Chapter Nine: The Temple of the Ancients
To answer Gemini14's question, I am writing this mostly from memory but I did use the game script that I found at for some places, especially in this chapter.
After four extremely anxious hours, they had finally arrived at the temple. It was enormous, seeming lost amongst the forest that surrounded it. It was made out of large, sand colored bricks, reaching almost one hundred feet into the sky. The ancient temple had vines growing all around it and seemed as though it hadn't been touched for centuries, except for the fact that there were now Shinra troops surrounding it.
They had split up into two groups. Cloud's team, which consisted of Cait Sith, Aeris, Red XIII, and Yuffie, headed to the left side of the building while Tifa's team, which consisted of Vincent, Barret, and Cid, went to the right side. Their plan was to flank the soldiers guarding the entrance, from the left Aeris and Cait Sith would bombard the soldiers with magic while Yuffie attacks with her shuriken, all from a distance, while Cloud and Red XIII wait until they take care of a few soldiers, then charge. From the right, Vincent and Barret would blast away with their guns, then Tifa and Cid would charge in like Cloud and Red XIII.
Both teams waited in position when Cloud called Tifa's cell, which was the signal, instantly Vincent and Barret took aim, and unleashed a barrage of bullets, and on the other side they could hear, and see, blasts of fire and lightning. "We're under attack!" cried a number of soldiers. Several were confused about which direction they would fight towards, and this confusion gave AVALANCHE an enormous advantage.
After Vincent put a second clip into his peacemaker, Tifa and Cid both charged in, Cid whipping his spear through the air, taking out two of the closest soldiers, while Tifa charged through the closest and began pummeling him to a pulp.
With Cid nearby, Barret halted his array of bullets, with his gun-arm his bullets were inaccurate and too risky, so instead he began casting a quake 2 spell. Vincent took aim and tried to cover Tifa, who was closer in and needed it. Vincent immediately noticed that several soldiers had turned to Tifa, and the young bartender was quickly being overrun with enemies. Vincent quickly aimed and took out three soldiers with three dead on accurate headshots, despite them being a good fifty or hundred feet ahead of him.
Once the crowd had been taken care of, the team regrouped in front of a long staircase which led all the way up to the top of the temple. "All right," Cloud announced once they regrouped. "I think we should leave some people out here, in case more Shinra soldiers show up."
"I've got to go in…" Aeris pleaded. "I need some answers… and I really hope this place will have them."
"Cait sure as shit ain't goan in there," Barret told the group, staring down the spy. "Ya'll can leave im out here with me."
"All right…" Cloud replied, eyeing over the group. "How about… Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid come in with me and Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Yuffie, and Cait Sith stay out here. How's that sound?"
"Great," Barret replied. "N' I'll be damn sure to keep an eye on this damn Shinra spy."
"All right," Cloud said, turning towards the long stairwell. "Let's go, and make sure that no more Shinra soldiers come in. If you have any problems, be sure to give us a call."
"Cloud, wait!" Cait Sith exclaimed as Cloud's team began heading up the steps. "There are some Shinra troops inside, as well as some Turks…"
"Any idea how many?" Cloud asked, to which Cait Sith only shrugged.
"Ha ha!" Barret exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Cait Sith. "That's proof right there that your headin' straight into a trap!"
"Actually," began Vincent. "The Turks often did separate into groups… time is money, after all. There will likely be a group of two or so inside."
"That's true," Tifa added. "Now that I think about it, we've always fought the Turks in groups of two."
"Right," Cloud agreed with a nod. "And I'll be sure to call if there are any problems."
Vincent replied with a nod, and the group began their ascension into the mysterious temple.
It took Cloud, Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid a few tiring moments to finally make it all the way up the stairs. They entered a small door at the top of the steps and discovered the bodies of several slain Shinra soldiers, blood smeared everywhere, and an opening in the center of the room, revealing a staircase which lead down into the temple.
"Oh my god…" Aeris murmured, covering her nose and mouth with her hand.
Cloud investigated one of the bodies and discovered exactly what he had feared, they were all killed by a katana, which could only mean Sephiroth had also all ready beaten them there. "Sephiroth…" Cloud muttered. "We don't have much time…"
"Yes," Red XIII said. "Now we have to hurry before Shinra and Sephiroth can take everything there is in the temple."
With that, the group rushed down the stairwell, and began navigating through the enormous temple.
Tifa's team was doing virtually nothing. Vincent was silently cleaning one of his revolvers, Yuffie and Tifa were talking about something a little ways away from him, while Barret and Cait Sith had been separated, Barret guarding the left side of the building while Cait was watching the right side.
