Oh yeah! I got the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Soundtrack!
Cloud moaned and covered his head with his hands. How could he have done this? He had just brought doom upon all the people of the Promised Land and the Planet!
"Ssssssssonnnn…" Jenova crooned, her tentacles gently stroking his face.
He turned away and spat at her. She snapped her tentacles back, a large smile upon her monster face. "I'm not your son!" he yelled, attempting to slash at her with the Ultima Weapon.
She caught his arm and her grip tightened. She said in a sickly sweet voice, "Tut, tut, tut, bad, bad boy… not listening to his mommy," she said the last part mockingly. When he attempted to turn his head away, she turned his head back forcefully with a tentacle.
His eyes were immediately attracted to her glowing eyes. They were golden and so evil… so much evil that he needed to turn away. Then he found that he could not turn away. He wanted to scream, but he was frozen. He wanted to cry, but he could not.
"Son…" she muttered.
"M-o-no! No! Moth… you're not my mother!" he screamed and turned away.
She grabbed his face and turned it towards her. "You're my son and you know it!"
"Gah!" he cried as he was once again frozen by her glare, he paused… confused. "Mother?"
"Yes, yes, son. I'm here," she purred, gently brushing his face.
-----
"Sssssssssonnnn…"
"I'm not your son!"
"Tut, tut, tut, bad, bad, boy… not listening to his mommy."
"Son…"
"M-o-no! No! Moth… you're not my mother!"
"You're my son and you know it!"
"Gah! … Mother?"
"Yes, yes, son. I'm here."
Nefilim knew he had to hurry. "Quick! Let's move! Cloud's under her influence already!"
"Oh Cloud…" Aeris said, her voice full of concern.
Nefilim felt a twang of jealousy, but he quickly shook it away. Zack spoke to his group, "Alright guys, let's annoy the hell outta Jenova."
"Split up. Get everyone out of here and make sure that you get everyone between eighteen and thirty that is Cetra," he said, then paused when Barret patted his machine gun arm. "And don't use force."
Everyone began filing out. He slowly followed them. He watched as Zack's group set off at a jog, and his own team began speeding down into houses, knocking on every door. He only watched them; he knew that he couldn't go around knocking on doors, unless he wanted to break every bone in his body.
He almost smiled when a woman saw Barret. Her face drained of color and she looked as if she was about to scream.
"Dun worry. I'm not gonna bite or nuthin'…"
"Who… who…"
Yuffie and Tifa had been doing the best in persuading people to go so far. Most people fell for Yuffie's cute little girl act and others drooled over Tifa, who did the innocent, beautiful lady act.
After a while, Nefilim's group came back, Yuffie having people follow her and croon over her as if she were a child (she looked a bit indignant for being called a 'cute kid'), Tifa having people drooling after her (most men… with the exception of a few… er… women… who knew the Cetra were homosexual? ), Barret having people with shaking knees, and Red XIII with some people who were patting him like a house pet (much to his annoyance.)
They all had shocked looks on his face when they saw Nefilim standing there, smiling mischievously. "Here's some… materia… for self-defense…" Yuffie dropped an Aurora Armlet filled with materia into his hands, but also dropping in a few hateful glances.
"Why'd you give him materia at all? He could get his ass-kicked fo' all I care. He made us do this all by ourselves…" Barret muttered angrily.
The Cetra seemed taken back when they saw Sephiroth standing there. Some got ready to leave, but the silver-haired man spoke up. "Stop. I know you all don't trust me and I don't blame you for that, but please listen!" they all stopped in unison and stared at him, frozen. "This is the group that saved the Planet from Jenova and… me… a few years ago. They are called AVALANCHE. The man who led AVALANCHE, Cloud Strife… he's in trouble… and Jenova… she's here."
Everyone gasped. Some yelled, "You brought her here!"
Nefilim shook his head sadly. "No… I didn't bring her here. Cloud… he… he brought her here unintentionally." As soon as he said this, it was met with yells of 'liar!'.
