Final Fantasy 7
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The following morning the door to the inn burst open and Cloud ran out, cursing himself for sleeping so late when he had a job to do. Sephiroth was a very patient person, but he wouldn't wait for those who couldn't be bothered to show up on time. As he ran out of the inn and turned towards the north of the town, the door to the shop next door also opened and a young boy ran out holding a camera, and followed Cloud eagerly towards the north sector of the town.
To Cloud's immense relief Sephiroth was waiting for him at the top of the town, standing near to the entrance of the old mansion that guarded the way into the mountains that rose up behind Nibelheim. The other two soldiers were standing nearby, looking around to make sure no one wanted to start any trouble.
There were a few more people to be seen now that the dragon had been killed. A few faces could be seen peeking out of windows and standing in doorways, curious to know what was going on. But still no one dared to leave their homes – not as long as Shinra was still there. Only one man was brave enough to leave his home and to one side in the clearing near to Sephiroth – watching his every move with a concerned and almost tense look on his face. As Cloud saw him he immediately felt that there was something strangely familiar about him and the way he looked. He was sure he knew him from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it. Sephiroth looked up as Cloud ran up.
"Once the guide gets here, we're heading out," he said plainly to Cloud as the young boy skidded to a stop beside him. Cloud nodded his head, relieved that he wasn't the only one who was late.
The man who had been standing to one side had remained silent up until that point, but as Sephiroth spoke he perked up and moved forward, the tense look on his face increasing.
"Listen to me, Sephiroth," he said curtly. "In case something happens..."
"...Trust me," Sephiroth replied, waving a hand dismissively.
"It'll be all right, Dad! I have two men from SOLDIER with me."
The man, Cloud and Sephiroth all turned towards the town at the sound of the light, cheery voice. The voice belonged to a young girl of about sixteen, and the moment he saw her Cloud gasped in both amazement and horror. She wore a smart red and white dress and had a large hat over her long brown hair, but nothing had really changed about her. She still appeared the same. Cloud was in awe, but was also horrified that his worst fears had been true.
The girl looked around, a beaming smile on her fair face. "I'm Tifa," she said cheerily. "Nice to meet you!"
"Tifa!" Cloud exclaimed, running forward. "You're the guide?"
Tifa nodded, the smile remaining on her face. "That's right," she said. She clasped her hands together in front of her. "I just happen to be the number one guide in this town." She grinned at Cloud's surprised face.
"It's too dangerous!" Cloud protested, shaking his head furiously. "I can't involve you in something like this!"
Tifa put her hands on her hips, almost ready to protest, but Sephiroth quickly interrupted them. "Then there's no problem if you protect her," he said bluntly. "...Let's go." He turned away and began to walk off towards the mountains, but as he did the young boy who had been standing shyly nearby until then suddenly ran forward, tightly holding the camera in his shy, little hands.
"Ummm... Mr. Sephiroth!" he stammered nervously. Sephiroth came to a stop and slowly turned his head round to look at the boy, glancing at him through the long strands of silver hair. The boy held up his camera. "Please let me take one picture for a memento! Tifa, can you ask him for me, too......?"
Tifa looked at the boy's eager, hopeful face, and then nodded. She stood to one side, and Cloud moved so that he was standing beside her. Sephiroth, on the other hand, seemed a little more hesitant to get into the picture like Tifa and Cloud. He turned away for a moment, thinking, before eventually he made up his mind and stood beside Tifa. He didn't say anything or make any effort to smile, and just stood there blankly, waiting for it to be over. The young boy jumped for joy as he lifted the camera up to his eye, and focused on the three.
"Cheeeeeese!"
The camera flashed as it took the picture, and the boy lowered his camera. The moment that it was over Sephiroth quickly moved away, still showing no signs of emotion or caring for the boy's excitement.
"Great, thank you!" the boy thanked sincerely, hardly able to contain his excitement as he clutched the camera tightly against his chest. He smiled up at Tifa and Cloud, who smiled back. "I'll give each of you a copy once I get it developed!" He then turned and ran off back towards the shop, wanting it to be developed as quickly as possible. And once he was gone, Sephiroth and his group moved quickly through the back of the town and into the mountains of Nibelheim.