Just then, Vincent heard a helicopter in the far distance. Instantly, his head jerked up, searching the skies for the source of the noise, meanwhile, Yuffie and Tifa noticed this and starting searching the skies themselves. "What is it, Vincent?" Tifa asked, looking over at the gunman.
Vincent quickly put down his revolver and drew his pistol, then pointed to the skies, "There."
Squinting, Yuffie and Tifa could barely see anything, but after a matter of seconds, it was in view, heading directly towards the temple. Vincent kept his guard up while Tifa yelled, "Barret! Cait! A Shinra helicopter!"
Immediately, the two were in the front, just as the helicopter landed roughly fifty feet ahead of them. Out of the chopper leapt Reno, Rude, and two highly trained SOLDIERs, both walking closer to the team. "Ahh, great to see you guys again!" Reno greeted with a grin.
"Did you foget how we kicked yo ass last time?!" Barret shouted at the four man group.
"Eh," Reno shrugged. "Sometimes luck can get the best of you." Then, Reno took out a rod, which, at least Vincent noticed, was different than his previous. "But, with this new little toy of mine, not all the luck in the world could save you."
Oh yeah?!" Yuffie exclaimed. "What's so great about it?"
Reno grinned, "I was hoping you would ask me that."
Reno pointed the end of the staff at Yuffie, which was exactly when Vincent noticed what made this rod so much different. At the end of the staff was a hole, just like for a gun, which forced Vincent to react once he saw something shoot out of it. Vincent ran for Yuffie and, immediately before the bullet would have dug into the almost dead center of the young ninja's chest, tackled her to the ground.
"Faster than I expected, Valentine," Reno replied with a grin.
Vincent flipped into the air, all the while he aimed his gun and instantly fired four rounds at the cocky young Turk, which immediately caused the two SOLDIERs and Rude to began casting magic attacks while one bullet dug into the right side of the Turk's chest. Vincent glared at the four Shinra assassins and was surprised to see the Reno was still standing well, when Vincent instantly noticed that Reno and Rude's uniform were larger than usual, which meant they must have been wearing a heavier duty bulletproof vest than before.
Cait Sith started blasting one of the two soldiers with an ice spell, while Barret fired shots at the other, and Vincent tried to fire a shot somewhere else than Reno's chest, where the armor was. Tifa, meanwhile, charged at the group, and instantly saw Rude coming up to her as well. The two martial artists stopped for a second, both glaring into eachother's eyes. Rude slowly took off his sunglasses and put it into a pocket inside his shirt and then cracked his knuckles, while Tifa stood in a battle stance.
Then the two charged each other, exchanging a number of blows, and each managing to dodge the majority of their opponent's attacks, until Rude managed to trip Tifa, then leapt on top of her and began slamming his fist into her face. Then, one SOLDIER attacked Cait with a mighty fire 3 spell which, due to the immense power of the magic, sent the oversized toy flying back onto the staircase of the temple. By now, Yuffie joined the action and casted a quick cure spell on Cait Sith, then hurled her shuriken at the very SOLDIER that attacked Cait.
Barret, still filled with rage over Marlene, gave up on firing at his SOLDIER and instead charged the warrior, ignoring the bullets flying at him, and slammed his gun-arm into the man's face, instantly shattering his nose, causing blood to gush out. Vincent, meanwhile, was trying to take care of Reno with magic spells, but it seemed his vest also protected him against spells, which means that only physical attacks would be able to take down the turk. Vincent charged at the flaming haired turk, using his claw arm to guard himself from the bullets that Reno fired.
Once Vincent reached the turk, he slammed his fist into Reno's jaw, but was instantly countered by him swing the rod at Vincent's head. However, Vincent easily managed to catch the rod and, due to Reno's weakness of getting slammed in the jaw, pull it out of his grip. Vincent spun and, before Reno could even fall to the ground, slammed the rod into Reno's head, causing him to fall a little ways away, but he quickly stood back up.
"You got my rod!" Reno shouted, but then shrugged. He reached his hand into his coat and tore out a large magnum revolver, which was so massive that it looked as though it could nearly take down a helicopter. "Oh well."
Reno started firing and Vincent immediately dove out of the way, tossing the rod to the ground and tearing out his peacemaker, now that he's closer, it would be easier to get headshots. Vincent dove behind a tree and started firing, hiding behind the tree for cover on occasion. However, Vincent instantly found out that he would need a new plan, since Reno's gun was literally blasting away the tree.
Meanwhile, Barret, full of a newfound rage at Shinra for the loss of his daughter, was pummeling the SOLDIER with his fist and gun-arm. He slammed the SOLDIER to the floor and aimed his gun-arm down at his foe's head, blasting an enormous energy ball which formed out of the barrel, Barret's limit break. This finished the SOLDIER, allowing Barret to worry about some of his other teammates.