Just had to rub that in, didn't you, Sephiroth? Tifa thought darkly.
He continued, "It doesn't matter. She's here and we need to help Cloud. There's already some AVALANCHE members there, trying to hold her off, but they will not be enough. Jenova is stronger than ever, and we'll need the full support of the Cetra."
"And who said that we'll believe you?" a woman sneered.
"Alright… don't believe me… and when Jenova comes to kill you all, DON'T BLAME ME!" he yelled and began walking toward the tunnels, his fists clenched.
Everyone was quiet for a while. Barret looked moved. "Hey! If ya all ain't followin' him! I am! At least I'll be dyin' fer somethin'! Unlike ya cowards!"
He began to follow Sephiroth, and the rest of AVALANCHE joined in, even Tifa.
Some began to follow the group, and some stayed, still unsure. "Barret… I have to thank you, for helping me out," Nefilim said.
"Huh?" Barret looked surprised that Sephiroth would thank him, then he quickly added, "Uh… yea… sure… sure… it was nuthin'." He was glad that his skin was dark because no one saw him blush with embarrassment.
Nefilim looked back, more than half of the Cetra were following him and even more were joining, though they were unsure. He looked down at the Aurora Armlet that Yuffie had given him and he smiled softly, these people were his friends. He had friends…
Just as they were about the reach the tunnels, he stopped. Everyone stopped with him. He turned around and spoke to AVALANCHE. "I want to thank you all… for coming. I want to thank you all for accepting me. I wanted to say all this before we go into the tunnels because I just may never have another chance to say it after this. And last of all… thank you for being my friends."
Then he turned around and ducked under a tunnel and disappeared from site.
-----
Earlier…
Aeris gave a disgusted look as Jenova stroked Cloud's cheek. She saw Zack counting down from three with his fingers. When he reached one, he made a cutting motion in the air. All of them got ready to cast their spells and Aeris quickly casted Barrier, M-Barrier, Wall, and Great Gospel on every one of them. When Zack nodded, they released their spells..
Vincent cast Comet2, while Zack cast Quake3, and Cid cast Gravity. It was perfect, with both aerial and ground attacks; Jenova would be hit from all ends.
Jenova wasn't expecting the attacks and screamed as the ground cracked underneath her and it shook. The cracks separated Cloud and Jenova. A large boulder flew at Jenova and knocked her backwards.
Cid's Gravity spell smashed her flat into two-dimensional. When she returned to three-dimensional, she had been drained of her energy. She looked around her eyes full of anger and hate. "AVALANCHE!" she hissed angrily and began destroying all the boulders in her path with her tentacles.
"Hey, hey! Long time no meet, b----!" Cid yelled, dishing out a few Fire3 spells.
"Highwind!" Jenova shouted, casting Reflect. "Maybe I ought wash out your dirty mouth!"
"Oh shit!" Cid screamed, and hurriedly threw up a M-Barrier, wincing in pain as his own spells burned him.
Zack jumped around her back and threw a physical blow with his Buster Blade. Jenova whirled around, grabbed the sword with her tentacles and sent him flying backwards into a tunnel.
Vincent knew this was his chance. He took aim and squeezed off as many shots as he could with his Death Penalty.
The bullets got Jenova in the back and she screamed, the cry filling the air. All of them covered their ears and fell to the ground, her cry became a spell and locked them to the ground. Cloud stood there, motionless, immune to Jenova's cry.
"What the hell is this!" Cid shouted, when he found that he could no longer move. "I didn't know she had this power!"
"Sephiroth did explain that she would be more powerful this time," Vincent said.
"No shit!" the pilot yelled back. "Ya know… I'm getting tired of laying on the ground!"
Jenova laughed. She turned her back to them. "Watch how useless your attacks are, humans!" she spat, her voice distorting and becoming more deeper.
They watched, open-mouthed as the bullets Vincent shot into her flew out, and dropped to the ground. The wounds they caused forced themselves together.