There wasn't much of a change in the mood between the town of Nibelheim and the mountains of Nibel. The entire mountain range was filled with a cold, dark mist that seemed to wind its way through the maze of mountains, choking the life out of everything that grew there. It was thought that the mist originated from the fumes that spewed out of the Nibelheim reactor, which was built deep within the mountains away from the town, but the mountains were always cold and misty. Like the town of Nibelheim itself, it was like a ghostly graveyard for the dead, with hardly any life in it apart from the monsters that lived there.
For as long as Cloud could remember the mountains of Nibel had always been cold, dark and foreboding. Hardly anyone ever went there, and those that did were never seen again. It was a dangerous place to be, and the only way to pass through the mountains were by travelling across the winding paths, and over the rickety old bridges that connected the mountains together.
"A Mako Reactor was built in Mt. Nibel," explained Cloud. Thinking back he could remember the thickness of the mist in certain parts. "The cold air in the mountains of Nibel. It was no different."
Tifa was the one who led the way through the maze of mountain paths that wound their way throughout Mt. Nibel. Cloud, Sephiroth and the two Shinra soldiers followed her lead, since she was the only one who knew the whole way to the Mako reactor, although she herself had never been inside – it was always locked up to prevent people from getting in.
Eventually she came to a stop at the end of a ledge on the first set of mountains within the range, and turned back towards the group. There was a deep crevice between the path they were on and the adjoining mountain and only a long, old wooden bridge joined the two together. It didn't look particularly safe, but it was clearly the only way they were going to get across.
"It gets harder from here!" she announced clearly to them all. "Follow me!"
With that she turned and stepped up bravely onto the old, rotting bridge, without even a flicker of fear crossing her face. The bridge creaked loudly and swayed a little as she stepped onto it, but Tifa just ignored this and simply continued to walk up the bridge. Sephiroth followed her close behind and soon passed her, taking the lead in crossing the bridge. Cloud made sure he stayed as close to Tifa as he could, wanting to make sure that she didn't fall from the bridge.
Each and every step they took across the bridge felt like a nightmare. The wooden planks were so old they looked ready to snap at any moment, completely worn out from years of being left to endure the harsh weather that ran through the mountains. Yet surprisingly the bridge seemed to stay intact, and it looked as though they were going to be able to make it across the bridge to the other side without any trouble at all.
Unfortunately things were not going to go as they had hoped. The bridge was just too old to carry the weight of five people all at once. As Tifa took a step forward she felt the bridge give a hefty shake, and a loud snapping sound could be heard from the ropes at the other end of the bridge.
"Uh... the bridge!!" she cried out to warn everyone.
The group on the bridge all looked around in a panic as they saw the frayed ends of the rope at the end of the bridge suddenly snap and fall away, releasing the wooden planks and letting them tumble away. The bridge jerked violently as gravity took over and began to pull it down towards the opposite mountain wall.
Cloud was beside Tifa in a second, grasping her hand tightly as she lost her balance and clung onto the side of the bridge for dear life. Yet as the bridge lost its only link to the mountain and fell, he lost his own grip on the rope he was holding onto and fell, carrying Tifa with him. All he could see were white and dark blurs of the mountains, the faint images of others falling alongside of him...
By the time they had finished their fall, Cloud and Tifa had both landed together at the foot of the mountain, lying limply on the harsh, rocky paths that lay even deeper beneath the mountains. As Cloud opened his eyes he could see Tifa lying next to him, her hair covering her face, and her hat thrown off and lying in a crumpled heap beneath her head. He pushed himself to his feet, his body aching all over, amazed that he was still alive. At the same time Tifa also pushed herself up, brushing her hair out of her eyes and picking her hat up from the floor. She looked around, confused, before she finally met Cloud's gaze and sighed with immense relief. Before she could say anything Sephiroth and one of the two Shinra soldiers walked up to them, also unhurt, although a little grazed from the fall.
"Everyone seems to be all right," Sephiroth said calmly, looking around. He flicked his silver hair out of his face, and turned to Tifa. "Can we get back to where we were?"
