"Damn, man. That's the second time in two days you gone and done dat to us."
As Cloud's eyes drifted open, the image of his friends concernedly staring at him cast his mind into an all-too-familiar state of despair. A fear gnawed at his often over-confident character; he would have loved to assume everything was all right. Barret's face, however, was void of anything except a momentary relief that lit up his eyes the moment Cloud met them. All else that came after was hardened regret.
It had happened again. He had not meant to allow it to happen again, but it had. This was the second time he had awoken with his friends sitting around his bedside, and this was the second time that he had awoken to find Aeris missing. Though nothing had been said, he knew it to be true.
He rose, rubbing the back of his head. He was in a house...one of the shell houses in the Ancient City. Dust lay everywhere. It covered the remnants of long forgotten furniture, clouded the windows. It even hung in the torch-lit air. It was a wonder its thickness didn't extinguish the flames. "Where's...Aeris?" Cloud asked, longing to hear the answer he desired but knew the response would not at all be pleasing.
Barret sighed. "Gone again. Dunno where she is. Her and Sephiroth left-"
"How long ago?" Cloud demanded.
"Let's see, musta been about three hours ago..."
Cloud started for the door, not even bothering to acknowledge Tifa, not even bothering to thank them both for dragging him back up to the surface from the altar. All that mattered was that there was still time. Sephiroth couldn't have gone more than a few miles...
"Wait a second!" Barret said, moving and clapping him on the shoulder. "You're forgettin' somethin'."
Cloud turned impatiently and stared as Barret thrust a closed left fist at him. The man's knuckles were white from the grip his fingers were imposing on whatever object he carried. The hand unfurled. A great flash erupted from Barret's palm. Tifa, who had been sitting in a chair near a high window, let out a cry of surprise as her hands immediately flew up to shield her eyes.
There was no doubt as to what the object was.
B l a c k M a t e r i a...
"Black Materia," Cloud muttered. "But...how? How did you get it back? You said Sephiroth made off with Aeris-"
"An' he forgot it. Daresay he looked as if he didn't even notice when he walked away."
"Its almost as if taking Aeris and hurrying away was a more pressing matter than his entire plot," Tifa commented. Her face was so plagued by disbelief that Cloud could see she had struggled omitting the words out loud. He couldn't blame her, either. The matter was ridiculous...at least, in the sense his mind was taking it.
He wants to use Aeris for something, Cloud thought. That's the only explanation...
The ebony stone flickered in the firelight, and caught Cloud's eye. As his gaze caressed the flawless shadowy surface, he felt an urge to reach for it, hold it in his hand. A desire, an impulse, unlike anything he had ever felt before, seemed to clutch him and tow him forcefully toward the prospect of losing himself in the dark depths that sheltered such an ancient, terrifying power.
The temptation was agonizing.
Things, horrible, gruesome things that had seemed so absurd to him only a short time ago now seemed entirely rational. Within the murky stone, he saw destruction...but it was chaos that begged for a master. It was devastation that pleaded for one to claim the right to command its power. So much power, just at his fingertips...
"Hey!"
When Barret suddenly jerked his hand back, Cloud realized his thoughts had indeed become his actions. He recoiled, stepping back several paces with a hope that he had done nothing more than just reach for it. His mind scrambled for the proper words to mask his insecurity.
"What's the matter, Barret?" he finally asked, taking a deep breath. He worked off building on the newly-established concept that would make Barret seem the suspicious one.
But Barret regarded him with eyes that had hardened over many years of hearing a great deal of nonsense and sorting it from the truth. "Cloud, what were you gonna do? You had this weird look on yer face..."
Cloud shot him a perturbed expression of puzzlement. "I-I don't understand what you mean."
Barret's eyes clearly told him he did not buy his act for a moment, but he nodded his head in acceptance. "Been through a lot, haven't you? Shouldn't come near this thing. Not after what happened last time. That's why we're gonna hold onto it. The others'll be here soon."
"What?" Cloud snapped, astonished. The anger that burned in his glance was one that was clearly not of his own creation; something was stirring inside him, coming to life. It seemed to flow throughout the crevices of his mind, nourishing the passages with a new, terrifying hatred. He felt it, a great fist, stretching its claws and slowly, painfully but exuberantly slicing into his thoughts. Cloud's hands came up to his temples, digging his fingernails into his skin in hope to relieve himself of the immense pressure. His face was a twisted, constricted mask of agony.
His mind was being taken away from him. It was just like every other time, but apart of him usually resided to fight it back-whatever "it" was. But not this time. There was nothing left to fight with. The flame of his independent control was dying in a strong wind that showed no sign of letting up. All his internal strength soon gave out. Nothing remained but darkness.