Tifa, however, was taking her opponent as serious and carefully as she could, for Rude was an expert martial artist, much like herself. It was almost a perfect match, Rude also took his opponent carefully, which shocked Tifa since Reno was so aggressive and cocky, she assumed they were all like that. Tifa managed to get him off of her by catching his fist with one hand and slamming her fist into his face with the other.
Tifa suddenly charged at Rude, aiming her fist for Rude's face, however, he caught her fist and spun around, tripping her in the process. She fell to the ground, and Rude leapt down at her, his elbow extended out, aiming for her neck. Tifa quickly rolled to the side, Rude slamming painfully on the ground. Tifa leapt up and slammed her boot into his back, causing a groan to emerge from the Shinra assassin. Rude slid to the side and quickly leapt up, jumping back and then quickly casting a powerful Bolt 2 at Tifa. The young bartender tried to leap back to avoid the spell, but was still struck by the mighty lightning spell.
Rude used this opportunity to charge at Tifa, then slamming his fist into her stomach. This was just when Barret had finished up with his SOLDIER and saw that Tifa appeared to be losing. Barret instantly charged up to Rude and swung his gun-arm at the Turk, but, due to Barret's slow speed, he saw it and managed to avoid it, jumping back. Barret then quickly summoned a cure for Tifa, then spun towards Rude and unleashed a bombardment of bullets.
Yuffie and Cait Sith, meanwhile, had teamed up on their SOLDIER, almost playing games on him. The SOLDIER himself wasn't nearly enough to handle both of them, so Yuffie would charge at him, slashing him with her shuriken, then fall back while Cait Sith blasted a spell at him, then they would repeat the process. Eventually, Yuffie, seeing that Vincent was having some trouble with Reno, decided to end the fight by slashing the SOLDIER's neck. Then Yuffie began to aim a Fire 2 spell at Reno, however, suddenly heard her name being called by Cait Sith. Yuffie turned and saw two more Second Class SOLDIERs that seemed to have come from behind the temple, and knew that she and Cait Sith would have to tend to them first.
Vincent, once Reno was reloading, which was lucky since Vincent's tree had quickly become pretty puny, leapt out from his cover and charged for the young turk. As he ran, he aimed and fired a shot at Reno's right bicep, causing him to jerk back and drop his massive handcannon. Then, Vincent charged up and pistol whipped the young turk, then slashed him across the face with his claw. Reno stumbled back, but then pulled out another gun, this one was just an ordinary glock, and fired two shots into Vincent's stomach, then slammed his foot at the new wounds.
Reno ran a few feet back and quickly casted a cure spell on himself, then ran and collected his rod. Next Reno ran up to Vincent who was just starting to stand back up, but was stopped by Reno slamming the staff into Vincent's side. The gunslinger stumbled back then Reno aimed the barrel of his staff at Vincent's stomach and fired. Vincent was surprised to see that it wasn't a bullet but instead was a dart, filled with some unknown poison.
Vincent jumped up and aimed his pistol at the cocky young turk. "What did you just shoot me with?" Vincent asked.
"Heh," Reno smirked. "I'm sure you'll find out in a couple of seconds."
Tifa, with the help of Barret, managed to get the upper hand on Rude. They did something similar to what Yuffie and Cait Sith did with their SOLDIER, however, Rude was more skilled than the Second Class SOLDIER, which made it harder. Nevertheless, the two original AVALANCHE members overpowered the single Turk.
Yuffie and Cait Sith were able to manage each of the SOLDIERs, each taking on one of the two. Yuffie's opponent began by attack her with a Bolt 2 spell, but she managed to dive out of the way at the last second and hurl her shuriken at the SOLDIER, which slashed through his Shinra uniform. Once she received her shuriken back, the young ninja shot a Fire 2 spell at the SOLDIER, which hit him dead on. Then, Yuffie charged up to her SOLDIER and slashed his helmet off with her shuriken and fired an Ice 2 spell directly at his face, finishing him off.
Cait Sith, meanwhile, had a magic battle with his SOLDIER, both casting a number of level two spells at each other. Once Cait managed to blast the SOLDIER dead on with a Quake 2 spell, the cat blasted a Fire 2 spell at the stricken SOLDIER. The Shinra warrior stumbled back, then raised their assault rifle and was about to use up his clip on Cait Sith, however, he managed to leap behind a tree and fired a Bolt 2 spell at him. While the SOLDIER was down, Cait Sith charged at him and slammed the SOLDIER with a serious of blows with his megaphone, finally managing to take down his opponent.