"I'm this close to losing my lunch!" Cid yelled, trying to move his fingers, then adding dryly. "I would show you if I had the use of my fingers."
Jenova laughed. "This will be amusing!"
She got ready to countdown.
Aeris screamed. Cid yelled, "This is not f---in' fair! I've got a life to live ya know!"
Zack just watched motionless, his Buster Blade lying on the ground next to him. He was defeated. "Man… sorry I failed you guys…" he muttered to himself and sighed, waiting for his death to come.
Vincent watched, thinking of Lucrecia and how he would never be able to see her again. He never thought it possible, but a tear escaped his eye.
-----
Nefilim felt the power emitting from Jenova and he yelled out, dashing into the tunnels. The rest of AVALANCHE looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces and ran after him. The Cetra, all looking around nervously because they knew this was the way back to the open air.
-----
"Oh shit… oh shit… oh shit… oh shit…" Cid murmured as Jenova counted to '1'.
Suddenly, a Bolt3 spell flashed through the air and hit her, causing her to knock out of her concentration and lose the Ultima spell. (In other words something burned and it didn't smell nice…)
-----
All of them looked at Nefilim in alarm. He had broken their cover, and it was not like him to defy his own orders to save a life. He gave the motion for them to stay and to wait.
He nodded to them and leaped out from their hiding place before anyone else could do anything. He landed on the ground in a smooth motion, landing on one knee and placing a hand down for support. He slowly got up, his eyes narrowed.
"Ahh… it's you…"
"Jenova."
"So have you returned to mother, son?" Jenova asked, leering.
"Yeah, I've returned to my mother," everyone's head snapped up in alarm, except for those who were frozen to the floor. "But it's definitely not you," everyone sighed with relief. "You're too damn ugly." He added in, returning her evil grin.
Yuffie nearly giggled, but she kept it in and held onto a stern face. She couldn't believe it! Sephiroth joking at a time like this? He wouldn't even joke around when everyone else was joking around.
"It's about time! I've just had enough of eating dirt, you know!" Cid yelled out, grinning. "Oh and yeah, don't make her scream!"
Nefilim turned his head. "I don't know about getting you off the floor… you seem to be having quite some fun... doing all that yelling…"
The pilot began screaming, "What the hell is wrong with you! You come here to help us and yet you don't get us off the floor. I mean come on! We've helped you out of a tight spot and look what you do—"
"Cid, shut up," Vincent muttered. "As if this situation isn't already bad enough with you shooting your mouth off."
"HEY!"
A tentacle flew at the silver-haired man. Nefilim agilely leaped out of the way and cast Ice3 on it.
The room suddenly turned cold as the spell whirled around the tentacle and froze it. Jenova opened her mouth to scream but suddenly, Tifa flew out of nowhere and smashed her fists into her face.
Go Tifa! Yuffie thought mentally. Give her the old one two!
The monster's tentacles whipped around, trying to grab the girl who was smashing her fists into her (its?) face.
Another tentacle came to grab at Tifa, and when it found its target, Yuffie cried out and threw her Conformer. It whirled around in the air and cut free the tentacle that held onto the martial artist. When it came back, Yuffie caught it, and found that she was gripping something wet and sticky.
She dropped the shuriken onto the ground and looked at it for a long time. She grabbed t he purplish liquid on her arm and found that it stretched like saliva. "EWWWW!" she screamed and began to hurriedly wipe her hands on the ground. "What is this stuff!"
Jenova, though she couldn't see, directed the remaining tentacles that she had (which was about a million more…) and they began to whirl around in circles.
"WTF is happening? What the hell is she doing!" Cid yelled. "It don't look good!"
A fireball formed in them. "Aww shit!" Barret shouted, running out of the tunnel. "Nice one Yuf!" he said sarcastically.
Red ran after the large man. "That was uncalled for, Barret!"