Cloud stood there, seeming to recover. But his face was affixed in a wicked grin.
Tifa approached him with wide eyes. "Cloud?" she attempted. But he only stared at her. No, not at her. His gaze was distant, as if he were gazing directly through the wall in front of him. His eyes were glazed in a sort of smug slyness. His fists were clenched in suspended fury. His entire figure posed a threat as a bomb that would explode at any time, any moment.
"Cloud!" Tifa cried, waving her hand in front of his unblinking eyes. "Cloud, fight it! Come back! Cloud!"
Cloud's voice came in an unearthly tone, so eerie it sent a shiver down Tifa's spine. "Fool mortal...he cannot fight me anymore. He must accept his fate, it is inescapable."
Tifa gaped at him in horror. "Cloud! Come back!" In a last resort, she threw up her arms. "Sephiroth! Let him go! Go away, oh go away! I hate you!"
Cloud's form jerked repeatedly. He let out a cry of anguish and closed his eyes tightly as beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. "Tifa...Tifa..." he uttered through clenched teeth. "Its...getting...too hard to keep back..."
Tifa, thinking it was her words that had miraculously brought him back, began to reach for him. "Its okay, Cloud...everything's going to be okay..."
A soft voice broke the tension in the room.
"Is it? Is it really?"
- - - - - - - - - -
Aeris hurried in through the door. She pleaded silently that she had not come too late. Almost immediately, the atmosphere seemed to drastically change. Aeris saw her comrades look at her with warm smiles; the light in their eyes seeming as if they would never see sorrow again. It was as if a niche in peace had been filled in the reality in which they all lived. Cloud had even retreated, for the time being, from his moment of insanity.
It had been her doing. The goodness and grace that seemed to flow constantly from her had somehow brought Cloud back. Just by her being there, in that room, all tension and hatred had melted away.
Sephiroth lingered in the doorway, awaiting to see what the girl would do. The other female occupant caught sight of him, and gasped. "He's come back for the Black Materia!" she shouted warily, scrambling away on her hands and knees. She thrust her finger out and pointed at him. "Not this time, Sephiroth! He hasn't got it!" she cried triumphantly, gesturing at Cloud. Her face became a serious expression of defiance. "And you will have to kill us if you want it this time."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, feeling apt to laugh at the girl's challenge. It was strange, witnessing this story that the Cetra's friends told, about a man that had apparently been labeled insane. And it was with the knowledge that he, Sephiroth, supposedly was that man. But the role-playing was beginning to bore and annoy him. It was time matters were sorted out.
He looked toward the Cetra girl. "Tell them," he said plainly. "Tell them how it is."
Aeris stared at him. "Sephiroth, I-"
"Now." He commanded.
She sighed. "Its not what you think it is," she said to Tifa.
"What do you mean?" Tifa demanded, glaring at Aeris now and pointing once again at Sephiroth. "There he is. The man we've chased halfway around the Planet in order to stop his killing spree and prevent him from getting the Promised Land! The man that destroyed Nibelheim and killed my father! How can it be anything different from what I'm thinking it is?"
Aeris sighed, deeply. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. "I don't understand it all!" she exclaimed. "It wasn't Sephiroth-it was someone else the entire time-"
"I see you've solved the puzzle at last." That same, supernatural voice erupted from Cloud. On his face was a smirk of foreign malice, the same one that had fit Sephiroth's features countless times before. "Well done, Cetra."
Something struck Sephiroth senseless. That voice...
Cloud, who was obviously no longer Cloud, let out a vicious cackle of evil laughter. "It has all come to this. The other who holds evidence of my existence has lost the ability to contain me. He no longer hears my words. The Cetra beasts themselves have marked him and rid him of me. After he failed his mission and was lost."
Aeris was the only occupant in the room that seemed to understand, other than Sephiroth, who was stunned by the familiarity of the voice that came from Cloud's mouth. Aeris retreated a few steps from Cloud's possessed form, but was not frightened. "I see now," she said calmly. "You are the evil. You are the one behind everything..."
"Once again, correct. It would have been ages before your silly mortal friends would have realized they were chasing the wrong being. But you've opened their eyes. Not that it matters, oh no. My plan shall very well take action and run along its designated course."
Aeris shook her head. "No, I won't let it happen."
The voice laughed. "Foolish Cetra scum. You have not the power to fight back against me. My will is stronger than yours. You are only half of that impudent, foolish race. Yet you shall die just as your ancestors did, tripping over themselves to try and defeat me. They thought hiding the Materia in the temple was enough to stop me from conquering the Planet. No. It is destiny that I shall rule..."