After a short while, Vincent was starting to feel the effect of the dart. He felt tired and somewhat sick, but it didn't hinder him as much as he was sure the young Turk was hoping. The gunslinger figured that, had that dart gone into one of his teammates, they would be suffering from the poison, but since he had been altered, his advanced body managed to fight off the effects better than his allies. Also, despite the slight sickness he felt, he managed to retain the upper hand in the battle.
Vincent charged at Reno and slammed his metal claw into the Turk's face, causing him to stumble backwards, and prepared to attack further but Reno had a surprise of his own. He slammed the rod into Vincent's shin, but didn't do nearly as much damage as Reno had hoped, for Vincent managed to grab the younger's neck and punched him in the face once more with his claw. Then, to finish off the turk, Vincent tossed Reno a few feet away, then pulled out his revolver and fired a few shots at his opponent.
Reno stood and instantly Rude ran up to him, avoiding his own two enemies. Then the two turks faced all five of their opponents, and turned to each other. "All right, you guys got lucky this time," Reno replied with a grin.
"Gee, that sure sounds familiar," Yuffie cockily replied.
Rude looked down and sighed, "I'm sick of these kids beating us…"
"Yeah, I know," Reno shrugged. "Oh well… I sure hope their friends are having a good time in the temple."
"What do you mean?" Tifa asked, concerned about the others.
"Well… where do you think Tseng and Elena are?" Reno laughed. "Well, we'll be off!"
The two turks ran to the helicopter, which instantly flew off.
"Oh no… We have to go help them!" Tifa exclaimed, turning to the others.
"…" Vincent was silent for a moment, then stood forward. "No, we have our job and they have theirs."
"What are you saying?" Tifa asked.
"They will be able to handle themselves," Vincent answered, turning and picking up the enormous magnum that Reno had dropped. He inspected it and noticed that the barrel was slightly irregular so, without proper bullets, it could misfire and possible jam up the barrel. He would have to conserve this ammo, and be sure to check any Shinra soldiers for this type of ammo.
"We should at least call them!" Yuffie exclaimed, glaring at Vincent.
Vincent looked back and shrugged, then turned his attention back to his newest weapon. Yuffie rolled her eyes and took out the PHS, calling Cloud.
Cloud, Aeris, Red XIII, and Cid were making their way through the temple, there were often beasts that attacked them, which were actually protecting the temple. That was clear, as there were some bodies of fallen Shinra SOLDIERs. However, the team was able to easily make their way through the temple, until they reached a room which was in utter darkness, except for one lit path, with a large strange globe in the center.
Cloud stepped in and instantly he felt his foot sink, he looked down and saw that there was a large pad there. Suddenly he heard a rumbling and boulders began falling down the path and off the other side. "Shit!" Cid exclaimed. "Damnit Cloud! Watch where ya step!"
"We'll be fine," Red XIII told the grumbling pilot as he watched the boulder's path. "Each boulder is oddly shaped… there's a groove in them, if we crouch down when the groove is facing the lowest part, we should be just fine."
"Aw great…" Cid murmured.
"Wait, just let me go first," Cloud said, looking over towards the end of the path. "There might be a trigger over there to stop the boulders like the one over here."
"Yeah, all right," Cid shrugged.
"Be careful, Cloud," Aeris told him, grabbing his arm.
"I'll be fine," Cloud smiled at her and headed towards the boulders. He waited until one boulder had gone past and then ran as fast as he could, but the boulders were still going too fast. He looked back and saw the groove that Red XIII spoke of, then crouched down, just as the boulder passed over him. He looked around, somewhat surprised that he made it through just fine, but then hurried again, and got to the end of the path, where the boulders fell off. Cloud leapt out of the way of the boulders and landed on a pad identical to the one on the other side, and instantly the boulders stopped falling.
"Are you ok, Cloud?" Aeris called as she and the others starting running across the path, but suddenly Aeris stopped, right in front of the large globe, which caused the others to stop as well.
"Let's go, Aeris!" Cid told her.
"No wait…" Aeris mumbled looking at the globe.
Cloud started running towards her, sensing something was wrong, and shouted, "Aeris, what's wrong?!"
"Oh no!" Aeris exclaimed, running closer to the globe. "Cloud! Come quick!"
The whole team ran after her, Cloud jumping right to her side, all looking up at the globe. "What is it, Aeris?" Cloud asked, feeling a very ominous essence from the globe.
"Full of knowledge...consciousness... a living soul... It's trying to say something," Aeris paused and seemed like she was struggling to listen. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What? What is it? ...Danger? An evil... consciousness? ...show? You're going to show me?"
Suddenly, the globe lit up and showed a room the must have been further down the temple. "What is this…?" Red XIII murmured.
"Wait!" Aeris exclaimed, pointing at the globe. "It's going to show us!"