Tifa looked around the area where they had landed. They had landed on a set of rocky paths at the foot of the mountains, a long way down from where they wanted to be. There was a cave entrance in the mountain nearby, which she thought might lead them to where they wanted to go. But she was not so familiar with this part of the mountains.
"These caves are intertwined, just like an ant farm..." she said, looking down in thought. She looked around the group. "Oh, and Sephiroth... There seems to be one person missing..."
Slowly Sephiroth lowered his head. "It may sound cold, but we've got no time to search for him," he told her simply, making no effort to hide the truth of the situation. "We can't go back now, so we must go on." He looked up. "We'll travel together from here."
So they walked together up the path that led to the foot of the mountain they had landed by. Of course now they were a long way from where they wanted to be, but they should still be able to make it to the reactor in plenty of time to solve the problem and make it back to Nibelheim without any more problems. There was a cave at the foot of the mountain, so with no other way to go, they went inside.
Tifa gasped as she walked in, amazed by the inside of the cavern. The walls were old and rough, but they were also glowing slightly with a strange energy that changed into many faint and beautiful colours. She took a few steps ahead into the cave and looked around.
"What's this?" Cloud asked.
"A mysteriously coloured cave..." Tifa whispered. Even though she whispered, her voice could be heard echoing softly throughout the paths of the cavern, reverberating off the walls back to her.
"It must be the Mako energy," Sephiroth assumed, walking up beside them his with arms folded, his masamune sword resting at his side. "This mountain is especially abundant in it. That's why the Mako reactor was built here."
He headed on into the cavern ahead of the group. Clearly he wasn't impressed by the way the Mako energy flowed through the inside of the mountain, but it amazed Cloud and Tifa. On the outside the mountains were dead and lifeless, but on the inside it looked as though life was still trying to hang on. They had no time to stop and watch the beautiful glowing colours however, for they soon had to run to catch up to Sephiroth as he reached the opposite end of the cave and stopped beside the cavern exit. When the two had caught up they walked outside, where Tifa gasped again as another beautiful sight caught her eye.
In the clearing ahead of them was a beautiful natural fountain that was filled with water. The strange thing about the water was that it had a gorgeous glowing aura, like a magical energy that flowed through it. It was so very rare to see something like a natural fountain, and even more rare to have water such as that flowing through it.
"...And what's this?" asked Cloud again, continuing to ask questions.
"A Mako fountain," Sephiroth explained to him. "It's a miracle of nature."
"It's so beautiful," said Tifa, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the glow.
She walked up towards and stepped over the small rocky ridge that surrounded the fountain. The deep grooves of the fountain were filled with the glowing Mako, and were almost crystal clear. As she leaned over she could see her reflection looking back at her with the same glowing aura, and she could feel that there was something mystical and miraculous about the fountain. Then her eyes saddened as she remembered the dead look of the rest of Nibel.
"If the Mako reactor continues to suck up the energy, this fountain will dry up, too..." she mumbled sadly.
Sephiroth walked up and stood beside her, followed closely by Cloud. "Materia," Sephiroth said. He also looked into the Mako, and saw the three reflections of himself, Cloud and Tifa looking back at him. "When you condense Mako energy, materia is produced. It's very rare to be able to see materia in its natural state."
Tifa nodded and looked back into the fountain, feeling fairly sure that Sephiroth was deliberately avoiding answering her question. She knew it was true, though. Thanks to the reactors everything around Nibelheim was dead, and it was only a matter of time before the Mako of this fountain disappeared too, and left behind a lonely fountain corpse dreaming of its past.
"By the way..." Cloud said suddenly, remembering another question he wanted to ask. "Why is it that when you use materia you can use magic too?"
Sephiroth glanced at him through his serious green eyes, and almost smiled. Almost. "You were in SOLDIER and didn't even know that?" he asked in disbelief. He shook his head and indicated the Mako in front of them. "...The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic ......or so they say."
"Magic......" Cloud whispered, looking deep into the shining pool of Mako energy. "A mysterious power..."
