran as fast as he could towards Mount Nibel.
Eventually, Cloud arrived at the Mount Nibel Mako Reactor, and ran into there as fast as he could, expecting the worse. He ran along the Reactor and to his surprise, he found Tifa there.
Tifa was kneeling over the body of her father, who was lying on the floor. He was dead. Tifa was sobbing, crying, and shaking her father's dead body desperately.
"Papa…Oh god no. Wake up, papa. Please wake up," said Tifa, depressed, upset and in tears.
Then rage and anger suddenly overcame her.
"Sephiroth!? Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!? Sephiroth did this to you and he will pay! Sephiroth, SOLDIER, Mako Reactors, Shinra, everything!! I hate them all!!" screamed Tifa, and brushing her tears off her face, she quickly got up and ran along the Reactor.
Tifa picked up Sephiroth's sword, the Masumane, on the way to the room in the Reactor with the metal pods. Sephiroth had carelessly dropped his Masumane sword. Tifa arrived at that room and found Sephiroth outside the red door at the top of the red stairs.
"Mother, I am here to see you. Please open this door. I won't let anyone ever hurt you again," said Sephiroth.
"How!? How could you do that to papa and all of the townspeople!? You murderer!!" screamed Tifa.
She ran up the stairs to Sephiroth and tried to use Sephiroth's own sword against him. But Sephiroth was the only one powerful enough to use his sword.
Tifa found that she couldn't use the sword at all; it was far too heavy and long for her to use. She couldn't even lift the sword. Sephiroth now stood right in front of her.
"YOU FOOL!!" roared Sephiroth, angrily, and Tifa soon discovered that she was no match for him, and nowhere even near close to matching his strength and power.
Sephiroth snatched his sword back easily with amazing speed from Tifa, before she had even realised it, and he slashed her straight across her chest with his sword. Tifa fell down the red stairs, and fell hard onto the floor, covered with blood.
Cloud arrived just as the red door opened up and Sephiroth walked through the door at the top of the stairs. Cloud quickly ran over to Tifa, fearing the worst.
Amazingly though, Tifa was still alive and unconscious, but she had a nasty cut right across her chest, and she was bleeding badly. Cloud held her softly and carefully tired to wipe as much blood off her as he could to steady the bleeding, but it was still spreading alarmingly fast.
"Tifa, wake up. Oh please, god, just let her wake up," said Cloud, desperately.
Tifa slowly opened her eyes and smiled up at Cloud.
"Cloud…?" gasped Tifa, weakly, her voice barely audible.
"I'm here, Tifa. Just relax. You're going to be fine," insisted Cloud, nervously, stubbornly refusing to believe otherwise.
"I-I…I knew t-that you would c-come. I…I wasn't sure at first, but n-now I k-know," said Tifa, smiling, but winced in pain from doing so.
"Just relax, Tifa. Everything will be okay," said Cloud.
"Y-You p-promised…that you'd come…t-to save me…when I was…in t-trouble," said Tifa, and then she fell unconscious.
Cloud gently picked Tifa up, carried her in his arms, and he carefully laid her against one of the pods so she could rest. He gently made sure that Tifa was alright, kissed her on the cheek, and then ran up the stairs, and ran through the door into the room where Sephiroth was.
Sephiroth was standing in front of a large containment vessel. A large stone statue was blocking the large vessel and he couldn't see what was behind it, but didn't have to. He already knew what was there.
"Mother, let's take this Planet back together. I've thought of a great idea. Let's go to the Promised Land," said Sephiroth.
Just then, Cloud had suddenly arrived, bursting through the red door in a clear fit of rage and despair.
"SEPHIROTH!! My family! My hometown! How could you do this to them!?" screamed Cloud, devastated.
Sephiroth didn't turn around, his back was still to Cloud, but he laughed madly and insanely, without even the slightest remorse whatsoever.
"Ha, ha, ha! They've come again, mother. With her superior power, knowledge and magic, mother was destined to become the ruler of this Planet. But they…those worthless creatures…are stealing the Planet from mother. They are seeking to take the Promised Land away from her. But now, I'm here with you, Mother, so don't worry. Everything will be different from now on. Together, we will be strong, and we will stop those ignorant traitors," said Sephiroth.
Sephiroth suddenly ripped and smashed the statue apart with his own bare hands, shattering the statue to pieces. They now saw what was inside the large glass tube. Sure enough, it was none other than Jenova itself.
Jenova was a terrifying, hideous monster, unlike any other that was ever imagined in the universe. But at this time (unlike five years later), she had her head. The head was just as hideous and as monstrous as her body.
Jenova's skin was blue and she had a big experimental helmet on her head, labelled JENOVA on the top of it. Jenova appeared to be unconscious, but Cloud didn't give a damn about that whatsoever.
Sephiroth was laughing, loudly, coldly and so insanely that it sent a chill down Cloud's spine. Cloud clenched his fists angrily and snarled.
"How can you just laugh like that!? What about my sadness!? My hometown, my mother and Tifa, all taken away from me! It's the same as your sadness!!" screamed Cloud, still extremely upset and now he was getting very angry, his fists clenched tightly as he glared with intense hatred at Sephiroth.
Sephiroth spun around to face Cloud, but he still merely laughed cruelly and scornfully.
"Ha, ha, ha! My sadness? Just what do I have to be sad about? I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the ruler of this Planet. I have orders to take this Planet back from you stupid people for the Cetra. In my veins courses the blood of the Ancients! I am one of the rightful heirs to this Planet! My mother with all of her ancient knowledge was supposed to rule the Planet 2000 years ago, and yet she never got the chance. Well, now I am the chosen one, the one chosen to revive the legacy of the Cetra, to restore the rule of my mother. So, what exactly am I supposed to be sad about?" asked Sephiroth, coldly and sharply, laughing cruelly and mockingly.
"Men have always been foolish, selfish, and some are even evil and insane, but I never thought that I would class you among them. Sephiroth…I trusted you. No!! You're not the man you were! You're not the Sephiroth I used to know!!" roared Cloud, angrily.
Cloud took out his sword and began to fight.
Sephiroth took out his sword and got prepared as well.
"Do you really think that your weak blows will stop such a powerful being like me!?" laughed Sephiroth, cruelly, filled with pitiless scorn.
Cloud simply glared at him and didn't answer. He knew that Sephiroth was perfectly right, but right now, Cloud didn't care at all, he didn't care about anything anymore. He just wanted to cause as much pain to Sephiroth as possible, not caring how much he got hurt in return.
They both started to battle and the flashback suddenly ended, as Cloud found that he could remember no more.
Cloud's mind flashed back to the present in the inn at Kalm as he finally finished telling his tale to the others.