Suddenly Tseng appeared in the room, seeming to inspect the strange writing on the walls. Then Elena appeared and said, "What's this writing…? Can this lead us to the Promised Land?!"
"Possibly…" Tseng said, turning towards Elena. "Anyway, we have to work on our report for the president."
"All right," Elena sighed. "Be careful, Tseng."
"Yeah, yeah," Tseng replied, then said as Elena began to turn. "Hey, Elena, what are you doing tonight?"
"Uhh… umm…" Elena muttered, surprised by the question. "N-Nothing… I think…"
"How about dinner?" Tseng cocked his head as he asked, looking over at her.
"Y-Yeah! Of course!" Elena exclaimed, her cheeks bursting with red. "I-I gotta go!"
She then ran off and Tseng chuckled to himself, then turned back to the wall, once again inspecting the strange writing. "Hmm… is this the Promised Land…?" Tseng murmured to himself.
Suddenly, Sephiroth appeared on the globe and spoke, "So… you opened the door… good job…"
"S-Sephiroth!" Tseng exclaimed, tearing his pistol out of his suit coat and aiming at Sephiroth. "This place… what is it?"
"A lost treasure house of knowledge…" Sephiroth answered, glancing around at the wall, completely ignoring the fact that Tseng had a gun to him. "The wisdom of the Ancients…" a hideous grin formed on the villain's face, "I am becoming one with the planet…"
"One with the planet…?" Tseng asked, a clear expression of confusion plastered on his face.
"You stupid fools," Sephiroth growled and glared at Tseng. "You have never even thought about it. All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom... knowledge... I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... it will become one with me."
"Y-You…" Tseng muttered, lowering his pistol in fear, "You can do that…?"
"The way…" Sephiroth told him, turning to face the wall, looking over all the writing. "Lies here…"
Sephiroth paused for a moment and then, in a flash he was on the opposite side of Tseng, his katana out and covered with blood, and Tseng falling to the ground, with his own blood quickly surrounding his body. Sephiroth then turned facing them through the globe, "Death awaits all of you," Sephiroth sinisterly told them. "But do not fear… it is through death that a new spirit energy is born… Soon, you will live again… as a part of me."
Suddenly, the globe glowed white and the vision was going, changing back to normal. "Tseng… I can't believe I actually feel sorry for him…" Aeris muttered, her hands held over her chest as though she were praying.
"I understand, Aeris," Cloud said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "But there's nothing we can do for him now."
"Now, we must find the room with the pictures," Red XIII announced. "Sephiroth said that is where all the information is… we might be able to find out his true plan."
"How the hell are we supposed to know where it is?" Cid asked.
"…" Aeris was silent, looking up at the empty globe. "We're almost there…"
"Sephiroth is here, right?" Cloud exclaimed, with newfound inspiration glowing in his eyes. "I don't care what his plan is! We're going to end it here!"
"All right!" Cid exclaimed. "Lets keep movin'!"
The team continued on and encountered a room like a clock, with clock hands moving it. Aeris seemed to be able to control it, with her innate ancient power, she could speed up, slow down, and stop the hands on the clock, and at each hour point there was the number in roman numeral and a door. "Oh great…" Cid mumbled, taking out a cigarette and quickly lighting it. "How are we supposed to know which door to go through?"
"…" Aeris was silent, but Cloud could tell she was communicating with the ancient protectors of the temple. "Through there…" Aeris answered, pointing to the room number six. Aeris somehow manipulated the clock hands (the rest could only assume it was a power that only ancients possessed) so that they could walk from their current door to the door number six. They headed through there and saw an enormous door directly in front of them. "There…" Aeris said, carefully watching the door. "That's the room with the murals…"
"Sephiroth…" Cloud murmured.
"Cloud, are you sure we're prepared to take on Sephiroth?" Red XIII asked his leader.
"We don't have a choice, either way we need to get in that room, if he's not there, then we can at least find out what his real plan is," Cloud told his animal teammate.
Cid sighed and tossed his cigarette to the floor, then stomped it out, "I guess… this could be it…"
"Oh my god!" exclaimed someone from behind them. They all spun and saw Elena standing there, looking with wide eyes at the group. "Damnit!" Elena exclaimed. "Where's Tseng?!"
"…Tseng…" Aeris muttered, looking up towards the door.
Elena instantly took out her cell phone and called Tseng, however, shortly after, she put her phone away, "He didn't answer… where could he be?!"
"You… don't know…?" Aeris asked.
"Know what?!" Elena shouted. "What did you do to him?!"
Aeris wordlessly looked up at the door, and instantly Elena charged, shouting Tseng's name. "No! Wait!" Cloud shouted. "Sephiroth!" But it was too late, Elena had all ready stormed through the door. Cloud looked at the group and commanded, "Come on!"