Sephiroth stared at him for a moment, the corners of his mouth tugging slightly into what could have been a smile. Then, without any warning, he suddenly laughed out loud. Tifa and Cloud stared in amazement as Sephiroth laughed heartily in front of them, obviously finding what Cloud said extremely funny. Even so, Cloud was quite confused as to why Sephiroth was laughing.
"Did I say somethin' funny?"
Sephiroth stopped laughing and looked at Cloud. "A man once told me never to use such an unscientific term such as mysterious power!" he said. The laughter was gone now, and the serious look had returned to his fair face. "I still remember how angry he was."
"Who was that?"
"Hojo of Shinra, Inc..." Sephiroth replied. "An inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."
"A Mako fountain..." Tifa interrupted, leaning over again. She wanted to reach out and touch the water, but another part of her didn't want to disturb its peaceful rest. "So this is where the knowledge of the Ancients is."
While she was still looking Sephiroth stood upright and moved away from the fountain, feeling that they had wasted enough time now looking at it. Cloud followed him, with the remaining Shinra soldier behind. Tifa stayed where she was for a few moments more, still thinking about how the fountain would one day dry up, and that she would like to see the fountain again before it dried up completely. She then realised that Sephiroth and the others were already beginning to go on ahead, so she quickly ran on to catch up with them.
The rest of the walk up towards the reactor passed by with no more distractions, and they managed to catch up on the time that they had lost. As they finally came out of the last cavern and onto the long, winding path that led up to the top of the final mountain, they could see the old Shinra reactor lying ahead of them.
The reactor indeed looked very old and worn after suffering many years out in the cold winds of Mt. Nibel, and thick layers of rust were beginning to form across it. It was no wonder that it had begun to malfunction after all these years, and it probably needed to be completely rebuilt rather than just a quick repair. Tifa led the way all the way to the top, and when they finally reached it she turned and smiled at everyone, her face slightly red from their steady climb.
"We finally made it," she said excitedly. "We sure took the long way through."
Cloud walked up to her. "Tifa, you wait here."
"I'm going inside, too!" Tifa protested fiercely, shaking her head. "I wanna see!"
Sephiroth looked over at her as Cloud shook his head. "Only authorised people are allowed in," he explained briefly to her. "This place is full of Shinra's industrial secrets."
"But!"
Sephiroth turned to the single Shinra soldier standing nearby. "Take care of the lady," he ordered him. He and Cloud then headed up the stairs of the reactor towards the locked doors the blocked unauthorised entry. When they walked up Sephiroth typed in the access code on the control panel beside the door, and it slid open to let them through.
As they went through Tifa made to follow them, determined to go in no matter what they said. Yet as she approached the Shinra soldier ran up and stood at the bottom of the stairs, preventing her from passing. He held out a hand and shook his head at her. Angrily, Tifa stamped her foot against the ground.
"Mm, man!" she wailed angrily. She turned and stormed off a few steps, before she turned back to the soldier with the angry look still on her face. "Better take real good care of me then!"
Inside the reactor, Cloud and Sephiroth moved quickly through the winding corridors that led towards the heart of the reactor. The reactor was made primarily for sucking up the Mako energy, so the builders never bothered with proper flooring and simply left the grated panels and pipes as a means of moving around. They moved quickly and steadily towards the final room at the back of the reactor where the main power pods where. All the many pods were lined up alongside each other, until they stopped by a single door at the top of the stairs.
Seeing the door made Sephiroth pause for a moment, before he regained himself and moved quickly up the stairs towards the door. Even though all the power was contained in this room, the main control room lay beyond the door at the top of the stairs. Yet he was hesitant for some reason as he looked at the door. There was a large metal nameplate above the door, with the name 'JENOVA' imprinted on it in bold letters.
"This is ......Jenova, right?" asked Sephiroth. "The lock won't open..."
He suddenly turned and moved back down the stairs, and stopped beside the first pod in the rows beside the stairs. He looked down at the pipes and valves that connected all of the pods together, before he nodded his head and turned to Cloud.
"This is the reason for the malfunction," he stated. "This port is broken. Cloud, close the valve."