Many of the Cetra made a dash for it and escaped just in time. The fireball hit, and the unlucky ones were crushed under tons of metal, rock, and rubble.
Finally, a tentacle finally managed to make its way to Tifa. It grabbed the girl and threw her far off.
Tifa screamed as she went flying in the air and landed painfully on the ground. The breath was knocked out of her. She quickly made sure that nothing was broken, and then she got slowly and painfully got up. She groaned, she had bruised something pretty bad.
The alien punched at Nefilim, who ducked it, and punched the tentacle hard, hoping he did some lasting damage; instead it grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her.
"What the hell do you want!" he yelled.
Jenova grabbed his head and forced him to look at her. "Listen to your own mother, boy, if you know what's good for you!"
"Nefilim!" Aeris cried out.
"My mother is Lucrecia! You are nothing to me!" Nefilim shouted and spat in her face.
He saw her eyes glowing… and not just with anger. She began laughing. "You won't doubt me, boy!"
He laughed also. "That trick doesn't work on me!"
"Who is your mother, boy!" she screamed into his face, some spittle flying in the air.
"LUCRECIA!"
She screamed in anger and slapped him with a tentacle, leaving a long bloody mark on his cheek. Turning to Cloud she said vilely, "Kill the others, my son. All of them. They are all traitors. Start with the one over there." She flicked a tentacle toward Tifa.
"Yes mother," Cloud said mechanically and walked toward Tifa.
Cloud… you wouldn't do this! Tifa thought, petrified. No!
"Die, traitor," he said unemotionally.
"Cloud?" her voice came out as a frightened whisper. "It's Tifa… your best friend… since you were five… don't you remember?"
Cloud laughed coldly. His hands went around Tifa's throat, then seizing her tightly, he picked her up. "Friends? Friends you say… hahaha. Friends are made from love. Love is nothing, a fool's creation. I am beyond all that. Love is for mortals!"
"Cloud, no!" Barret yelled. "She's your best friend! She helped you remember the truth!"
The blonde man's head turned to Barret. "Need I repeat myself?"
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Cid gnashed his teeth together. "What is your f---ing problem!"
Tifa's eyes filled with tears. Her lungs burned for air and she began to gasp for it, though nothing came in. "…C…loud…" she choked out, and closed her eyes, not believing that her life could end this way… in the hands of her best friend.
-----
"Aeris?" Gast peered into the house. The house was dead quiet. "Nefilim? Cloud? Tifa? Anybody?"
Ifalna and Lucrecia followed him in. "Oh no! Sephiroth1" Lucrecia cried, finding the house empty.
Suddenly, the ground shook and all of them dropped flat onto the floor, their hands protecting their heads. Gast didn't enjoy the feeling of the cold, polished, wooden floor… it was quite uncomfortable. The rumbling then stopped.
"The tunnel!" Gast exclaimed, suddenly realizing where the rumblings erupted.
The three quickly got up and smoothed out their clothes. They quickly ran out of the door (not forgetting to close it of course), their hearts sinking with worry.
- ----
Nefilim couldn't believe his eyes. Cloud was killing Tifa! Alarms went off in his head. He looked down at the Aurora Armlet that the materia lover (guess who that is) had given him. He still could…
"Bolt3!" he yelled, focusing all his power onto the magic materia.
Cloud was knocked off his feet, his grip loosening on Tifa. He landed on the ground, screaming with fear.
Tifa gasped for air and coughed. The air tasted so sweet to her burning lungs. She looked at Nefilim… who was gasping for breath from using so much energy into the blast. He had saved her! Her worst enemy!
As the blonde man lunged for her again, Barret thought quickly and flung out, "Hah! Ya murderous bastard! You're jus' as bad as Nefilim himself! Ya know wut? It was all your fault that Nibel got burned down!"
The blonde man froze. Tifa understood and joined in. She put on a mask of hate and began screaming. "I hate you Cloud! You burned down Nibelheim! You killed daddy! You killed your own mother! I HATE YOU!"
