Premonitions III: Advent Children
Chapter 3: Reactor Number Four Redux
The chase continued.
Cloud and Zack were on the train, approaching Sector Four. Once they reached there, they would jump off, travel through the sewers, and, if Cloud remembered correctly, arrive at the Sector Four Reactor. It almost seemed trite at this point.
"Why couldn't we take anyone with us?" Zack asked, sitting next to Cloud in the mostly deserted car.
"It would give us away," Cloud replied. "The Shinra may be gone, but the reactors are still secure."
"Who's in charge of the Eastern Continent, anyway?" Zack asked.
"I have no idea," Cloud replied. "Their Continental Governor was found dead on these very tracks."
"Damn," Zack muttered.
"Not to mention, we're still fugitives here," Cloud added.
"I haven't forgotten," Zack said.
A few minutes after the train arrived in Sector Four, it screeched to a stop.
An announcement came over the loudspeaker.
"Attention all passengers," the conductor began, "we have had to come to a stop. We've had a suicide on the tracks. We'll resume service once the body has been cleared. We apologize for the inconvenience."
"That's our cue!" Cloud announced as he practically sprang to his feet.
He then went to the nearest side door without making eye-contact with anyone, opened it, and jumped from the train.
Zack quickly followed suit in the same manner.
"Don't tell me somebody sacrificed themselves for us," he asked.
Cloud laughed and shook his head.
"It's a dummy," he replied.
IN THE REACTOR...
Cloud lifted the grating and climbed onto the floor.
Zack followed him.
They were now inside the reactor; the familiar long, broad hallway presented itself. It was the same hallway that led to the computer and to the elevator.
Cloud recognized it perfectly.
"I never thought I'd set foot in here again," he said aloud. "Alright, let's go."
They began walking down the hallway.
Zack soon noticed that Cloud was beginning to breathe heavily. He knew exactly why; he was going to the scene where both he and his love were killed in the original timeline.
That takes balls, he thought. At least three of them.
At that moment, Cloud's cell phone rang.
Cloud stopped, pulled his phone out of his pocket with his trembling hand, and answered it.
"Cloud," a familiar, comforting alto began, "I'm on the thirteenth floor."
"I-I'll meet you there," he stammered.
Zack gave him a troubled look; it almost seemed as if Cloud was falling apart.
"Cloud," the alto continued, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he lied.
"Be strong, Cloud," she commanded. "The world depends on us. I'll see you up here, okay?"
"Okay," he answered.
"I love you," she assured him before ending the call.
He then turned to Zack.
"The elevator's down this corridor," Cloud informed him. "She's on the thirteenth floor."
Zack could figure out the significance.
"Is that where...?"
"Yes," Cloud replied solemnly. "She was turned to dust before my eyes."
A tear rolled down his cheek.
"Maybe you'll feel better when you see her," Zack suggested.
"I suppose," Cloud half-agreed.
They continued to walk down the hallway, with Cloud's breathing unchanged. Eventually, the hallway ended, and Cloud and Zack found themselves in the central room. The computer was there, and so was the elevator.
"I remember when we used that computer last," Cloud began. "Tifa was in a hurry because she needed to go home to her husband."
Zack looked at Cloud with empathy; there were endless sad memories with this place.
"Fuck it," Cloud continued. "Dwelling isn't going to catch Sephiroth."
He thus led Zack to the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator began moving up, dinging the floors as it did so. Finally, they arrived at the thirteenth floor, and the elevator stopped.
Cloud gazed uncomfortably at the elevator door. He was almost expecting Bestla to be waiting at the door, just like last time. He felt the urge to reach for the sword.
The elevator door slowly opened.
Sure enough, a woman was standing in the vicinity, though she was forty feet away.
This was not Bestla.
This was Tifa.
She was not the twenty-nine-year-old Tifa who was married to some guy named Bo. This was the twenty-year-old Tifa, in her tee shirt, jeans, and hole belt. There was a wedding band on her finger, but, this time, she was married to Cloud.
She was Mrs. Tiffany Claire Lockheart Strife.
Zack was right; Cloud felt better upon seeing her immediately.
"Hey, you!" Tifa greeted her love with a smile.
"Heya!" he almost whispered back, out of relief.
Smiling, Tifa walked over to Cloud and kissed him. She then noticed his state of mind.
"Your heart's racing!" she observed.
"I know," he sheepishly acknowledged.
"Bad memories?" she asked.
Cloud lowered his head and nodded.
"I feel them, too," she continued.
Cloud tried to smile, but he couldn't. He would never forget watching her die in the former timeline.
"It's not like last time," Tifa assured him. "It's not Bestla, it's Sephiroth. He doesn't have a blue energy gun."
"I know," he said with a sigh.
Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Be strong, okay?" she pleaded.