"No!" Aeris cried. "I won't let it happen!"
Sephiroth abandoned his spectator post by the door and stepped up to Aeris' side. "Jenova," he said, regarding Cloud with a nod. Aeris stared at him in disbelief.
Cloud laughed. "The failed minion! What brings you here? I have no use for you, now."
"There are none who may use me and live to tell the tale," he said darkly. "I was made a fool by you. Cast into the darkness of confusion, cast into the very hands of death because of your will. It was tempting, I shall not deny it, but I want no part in it any longer. You shall pay dearly for the crime you've committed-for the illusion you've spun." His sword was in his hand, raised to kill.
But it was not Sephiroth's words, nor the anger in them, that Tifa saw as he menacingly held his sword over Cloud. It was Cloud's life, she saw, and Sephiroth's more than keen ability to take that life away. She tackled Cloud's form to the ground. "No! I won't let you kill him too!" she cried to Sephiroth.
But Cloud had started to laugh. He threw Tifa's form from him into the wall. "You no longer have the power to do it, Minion," he said, staring at Sephiroth. "Not anymore." Cloud's form turned to Barret, who had, until only recently, been guarding Tifa. "Enough of this nonsense. Give me the Black Materia."
Barret only stared, wide-eyed. His eyes darted from Aeris, to Tifa, to Sephiroth, his head rapidly shaking in an overwhelmed fit.
"Give it to me!"
A ray of red light struck Barret squarely in the chest, knocking him into the wall right beside Tifa. With a painful grunt, his hand opened, and the Materia clattered to the floor. Cloud held out his hand, and the orb immediately rose and landed in his open palm.
With a sinister grin, he faced Aeris. His finger-tips began to glow a furious red. "You, Cetra. You will soon meet your end as well. I fear not you, you have not the strength of your ancestors. But you are a nuisance, as it is."
Sephiroth foresaw the assault. The moment the red beam leapt from Cloud's outstretched hand, aimed directly at Aeris, Masamune rose and deflected the beam so that it struck and shattered one of the windows. Glass spilled everywhere.
And it struck Sephiroth right then, as Cloud darted out the door and disappeared into the evening sky, that he had saved the Cetra-Aeris, her name was-twice. And this time, it had not been for his sole interests. To his dismay, he found the very image of her impaled by the creature a gruesome picture that he wanted to discard and shred into a thousand pieces. He found any thought of the girl suffering as a dagger to his heart; it was unbearable to see her in pain.
But it was insanity in itself, and he did not understand the reason why.
He found he would die from the agony if he were to ever see her hurt.
But he did not understand why.
Perhaps it was because she was like a last glimmer of hope in solving the mysteries that his mind bled. Perhaps it was because she was a seemingly great threat to the creature that he hated, and wanted to destroy, tearing limb from limb, for what it had done to him.
The girl would need to be watched closely, no matter what purpose she served right now. There was no doubt of that, and Sephiroth accepted, with a curt nod to no one, that he was the only one that could offer her that sort of protection.
He stalked out of the house. It did not matter to him what happened to the girl's friends. They would just as soon kill him than look at him. Even toward the end, when everything had been revealed, the stubborn dark-haired girl had still seen him, Sephiroth, as the villain. The only one who had understood was Aeris.
And it was her that followed him out. She was still too stunned to speak. Sephiroth took her moment of incapability as an opportunity. He grabbed her again by her forearm. "You're coming with me to Midgar," he told her, his voice completely void of anything but order.
- - - - - - - - - -
Aeris could do nothing but be compliant in his demand. Once again, she was completely at the man's mercy. But she could not prevent the relief that had begun to flow in her mind. A part of her, though she dare not admit it out loud, longed to remain with the only man who had taken her side a few moments ago- the only person who had seemed as useful as she herself was in the current mystery.
She did not know what was in Midgar, or why they were heading there, but she only complied.
She did not want to leave Tifa and Barret alone and confused in the Capital, but she had no choice. She had a feeling she would meet up with them again before everything was over.
Aeris knew very well what Jenova would force Cloud to do. And it was only a matter of time before everything happened.
Before everything happened, just as it would have anyway.
But this time, it would be Cloud, not Sephiroth, that would be at the helm of destruction.
The hero has become the villain.
As Aeris struggled to keep up with Sephiroth as he headed back in the direction of Corral Cave, her mind wandered dreamily into the starlit sky, and all thoughts, even of the current crisis, melted away. The same, single sentence hung suspended like a glittering constellation of awe in space before her.
The hero has become the villain.