The team stormed in after Elena and was partially glad to discover that Sephiroth had left, however, Elena stood shocked over her slain leader. "T-Tseng…" Elena mumbled.
"I don't think Sephiroth is here…" Cloud told the group, causing them all to lower their defenses somewhat.
"How could you do this to him?!" Elena suddenly shouted, tearing out her gun and spinning around. "I'll make you all pay for this!"
Instantly, the group reorganized their defenses, but then, Sephiroth appeared out of seemingly nowhere between the two parties. "Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed, grasping the handle of his sword tighter.
"S-Sephiroth?!" Elena shouted. At first she looked like she would attack the former Shinra general but then a look of dread quickly covered her face. "I-I gotta go report this!" She charged out of the room, her cell phone already out and dialing.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud almost growled. "Now I'm going to finish this!"
"So cold…" Sephiroth murmured. "But I am always by your side… Come… splendid… a treasure house of wisdom…"
"I don't understand what you're saying!" Cloud bellowed.
"Look well at this wall…" Sephiroth murmured, then turned and faced Cloud with his shining green eyes. "… I am becoming one with the planet…"
"How can you become one with the planet?" Aeris asked, truly worried about the fate of her true land.
"It's simple," Sephiroth grinned. "Once the Planet is hurt, it gathers Spirit Energy to heal the injury. The amount of energy gathered depends on the size of the injury… What would happen if there was an injury that threatened the very life of the Planet? Think how much energy would be gathered!" Sephiroth paused to laugh for a moment, then continued, still partially laughing, "And at the center of that injury, will be me. All that boundless energy will be mine. By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now... Only to be reborn as a God to rule over every soul."
"An injury powerful enough to threaten the existence of the planet…" Aeris mumbled, beginning to understand.
"The mural," Sephiroth said as he crouched down. "The ultimate destructive power… Meteor…"
"That'll never happen!" Cloud shouted.
Sephiroth looked over at Cloud with his sinister green eyes, then Cloud heard, inside his head, Wake up! Suddenly, Sephiroth was gone, leaving the group alone with Tseng's dead body.
"Wh-where'd he go?!" Cid exclaimed quickly searching around the room.
Aeris joined the team in the search, when she turned to Cloud and noticed something weird. He seemed to be twitching while he looked over the murals, switching into various strange positions. "Cloud?" Aeris asked.
Everyone looked over at Cloud as he laughed, "Ha ha ha… meteor… ha ha ha… black materia…"
"Cloud!" Aeris exclaimed, running to his side. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"Cloud…" suddenly Cloud stopped twitching and grasped his head in his hands. "I'm Cloud… How should I?... I remember now!"
"Cloud?" Aeris asked. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Cloud shrugged as though nothing at all had happened. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Oh!" Aeris exclaimed, surprised to see him acting perfectly normal once more. "W-Well Sephiroth got away…" Aeris replied, looking at the others to convince them to go along with the idea of Cloud being fine.
"… Oh…" Cloud replied, disappointed. "Oh well, I think I understand his plan anyway," Cloud said, then walking up to the mural on the wall, which depicted some people praying and something large above them. "This must be meteor… right?"
"I'm not sure…" Red XIII muttered, looking at the picture. "It seems to be falling from the sky…"
"… This must be magic…" Aeris announced, drawing everyone's attention, as her face seemed to suddenly switch to a look of complete understanding. "Just what Sephiroth was saying, the ultimate destructive magic, Meteor. It finds small drifting planets with its magic… and then collides with them," a look of dread replaced the look of understanding, "this planet might get wiped out entirely..."
Cloud turned and looked towards the back of the room, and saw a small table like structure, on top of which looked like a miniaturized model of the temple. "What's that?" Cloud asked, as he began walking towards the structure.
Then, once Cloud got close enough, a large roar erupted the otherwise silent temple. The doors burst opened and an enormous red dragon marched through, fire blowing out of it's mouth as it roared. "Damnit Cloud!" Cid shouted as he tore out his spear. "You jus gotta trigger every trap, dontcha?!"
To respond, Cloud tore out his enormous blade and charged at the beast, slashing at its large stomach, only to discover that it was a heavy armor to protect itself. "Shit!" Cloud shouted, as the dragon tried to slash Cloud with it's claws, but Cloud managed to block it with his sword.
"Cloud!" Aeris shouted, then quickly conjured up a Ice 2 spell, which distracted the beast, giving Cloud enough time to fall back.