Cloud nodded. He tried, but he couldn't forget.
"Baby?" she whispered.
"I will," Cloud assured his wife, gathering all the strength he could.
She kissed him and held him close.
Tifa had it easier. She died before Cloud; she didn't watch him go.
Most people would consider Cloud a wimp over this, but I don't. His love for Tifa extends beyond the flow of time.
In the original timeline, Tifa was killed by Bestla here. Tifa, despite being married to someone else, gave Cloud a tearful goodbye right before turning to dust, making it obvious she still loved him.
As for Bestla, Tifa was right; she was no longer anything to worry about. Both the Bestla from the original timeline and the teenage Bestla were killed in the failed attempt to take Sephiroth's place in history, thus saving Cloud and Tifa's future. Cloud would continue to have nightmares, however, and this venue brought out the worst of them.
Tifa is Cloud's weak point. His Achilles' heel, if you will. She was his best friend throughout his childhood. She's what he has left from that.
I'll admit my relationship with Tobin is a miniature version of that, as we met much later in life.
"You guys?!" Zack interjected. "I don't mean to be a dick, but don't we have a job to do?"
Meanwhile, the elevator door closed and the elevator began to descend. None of them paid it any heed; it seemed of minimal significance.
"I suppose you're right," Cloud reluctantly agreed as he and Tifa released their embrace. "Come on, let's get this over with."
Cloud, Tifa, and Zack walked toward the other side of the room. There was a safe on the other side; a piece of the Chronus Wand was kept inside.
They did not notice the elevator beginning to ascend again.
"How are we supposed to crack the safe?" Zack asked.
Tifa pulled out her cell phone from her back jean pocket.
"Jessie invented an app that cracks any safe code," she replied. "Watch this!"
Tifa held her cell phone in front of the safe for a few moments. Then, the safe unlocked.
"Pretty damn impressive, don't you think?" she said with a smile.
And then, her smile faded.
The safe was empty.
"What the hell?!" she sighed.
Just then, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened.
Tifa was the first to spin around.
"Sephiroth!" she exclaimed.
He remained standing in the elevator car, with the unfinished Chronus Wand.
"Nice to see you move again," he taunted.
"The feeling's not mutual," Tifa retorted.
Sephiroth decided to get straight to the point.
"Now's the time to give up," he warned. "The Chronus Wand's mine."
"I don't think so," Tifa dismissed as she raised her fists.
"Three against one," Cloud added. "I strongly recommend you drop your sword and come with us."
"Wrong again," Sephiroth cackled.
"Oh Cloud and Tifa!" a familiar sounding voice called.
The three turned around to see someone, armed with a gun, emerge from behind the safe, where she had been hiding.
Zack did not recognize her at all.
Cloud and Tifa knew exactly who she was; they had been wondering her fate for weeks.
"Nara?!" Tifa exclaimed.
"You probably thought I was dead, didn't you?" Nara taunted.
"Who the fuck is that?!" Zack exclaimed.
"Bestla's sidekick," Cloud replied. "She pretended to be a co-worker of mine, but she was really helping Bestla find the pieces of the Chronus Wand. She suddenly disappeared and was never heard from again. I always wondered what happened to her."
"Not important," Nara snapped. "What is important is my reward. My place..."
"You're place?" Cloud sneered. "You're place is jail, and that is where you'll go."
Nara simply grinned. She scanned the room around her, spot by spot.
"Isn't this familiar?" she taunted. "As I recall, Tifa died right over there." She then pointed to another spot. "And Cloud died here. Does history repeat itself?"
"We won't die easily," Cloud retorted. "We learn from our mistakes."
"Relax," Nara continued. "I'm not going to kill you."
She then produced something all too familiar.
"That's part of the Chronus Wand!" Cloud exclaimed.
"You were the one who emptied the safe!" Tifa added.
Nara nodded with a smirk on her face.
Sephiroth, meanwhile, raised his hand.
Nara raised the piece of the Chronus wand.
"Don't do it!" Tifa pleaded.
Nara tossed the piece across the room, with it landing in the palm of his hand.
Zack glared at Nara.
"You're going away for that!" he hissed.
"Fat chance," Nara dismissed. "I'm finally going home!"
"That timeline no longer exists!" Tifa insisted.
"We'll see about that," Nara sneered. "In any event, my departure won't spell the end of your troubles. There's so much more about our little time-traveling adventure than you know."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Cloud demanded.
"Bestla and I might not have been the only ones to have arrived through the Urchin," Nara taunted.
"Never mind that," Cloud dismissed. "You only have two pieces. You're still missing one."
"I'm afraid that's not the case," Sephiroth announced, as he fastened the piece Nara tossed him to what he had. "As soon as you lost me, I went straight to Junon and acquired the remaining part. The Chronus Wand is now complete. You failed, Cloud and Tifa. Twice."