Cloud did as he was ordered and went to the port, beginning to work on closing the valve so that no more Mako could leak out onto the floor. While he was working Sephiroth went over to the other side and stopped beside the first of the pods, looking down in thought.
"Why did it break...?" he wondered aloud.
He turned towards the pod, where the glowing light of the Mako inside could be seen. Curious to know more, he reached up and grabbed the rim of the window, pulling himself up so he could see inside. He then let himself drop down, a knowing look on his face.
"...Now I see, Hojo," he muttered to himself, his voice quiet. "But, even doing this, will not put you on the same level as Professor Gast." He saw Cloud looking at him in bewilderment, so he turned and began to explain. "This is a system that freezes and condenses Mako energy... That is, when it's working correctly. Now... what does Mako energy become when it's further condensed?"
Cloud scratched his head. "Uh, umm...... Oh yeah! It becomes Materia."
"Right, normally," Sephiroth said, nodding his head. He glanced at the pod. "But Hojo put something else in there. ...Take a look. Look through the window."
Slightly nervous Cloud walked over and climbed up the side of the pod to see through the window. His blue eyes then opened wide in absolute horror.
Looking back at him through the window was a face – but it was no ordinary face. It was fairly human in appearance – it had two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but the rest of it was completely deformed and mutated – it was a monster. Cloud lost his hold on the window and dropped down to the ground, his body cold and shaking in fright.
"Wh... What is this!?" he yelled.
Sephiroth had turned away, his arms folded against his chest. "Normal members of SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with Mako. You're different from the others, but still human. But, what are they? They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you."
Shakily Cloud climbed to his feet. "...Is this some kind of monster?"
"Exactly," said Sephiroth. "And it's Hojo of Shinra that's produced these monsters." He narrowed his eyes. "Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."
Cloud shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. He turned to Sephiroth. "Normal members of SOLDIER?" he asked. "You mean you're different?"
He stopped as he saw Sephiroth, and stared. Beside him Sephiroth had turned away from him, and Cloud could see that his whole body was shaking slightly, although it was growing stronger. Sephiroth reached up and grabbed hold of his head, tugging at the long lengths of silver hair that hung from his head. He shook his head fiercely, his eyes glaring.
"N... no......" he gasped, his voice quaking in both anger and fear. "...Was I?"
Cloud made to go to Sephiroth, but quickly stepped back as Sephiroth suddenly grabbed hold of his masamune and pulled it out, swiping it swiftly against the pod. Cloud jumped back in a fright as the blade struck the side of the pod, cutting a deep, long scratch in its side. When Cloud landed on the ground Sephiroth struck the pod another two times, an uncontrollable rage beginning to grow in him. Cloud could tell something was wrong.
"...Was I created this way, too?" Sephiroth asked, his green eyes small as he glared furiously at the silver surface of the pod. "Am I the same as all these monsters......"
"...Sephiroth."
He jumped violently as Sephiroth struck the pod again with his sword, cutting another deep scratch in its body. He then turned to Cloud, his eyes flared and angry, filled with rage.
"You saw it!" he yelled. "All of them... were humans..."
"Humans!?" Cloud exclaimed. "No way!" He remembered the faint human-like features of the monster in the pod that Sephiroth was striking. He couldn't believe it. Neither could Sephiroth.
"...I've always felt since I was small..." Sephiroth began, lowering his sword for a moment. "That I was different from the others. Special, in some way. But..." He clenched his fists tightly, the shaking beginning again. "Not like this..."
A faint explosion sounded behind them, and the two turned up towards one of the higher pods. Smoke burst from the sides of the pod as the hinges were strained to their utmost peak. Inside the pod came the sound of an angry roar, and through the icy clouds inside Cloud could see an angry face reaching forwards, roaring angrily. The front of the pod then burst open and the door fell down towards the ground, releasing the creature trapped within it.
It was indeed a human, although it was not a human anymore. Perhaps once it had been a human, but now, thanks to the extreme levels of Mako that it had been exposed to, it was now a monster. The monster lay on the open door of the pod and roared again, its normal human voice no longer able to work. Every ounce of its humanity had been lost forever.
