Chapter 9

Aurelia slowed, her brightly colored, clawed feet scuffing hesitantly in the dirt. Michael shivered within the circle of Cloud's arms and the older man glanced down at him.

"Cold?" he asked.

The boy shook his head, wrapping his thin arms tighter around himself. "Death," he mumbled.

"Yeah, that's really all there is up here," Cloud agreed and tugged on the reigns, bringing Aurelia to a halt. He hopped off and turned to help Michael down from the large bird's back, then lay a hand gently on its beak. "We'll be back soon. I hope," he added under his breath as an afterthought. The gold chocobo warked and gave his fingers an affectionate nip. He and Michael stepped away from her and to the edge of the crater's mouth, looking down into the black abyss. After a moment:

"Are you going first?" Michael asked weakly.

"Unless you want to go in before me," Cloud glanced sideways at him.

"No, no that's okay, really. You go."

"Why? I'm sure there's nothing down there."

"Then you won't have any problems going first."

"Alright, alright, I'll go first."

No one moved. After another moment:

"Go on! I'll follow you," Michael gestured.

"On second thought, maybe we should go in together," Cloud grinned nervously. From beside them, the spirit of Tifa Lockheart rolled her eyes and slapped a hand to her forehead; were these two serious? Sighing, she dropped over the lip of the crater and slowly descended into the darkness, her eyes moving about to try and spot any danger. Nothing. Touching down on the crater bottom—she had to admit, this spirit-thing was kind of cool—Tifa looked up at the speck of light that was the entrance and called up to the two she knew were still up there.

'It's okay, it's safe! There's nothing down here!' And then she remembered that she was a ghost and they couldn't hear her. She slapped her forehead again: So much for being the intelligent one in all of this. Above, at the top of the crater, Michael suddenly tensed and leaned out farther, his eyes squinting as if he were looking for something in the blackness.

"Did you…hear that?" he asked Cloud. The blond shook his head. Michael made a face and stepped onto the edge of the crater. "See you at the bottom."

And he jumped.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" Cloud dove forward to catch him but missed. Cursing, he launched himself into the hole after the boy, using the walls to ricochet downward as the other fell freely. Michael kept his eyes closed; feeling the air whistling around him and knowing the ground was getting closer way too fast for his enjoyment. Cloud angled his jump and grabbed for the boy again but again he missed and he landed on one of the remaining ledges instead, watching in horror as the boy kept on falling. But finally, there it was—arms encircled him and pulled him to a stop mere feet before impact. He hovered for a second or two then was placed gently on his feet and the arms released him. The voice he had thought he'd heard came into his head again.

'Mikey, that was reckless! You could have gotten seriously hurt!'

"Michael…?" Cloud dropped to the ground and stood up quickly, rushing over. Michael stared at him as he approached, his eyes full of tears.

"Tifa…!" he gasped.

"Where?" Cloud put his hands on the boy's shoulders.

'Mikey… Michael, calm down and give me a chance to explain...' Tifa said softly.

"She… She's here!"

"In the crater? She got here before us?"

'Michael, listen to me! I'm perfectly alright, I'm not dead…'

"Dead!" he wailed.

"Dead," Cloud repeated blankly. "Tifa's…?"

Tifa grabbed Michael's shoulders and shook him briefly before the hysteria settled in: 'I'm not dead!'

"I'm not dead!" came Michael's voice. Tifa blinked. Michael touched his lips with his fingers and looked around the crater floor.

"Michael, what's going on?" Cloud lifted an eyebrow slowly. Tifa got an idea, and she came around behind Michael, placing her hands on his shoulders and closing her eyes, concentrating hard.

'Cloud, it's me—Tifa! But I am not dead!'

"Cloud, it's me—Tifa!" She heard her words coming from the child's mouth and breathed a small sigh. "But I am not dead!"

"Tifa…?" Cloud blinked and looked around the empty crater as Michael had.

'I met the real Aeris in the Lifestream…'

"I met the real Aeris in the Lifestream and she explained everything. Cloud, Sephiroth's alive. He returned using the power of the Cetra that was locked away in the planet and created the Xero Faction with that same power. Only the spell he used on them turn spirits into vengeance-filled ghosts who obey his every command; he's using the spirit of an Ancient—Aeris—to command them. He has her under his control.