Next, Red XIII and Cid unleashed a combination of Cid's Ice 2 magic and Red XIII's Quake 2 magic, striking the beast at the same time. The ground beneath it began to crumble with Red's spell, and Cid's magic prevented the beast from being able to avoid the quake spell. The beast quickly countered by stretching out it's neck and blowing fire directly at Cid and Red XIII. The feline creature managed to escape with a slight burn, but the pilot wasn't quite as lucky. Cid leapt out of the way, but not far enough, only off by a few feet, he scrambled to his hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way, but not until the flames reached him.
Cid made it out of the flames, and was rolling, his large Shinra jacket had been lit aflame. Cid's rolling manage to douse the flames, and Aeris quickly helped her friend with a cure 2 spell, almost completely healing him. Cloud, meanwhile, used the beast's attack to his own advantage. With the beast's outstretched, unprotected neck, Cloud managed to leap on the dragon lower neck, where it connects to his back, and slammed his blade into is neck, then ran up the neck, continuing the cut all the way up it's long neck to it's skull, finishing off the dragon.
"I… I'm kinda disappointed we had to kill it…" Aeris sighed.
"Why in the hell do ya say that?" Cid shouted as he looked over his now burnt jacket.
"It was just the Ancient's defense against any intruders…" Aeris sighed. "It's too bad it couldn't be prevented…"
"Oh well," Cloud shrugged, wiping off his blade then reattaching it to the sling on his back. "Come on, lets check this thing out."
Cloud inspected it, "It says something," pointing to an inscription on in front of the model of the temple, "But that isn't English…"
"…" Aeris went up to it, then seemed to hear the letters in her head. "B… l… a… c… k… m… a… t… e… r… i… a…"
"Black materia!" Cloud exclaimed, then grabbed the model of the temple, which caused the entire temple to shake. "What the?!"
"Wait!" Aeris exclaimed as Cloud let go of the model. "Let me ask… I don't understand…" Aeris muttered, then her face looked shocked. "What?! The temple is the black materia itself!"
"This huge temple?" Cloud asked. "Then no one could take it."
"Hmm, it's pretty hard," Aeris explained, looking at the strange device in front of her. "You see this is a device which gets smaller each time you solve a puzzle. As the model becomes smaller, you become smaller too, until it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand."
"So…" Cloud muttered, trying to understand. "If we solve puzzles… it'll get smaller, until we can just take it out."
"Yeah…" Aeris nodded. "But there's a problem. Eventually, the temple will get too small, and we'll be crushed by it."
"Damn…" Cloud murmured. "I guess the Ancients wanted to make sure that the materia would be safe…"
"So, I guess this is best left alone," Cid suggested.
"No," Cloud said, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Sephiroth would have no problem with one of his flunkies losing their life to get the black materia…"
"So…" Red XIII mumbled. "What can we do?"
"I don't know…" Cloud answered, struggling to come up with an answer, when just then his PHS rang. "Hello?"
"Cloud!" a voice exclaimed from the other line. "It's Yuffie! We just had a fight with Reno and Rude, we're fine but they said that Tseng and Elena are somewhere in the temple!"
"Yeah…" Cloud mumbled. "We know. Tseng is dead, Sephiroth killed him."
"Sephiroth!" Yuffie cried. "Is he there?! Do you need our help?"
"No, he left but…" Cloud mumbled then told his story to Yuffie, who put it on speakerphone so everyone could hear.
"I have an idea!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "Let me take care of the puzzles inside! Since this body's fake, it won't make any difference anyway!"
"No way!" Barret exclaimed. "You'll backstab us again!"
"I agree with Barret," Cloud announced over the phone. "We can't let Sephiroth get the black materia, but we can't let the Shinra get it either."
"Cloud, you need to trust me," Cait Sith told him. "Besides, you don't really have any choice."
Cloud sighed, however, knew that he was right. "All right," Cloud grudgingly replied.
"Ok, great!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "All right, Tseng said that there was an exit through one of the doors in the clock room… do you know where I'm talking about?"
"Yeah," Cloud answered.
"All right!" Cait Sith exclaimed. "You have to open the door though, then I'll be waiting right outside!"
"Ok," Cloud replied, closing the PHS and putting it into his pocket, then turned to his group. "All right, Cait Sith is going to come in and solve the puzzles, then we'll be able to get the black materia before Sephiroth."
"If that little bastard doesn't betray us again…" Cid mumbled as he took out another cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag from it.
"Yeah, we'll have to be prepared for anything," Cloud sighed. "He said there was an exit through the clock room somewhere…"
The team left the room and returned to the clock room, surprised to see that there was a straight path to the XII door. Also, Aeris no longer had control, but they were pleased when they discovered that it lead directly to the exit. Cloud guessed that it was natural for the temple to try to get the group out, plus they were probably trying to help Aeris, since she was the last remaining ancient.
