Cloud Strife groaned weakly, sitting up and opening his eyes. He had to blink a few times to assure himself that he really did have his eyes open because it was pitch black, wherever he was. Things skittered in the darkness around him as he tried to remember how he had gotten into this position. Tifa...no, Arina–the clone. And Barret's clone. Cid and Cait Sith in a cave...he had been taken. Hit pretty hard judging by the size of the lump on the back of his head. But where exactly had they taken him?
He stood. "Now where in the heck–!"
CLANG!
He fell back down, cursing and grabbing his already-throbbing skull. "OW!"
Cloud reached up and felt cold metal above him. He lowered his hand to his right and felt slightly separated iron bars. A cage. He was in a cage!
"This is great..." he sighed, moving so he was on his knees; also as not to smash his head on the low ceiling again. "Now what am I supposed to do!"
"Cloud...?"
The whimpering voice came from somewhere on his left. He inched over to that side of his prison until his knee struck the bars. He paused, listening with his breath held. There was a possibility it had been...
Louder: "Cloud?"
"Who's there?" he called cautiously. The gasp from the mystery person was audible. He heard shifting, then a cold hand was groping about his face and chest. He let it touch him, familiarizing himself with the gentle caress of the trembling fingers. He reached out with his own hand–or so he assumed; it was still too dark– and grasped it.
"Tifa?"
The sigh of relief was close to him, very close. The hand tightened around his, pulling him till he was almost pressing against the bars. The person came just as close, and Cloud could feel scant, shaking breaths washing across his left cheek.
"Cloud, it is you! How did you get here! Did you come with the others!"
Cloud wanted so badly to believe it was Tifa he was so close too; the clones had imprisoned her in the same room... But he was highly aware that it could have been a trap. He pulled back and slowly slid his hand from hers.
"No. I was brought here."
"You too! That clone, he calls himself Damien, he looks exactly...like you."
He could hear in her voice she had suddenly become aware of what he had.
"I was kidnaped by your clone and Barret's. But man, can your double hit hard!"
She laughed, but it sounded small and forced in the awkward darkness. After a moment, she moved and he heard a sharp bang.
"OW!"
Cloud shook his head. If this was the clone, she would have known not to hit her head on the cage roof. Still, he wasn't taking any chances.
"You okay?"
"No! How come you didn't warn me about that!"
"I thought you heard when I hit my head earlier."
"Yeah, well..."
He listened as she shifted around the confined area, exploring the same space he had. Then he realized she was grunting softly, and became nervous.
"Tifa...?"
"I think...I found a way out of this thing."
She grunted again and something creaked. There was a pause, then the creak got louder. Tifa gasped and a sound of screeching metal echoed in the blackness. Cloud gritted his teeth but waited silently. Tifa grunted one last time and something clanged hollowly as it struck the stone floor.

"Cloud!" she sounded excited. "One of the poles in my cage was loose! I could probably fit through here..."
"Be careful," he replied, "you may get stuck."
"I know my boobs are big, but I'll fit."
"..."
Yeah, this was the real Tifa.
Cloud waited. She sighed, sounding farther away and something cracked.
"What was that?" he called.
"My back," she sighed in relief, and he heard her walk over to somewhere in front of him. She groped about but bumped blindly into something. It clattered.
"Hey! What the–!"
"What?" Cloud hated being left in the dark like this (now it was literal).
"I walked into this huge chain..." she trailed off. There was more silence. All of a sudden something began to crank. Cloud listened as the chain rattled and the gears continued working. With a groan, the cage around him lifted and he stood up tentatively. No roof.
"You did it!" he cried, still unsure of where she was.
"Told you so," she replied, and he wandered toward the sound of her voice with his arms extended. He felt her own arm, then traced his fingers down its curve and to her hand. Their fingers entwined as she leaned against him.
"I'm glad you're here, Cloud."
"Come on; we'll be fine," he smiled, and hoped she knew it.
Her hand tightened on his and they started forward; he stopped, because there was a voice coming closer.
"Who is it?" Tifa huddled closely to him. He backed up to where the cage had been, releasing her hand.
"Stay there."
"What! Cloud–!"
"When I tell you to, I need you to release that crank you just wound."
"But...but..."
The figure stepped into the room.
"I can't believe I'm stuck baby-sittin'!" it was a man's voice. He stopped because he, too, had sensed something. "Hello?"
Cloud took a deep breath: "Hey, &#!"
The voice was suddenly very scary-sounding: "WHA–!"
"You heard me! Come get me, you !#!"
Cloud knew he was stretching it. He was surely going to be ripped to shreds if he wasn't fast enough. He heard the clone coming and could see him in his mind's eye: arms extended, eyes glaring lethally. It was Barret's clone, Waylon. He came like a hound from hell and Cloud jumped, leaping over his head, somersaulting in mid-air, and landing crouched where he assumed the edge of the cage would reach.
"Tifa, now!"
She cried out and the chain clicked loudly. The entire thing came crashing down so fast, the gears of the crank exploded beneath Tifa's hands and she yelped in surprise. He heard Waylon turn to come at him. The bars fell between them with a sick crunching noise, and the larger man screamed painfully. Cloud couldn't see what happened, but he suddenly got the feeling that his intention to trap the clone had gone a little further. Tifa stepped over to him and made a choked noise in her throat.
"Oh, Cloud...!"
Waylon twitched beneath the mangled bars of the collapsed cage, his bright green eyes staring up at them eerily through the blackness.
"They'll come..." he grunted heavily, his voice sounding garbled by some type of liquid. "They'll come for yeh...an' there's nothing you can do to stop 'em..."
His head hit the stone floor. A puddle of mako spread out from under his figure, creeping up to Cloud and Tifa's feet as they stood watching in stunned silence. Something dropped from the top of the cage and landed at Cloud's feet and he stooped to pick it up: a large orb by the feel of it. He felt Tifa groping at him again, and he took her arm and raced out the way Waylon had come.
"Don't you think we should have done something else! Now the rest of them will come and–"
"Haven't you learned about these guys!"

Tifa stayed silent as they reached a chamber lit by soft white and blue light. Stopping to catch their breaths, they looked around. Cloud recognized the place first, but Tifa screamed and dropped to her knees.
"No! No!"
"We're in the Forgotten City..." Cloud mumbled, his eyes roving over the extravagantly-carved walls and crystal staircases. Then he pulled the orb he had picked up from his pocket. It was a brilliant greenish-white color that shone like the Holy materia Aeris had always kept with her. Aeris... Cloud looked up at the pulpit where he had seen her for the last time...where Sephiroth had started the horrible chain of events that had followed. But, as he had this memory, it wasn't Sephiroth with the sword he saw, but himself. And he remembered Tifa's dream–the one she had told him a few nights ago.
"It wasn't Sephiroth...it was you."
In her dream, he had killed Aeris; only it hadn't been him, it had been his clone. Cloud suddenly felt the urge to go to the top of the altar, to see one last time where Aeris's blood had been spilt. He clenched the glowing orb in his right hand and raced up the crystal and stone steps to the central point in the City of the Ancients–the key to the Promise Land.