"Her spirit is in my body right now, which is why my spirit is here. She's hiding her whereabouts from Sephiroth so he can't eliminate her and obtain the knowledge the planet receives from her spirit: the location of the Promised Land!"

Tifa gasped and let go of Michael, falling to her knees. The boy stumbled and plopped down onto the floor, laying back and taking in huge breaths. Cloud frowned, his eyes still casting themselves around the room.

"Tifa's spirit is here with us right now." An affirmative nod from Michael. "Then… Sephiroth…" His face darkened. "I killed him once and I'll do it again; as many times as it takes!" Tifa breathed a sigh and closed her eyes: Wow, that took a lot out of me. I have to rest for a minute…

Cloud glanced back at the half-dozing boy and dropped silently down into the mako waterfall room. From his position, Cloud could see the revived spirits of the Xero Faction lined up in rows, facing the sliver of yellow light emitting from the entrance to the crater's innermost chamber. He had to get in there undetected; he didn't have enough magic power to take on everyone in this room, the next one, and Sephiroth in one shot—that was suicide… Well, this whole ordeal was like that from the start, but, he had to do this now more than ever. Not for the world, not for the dead, and not even to defeat Sephiroth again. He had to save Tifa. The blond started forward slowly, creeping along on the balls of his feet, silent, and his eyes keeping to the faction's backs, watching them, trying to think of a way to distract them from his presence…

Michael sat up when he realized Cloud was gone and he was by himself. "Cloud?" he called tentatively. His voice echoed up along the crater walls but no response came back. "Tifa…?" he whispered after a pause.

'I'm here, Michael.'

"Tifa, everything you said was the truth, right?"

'Of course.'

"And Sephiroth is the bad guy you and Cloud defeated together?"

'Yes.'

"And he's the one that turned my father into a monster."

'I'm sorry.'

Michael stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes. "Do you know where he is?" he asked the ghost of his caretaker. Tifa recalled the story Cloud had told her the night he had returned to Nibelheim. She looked around and spotted the crack in the ground from his earlier excursion.

'To your left is a gap in the rock. It leads to another part of the crater; Cloud went down there.'

Michael crouched beside the rift and peered inside. "It's bright in there," he mumbled and began to work his way into the hole. Tifa phased through the rock floor and came out in the chamber below, grinning as she saw Michael's skinny legs kicking frantically back and forth as he tried to squeeze through and not fall. She pulled him out gently and set him on the ground, turning to face the room and letting out a gasp as she saw the flood of faction ghosts. The noise alerted the ones closest to them, and Michael let out a tiny squeak, scrambling toward the sealed entrance in the wall. Tifa backed up to him, her eyes darting quickly as she counted the number beginning to surround them. One lunged to attack them.

'I hope I can still hit ghosts!' she winced, then cried out as the attacker disappeared in a wisp of vapors. 'I neutralize them!' It made sense—she was a live, uncorrupted spirit still attached to a human body. So technically, a ghost who retained their human abilities. Thank god. With renewed confidence, Tifa began sweeping the ranks, twirling, kicking, somersaulting, punching. Michael could only see his attackers lunge and then disappear in a swirl of mist. There was a half-circle around him, being upheld by his spirit companion.

He stared in awe as more and more ghosts fell to seemingly nothing at all. "Tifa…!"

By now, the disturbance in the back had called all their attention, and every last ghost in the chamber was swarming toward the lone little boy who seemingly had some sort of forcefield around him. Cloud chuckled to himself (she is one hell of a forcefield) and watched one of the spirits overcrowding the land bridge fall into the mako river below. He got an idea. The green Master Magic materia glowed in the slot on the Ultima Weapon and the calm waterfall suddenly exploded over the extension connecting his platform to the other. He heard the howls and grinned as he slipped into the final room, casting one glance back at Michael and the less-than-half ranks that were disappearing quickly. The mako rush receded and he was gone, and the faction members were getting confused. Tifa laughed as she continued to assert the circle of protection between Michael and the ghosts.