Cloud opened the door and Cait Sith leapt through, the creature leaping and being as cheerful as always. "Cait, I swear that if you betray us-" Cloud began, but Cait Sith just sighed.
"Yeah, yeah," Cait Sith rolled his eyes. "Barret all ready went through all this…"
"All right…" Aeris replied, feeling sort of strange.
"Well… everyone… take care, I'll handle this," Cait Sith told them.
"Oh man…" Aeris sighed, almost feeling like hugging the strange creature. "Thanks, Cait Sith… good luck."
"Thanks, Aeris," Cait Sith replied, then headed towards the clock room, as everyone left, but Cloud stayed back.
"Cait Sith…" Cloud said, causing the creature to look back at him. "Thank you… and I really hope that you already know what the right thing to do is."
"Yeah," the cat atop the moggle nodded. "Thanks, Cloud."
Cloud nodded then left and rejoined the rest of his group. "How are you guys doing?" Cloud asked the other part of his group.
"We're fine," Tifa answered.
"You should know that the Turks don't stand a chance against the all powerful Yuffie Kisaragi!" Yuffie exclaimed, but everyone just ignored her.
"We should go to the front of the temple," Vincent answered, the secret entrance being in the back of the temple. "That's probably where we'll get the black-"
Suddenly, the temple violently shook, and then got significantly smaller, although it was still very large. "Cait Sith must have solved a puzzle…" Red XIII silently said.
"Come on," Cloud said turning and running for the front. "We need to make sure that we can get the black materia before Sephiroth sneaks in and takes it!"
The team ran over to the front, when the temple shook once more and shrunk again, now it seemed as though there were a moat surrounding the temple. "Come on guys," Cloud said, "The black materia will probably appear at the bottom of the hole."
"Wait!" Barret exclaimed, instantly causing the leader to stop.
"What is it?" Cloud asked, turning as the temple shook and shrunk once more.
"We need ta make sure the Shinra doesn't show up!" Barret exclaimed.
"Oh yeah," Cloud nodded. "All right, I'll go down myself and you all stay back here!"
"What about Sephiroth?" Vincent reminded. "What if he waits until the black materia forms to show up?"
"Damn… good point…" Cloud mumbled and sighed. "All right… how about Aeris, you come down with me and Vincent and Tifa stay close for support, the rest of you stay make sure there aren't any Shinra around. We'll call if there's any trouble."
"Aight," Barret nodded, everyone obeying their leader.
Cloud and Aeris started to climb down the hole until the temple shook once more and shrunk. After about another fifteen minutes, the temple had shrunk to the bottom of the hole, and Cloud and Aeris completed their climb down, while Vincent and Tifa stayed up to cover them. By the time the two made it to the bottom, the temple became even smaller, then it shook once more, and glowed a bright black and a strong feeling of power and darkness overcame all four of them, even though Vincent could just barely see it and Tifa being unable to see it at all.
"Finally!" Cloud exclaimed, then grabbed the materia.
Cloud… Cloud heard a voice say in his head, when suddenly Sephiroth appeared in front of him.
"Sephiroth!" both Aeris and Cloud cried, causing Tifa and Vincent to instantly turn their way.
Suddenly, Cloud grasped his head screaming, and stumbled to the ground, "Cloud!" Aeris cried, running to his side.
"Sephiroth!" Vincent exclaimed, aiming his gun down at Sephiroth and firing, but once it got close enough to Sephiroth the bullet exploded, and revealed a shield around him. "Damn! I can't shoot him until his shield goes down!"
Suddenly, Cloud stood, with Aeris still clinging to his arm. "Cloud!" Aeris exclaimed, crying out of fear of what's going on. "What's happening?!"
Cloud glared down at Aeris, his eyes no longer a calm blue but a blank blue, seeming to have no emotion whatsoever… as though he were a puppet, which seemed to cause everything to slip into place. The temple was warning me… of Cloud, Aeris thought frantically. That's why that dragon attacked… it wasn't just some ordinary defense measure, it was to try and stop Cloud!
Cloud then harshly swung his arm, causing Aeris to fly into the dirt wall. "Aeris!" Tifa screamed from above. "Cloud! What are you doing?!"
Cloud then began to slowly walk towards Sephiroth, with the black materia still in his hand. "Cloud! Stop!" Vincent bellowed. "You can't give the materia to Sephiroth!"
However, that's exactly what Cloud did. Once the black materia was in Sephiroth's hand, he bellowed a harsh laugh, and flew off. Vincent aimed his new enormous magnum at the villain as he flew above them, but it was all ready too late, for the villain was long out of sight.
Cloud then turned to the frightened Aeris who was still up against the wall. "Aeris…" Cloud muttered, then collapsed unconscious to the floor.
There's another chapter down!
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