Why do these weak mortals' words affect me so? He wondered as his heart ached with pain. I do not even know them!
"They're brainwashing you! Kill them!" Jenova commanded and put on a fake voice of concern. "They're going to hurt mother if you get hurt!"
He screamed in anger. How dare these… humans! They would hurt his mother! He shook away all his doubts and ran toward that brown haired girl… the girl who had affected him the most.
"NO!" Aeris cried, tears slipping out from her eyes, she couldn't take much more of this. She forced all her powers together and leaped toward Cloud, not sure how she was free of Jenova's bonds.
The force of her leap made Cloud stumble backwards. He snarled and drew his blade. In one swift motion, he stabbed Aeris.
"C…loud…?" she stammered weakly, blood flowed from her wound.
Her hands attempted to block the wound that he had given her, but blood escaped beyond her fingers. She sank to the floor. This was a bad imitation of the time in the City of the Ancients.
"Aeris!" all of them called out simultaneously.
Cloud laughed coldly and pulled his sword out from Aeris' body, giving her a kick to free his blade completely. "Another traitor gone," he said, unsure why his words sounded so foreign to him.
"NOOO! AERIS!" Nefilim screamed, he wasn't absolutely sure why it hurt so much to see the girl on the ground, lying in her own pool of blood.
Cloud walked toward the target. She opened her eyes from praying and smiled at him.
"NOW!" mother yelled into his mind.
He hesitated for a moment. Why did his mother want him to kill an innocent girl such as her? She had done nothing wrong.
"Go!"
He knew he had to. He dropped out of the sky. His hair flew around him… this seemed to all go in slow motion. In one slow movement, he stabbed her.
There was a sickening sound of sword going through flesh and bone… and then nothing…
She dropped onto the altar, the blood mixing quickly with the water below.
He knew he should've been glad, but… he felt no pride for killing an innocent girl.
Jenova cackled. "Good, my son!"
She had said the same thing to me when I killed Aeris… Nefilim thought, heavily.
"YOU MURDERER!" Nefilim shouted, pulling free of Jenova's tentacles and charged toward Cloud.
The blonde man swung the Ultima Weapon, but the silver-haired man ducked under the blow and punched upwards.
The blow landed hard on Cloud's stomach and sent him flying into the ground many yards away.
"Holy ----! I never thought I'd be saying this but… go Nefilim!" Cid cheered, trying his best to raise his head, but failed, instead making his fingers twitch slightly.
"Damn it Cloud! I can't believe you!" Tifa called out, her face wet with tears. She stared at Aeris… was she gone… again?
Cloud slowly got up. He began to laugh. "Very good… brother…"
Nefilim was caught off guard. "What the hell? Brother?"
"You're part of my family…" Jenova laughed. "You'll never be able to escape it! You have my cells!"
Nefilim got ready to sock the living s--- out of Cloud. He could feel the burning anger and the pain building up… and the adrenaline pumping in his veins. He wondered… was this way that Cloud felt when Aeris died on the altar?
Cloud jumped forward and swung the blade again, Nefilim back flipped so the blow missed. Then he struck Cloud in the face.
The blonde man's face remained bent from the force that Nefilim punched him He slowly turned his head to face him, his neck cracking loudly. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, gathering up all the coppery taste, and then spitting it out. A bit of phlegm mixed with saliva and blood landed on the concrete floor, diluting the white color of it to dark red. Nefilim's punch had drove his cheek into his teeth, causing him to bleed. "Son of a bitch. You're really pissing me off." He said in a very un-Cloudish manner.
Nefilim sneered. "Same here!"
But he wasn't sneering anymore when Cloud called out, "Omnislash!"
Oh what's this? A cliffy? Ooops... well looks like you gotta read on! LOL
Umm... thanks to Yuka-san, DemonSurfer, X13, cranky-chan, and Blaze for reviewing... I'm very humbled. Thank you all so much for reviewing! Thank you all... so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much! (Cries in joy)