"He doesn't have the third piece," Zack dismissed. "He's bullshitting."
Sephiroth then raised the Chronus Wand.
"You have done well, Nara," he complimented.
With that, a beam of energy fired from the Chronus Wand, creating a distortion. A moment later, Nara jumped through the distortion, and was gone. The distortion then closed again.
The three of them then turned toward Sephiroth.
Zack drew his buster sword.
"Drop the wand," he ordered. "Now."
"You really should have brought someone with a firearm," Sephiroth sighed nonchalantly.
With that, the elevator door closed.
"Goddammit," Cloud muttered as he ran to the elevator. "Now he's got a head start. We'll have to wait for the elevator to come back."
"Can't we take the stairs?" Zack asked.
"There are no stairs!" Cloud replied.
"Then what are we supposed to do if there's a fire?" Zack inquired.
Both Cloud and Tifa glared at him.
"Sorry," Zack sheepishly apologized.
Meanwhile, the elevator reached the ground level. Tifa immediately pressed the button. The elevator began to ascend again, directly heading for the thirteenth floor.
The doors opened to reveal an empty compartment. Wasting not time, Cloud, Zack, and Tifa boarded. The elevator began to move down.
"What did she mean?" Zack inquired. "Nara, I mean."
"That others might have come back abroad the Urchin," Cloud replied.
"But who could have come back other than Bestla and Nara?" Tifa asked aloud.
"Does it matter?" Zack asked. "You said the future's changed anyway."
"The future timeline is gone, but we still remember everything," Tifa added. "Even though Bestla died."
"There were more people in that future who wanted to kill us than Bestla," Cloud added.
"Did someone else sneak aboard?" Zack asked.
"I sure hope not," Tifa replied as the elevator reached the ground level. "In any case, Sephiroth's long gone. We need to get back to the Highwind to find him again."
Cloud, Tifa, and Zack disembarked from the elevator, deactivated the security, and ran outside the reactor.
To their surprise, Reeve was standing there, right near the entrance.
"That's funny," he continued. "I was half expecting Captain Mast to come out of there. You didn't see her, did you?"
"I don't even know who that is," Tifa dismissed.
"Just keep well away, as she is no pushover," Reeve warned. "But not to worry. My other self is still aboard the Highwind. We'll keep our eyes peeled."
"Did you see Sephiroth?" Cloud asked.
Reeve shook his head.
"More importantly," Tifa added, "did you see any kind of distortion.
Cloud grimaced at the possibility that Sephiroth had already travelled back in time. It would seem reasonable that he had.
But Reeve again shook his head.
Just then, the Highwind appeared over them.
"But I did manage to disrupt air traffic control for a moment," he added.
MINUTES LATER...
It did not take anyone long to spot the fleeing Sephiroth from the Highwind.
"There he is!" Barret shouted from the bridge.
The rest of the crew spotted the fleeing Sephiroth out in the open.
He began running faster, as if he knew the Highwind was pursuing them.
"Why isn't he using the Chronus Wand?" Cloud asked, as he gazed as the runnung Sephiroth.
"He must have some unfinished business in this time," Tifa suggested.
"But what?" Jessie asked aloud.
"We'll know when we find out where he's heading," Vincent replied. "Wherever that might be."
The only place he was definitely not heading for was Kalm. He was on the side opposite of Midgar, and was running in the direction of the Mythril Mine.
"He's heading for the remains of Junon," Red XIII pointed out.
"Why would he want to go there?" Cid demanded.
"He's trying to get to the Western Continent," Cloud realized. "He has some petrified prisoners to free."
These petrified prisoners were located beneath the Nibelheim Reactor. Their names were Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. After he had summoned Meteor, Sephiroth took a part-time job as a parasite, impregnating three women with those horrid fiends. They were born, the women died in the process, and it all ended with Tifa dropping a cracked stone Materia, petrifying herself, Sephiroth, and his offspring.
Yuffie would free Tifa.
Sephiroth would be freed by a cultist.
But his "children" remained stone statues.
Unless, of course, he rescued them.
"After him!" Vincent shouted. "He's not getting away this time!"
The Highwind decreased its altitude. It drew closer and closer to Sephiroth.
"Remember," Red XIII warned. "Nobody kill him!"
This was because in the original timeline, Sephiroth turned out to be more dangerous dead than alive.
A thicket began to appear to the right, but nobody regarded it as significant.
Save one.
And then, suddenly, Sephiroth darted into it and disappeared.
This isn't what I think it is? Zack thought to himself.
"Why'd he just run into that thicket?!" Cid demanded.
"I know exactly why," Zack replied. "We need to land."
"But then we won't see him come out the other end!" Cid protested.
"Just do it!" Zack insisted.
