"Mother.. I understand now, mother." Zack raised an eyebrow, slowly walking closer to where Sephiroth was standing. "Genesis explained everything to me, I understand now."
"Sephiroth!" Zack called.
"Mother, I need your help." Sephiroth continued murmuring. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, but I know you'll tell me."
"Sephiroth, listen to me!" Zack walked closer, wondering who his friend was talking to.
"Just leave." Sephiroth said, turning his head to look over his shoulder slightly. "You can't do anything here."
"What's going on?" Zack asked.
"I've found her, my mother. I'm going to help her rule the planet." Sephiroth smirked, slowly tracing a finger down the glass of the capsule that was in front of him.
"What did Genesis say to you?" Zack asked.
"He told me who I am and what ShinRa did; what the people did."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to defeat them. Everyone. I'm going to rule the world with mother and you can't stand in my way." Sephiroth slowly turned around to face Zack.
"I'm trying to help! Genesis has polluted your mind, Sephiroth." Zack said.
"You're wrong." Sephiroth pulled his sword out and examined it for a moment before looking at Zack with a smile. "That annoying girl came in here before, trying to make Genesis leave me alone. I dealt with her."
"What, you!?" Zack's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes. I just want to be with mother." Sephiroth glanced lovingly over his shoulder at the glass capsule and then turned back to Zack.
"You've gone mad!" Zack yelled.
"Perhaps." Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and charged. Zack stepped back, startled, before lunging forward to meet the attack head-on. Their swords met and Zack was swiped aside like a bug.
"Stop it Sephiroth!" Zack said, pulling himself up again. "You're supposed to be a hero!"
"I am my mother's hero, and that is all I need." Sephiroth said, coming in for another attack.
"I want to be a hero!" Zack exclaimed, his eyes flaring with anger as he leapt towards Sephiroth.
"You have will power. That will get you far in SOLDIER." Sephiroth said tauntingly. "But to become a real hero requires much more than that." Sephiroth struck Zack on the shoulder and sent him sprawling.
"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Zack asked, struggling to pull himself up.
"The people on this planet are nuisances. Mother and I will destroy them all." Sephiroth explained.
"You're not making any sense!" Zack leapt to his feet with a sudden burst of energy, nicking Sephiroth on the arm with his sword before being hit in the side and thrown across the room, out the door and down some carefully placed stairs. He lay still.
Sephiroth turned and walked back to the glass capsule, a smile on his face.
Cloud ran over to Tifa and knelt beside her, gently lifting her head in his hands. His eyes were wide as he looked down at her.
"Tifa?"
"Cloud.. my father's.." Tifa scrunched her eyes up tight and sobbed. "He's dead!"
"Tifa, I'm so sorry." Cloud said.
"Sephiroth, he.. he did this." Tifa's eyes relaxed but remained closed and she became limp in his hands. The soft sound of her breathing reached his ears and he gently laid her head back down.
"Cloud-" a wince followed the word and Cloud stood up, looking over at the stairs to see Zack. "Sephiroth's gone mad."
"I'll see what I can do." Cloud said, stepping over Tifa and around Zack to walk up the stairs. He gulped, hoping he'd be able to do something to help.
"Mother.." Sephiroth whispered, once again stroking the glass. "I'll kill them all once I get out of here." Cloud narrowed his eyes and glanced around, picking up Zack's sword that he saw had been discarded to the side. Taking a deep breath, he began to run.
In a split second he changed his mind but there was no time to stop and the sword he was holding ran straight through Sephiroth and into the glass capsule beyond. There was a crack and Cloud panted slowly.
"Who- who are you?" Sephiroth asked, slumped slightly. Cloud tightened his grip on the sword, refusing to answer. If Sephiroth knew who it was he would know he could easily fling him aside. With a sharp intake of air, Cloud twisted the sword slightly. Sephiroth gasped and gripped the glass in front of him.
"What's wrong with you!?" Cloud couldn't help the words coming out of his mouth. "Genesis lied to you about everything! Why did you hurt Tifa? Why did you allow Genesis to burn Nibelheim to the ground?"
Sephiroth reached a hand behind himself and pulled the sword out. Cloud took hurried steps backwards as his victim turned around.
"Cloud Strife." Sephiroth said coldly. "I remember why you look familiar. Back when I was just a boy, I knew your mother."
"You're lying!" Cloud yelled. "You're just stalling for time because you don't want to die!" Sephiroth laughed.
"Your mother had the same blonde hair. She and your father were both Turks." Sephiroth continued. "That's why you were familiar to me."
"Shut up Sephiroth! You know nothing about my parents!"
"You disgust me. Why they let you into SOLDIER I have no clue, but this is where it ends." Sephiroth stood there, very still for a moment and Cloud wondered if he had in fact frozen solid. But in a quick movement he struck, stabbing his sword right through Cloud's middle and lifting him off the ground.
Cloud let go of Zack's sword and it clanged onto the ground. He gasped for air, his feet kicking desperately. He could feel a sticky liquid trailing down his body from where the sword was and tried not to look at it. He felt extremely tired, and the pain! The pain was unbearable. He raised his eyes slowly to see Sephiroth standing there with a smirk on his face.
"No.. you can't.. win!" Cloud brought his hands up to grab the sword and steadied himself for a moment, just breathing. Then he pulled. He could feel the sword slicing through him as he dragged himself up it. And then he felt his feet on the ground.
"What the-" Sephiroth's eyes had widened in shock. Cloud struggled to keep a hold of the sword and took a stumbled step forward. Clenching his teeth, he lifted Sephiroth off the ground and threw him sideways, a yell escaping his mouth to accompany the movement.
A loud crash sounded in the entire place and Cloud looked over at Sephiroth with bleary eyes. The older man had slammed right into the glass capsule and it had broken around him. For a moment, Cloud thought he was dead.
"Mother.." came the whisper. Sephiroth dragged himself up, limping as he did so, and reached into the now broken capsule. He placed both his hands on either side of the now visible woman's head and pulled. "Come, mother. Tell me.. what I must do." The head came free and Sephiroth stumbled sideways, heading for the edge of the platform.
"Seph.. iroth.." Cloud mumbled, watching as the one he used to admire threw himself off the platform and plummeted down with a woman's head in his hands.
Stumbling back the way he'd come, Cloud could feel his life slipping away. He tripped up a couple of times while walking down the stairs but managed to stay standing. At the bottom he immediately headed over to where he had left Tifa.
"Tifa?" his eyes went wide in horror. "Tifa!" She wasn't there. A wave of nausea came over him and he stumbled to his knees, one hand on the ground and one gently holding the sword which was still through him.
"Cloud.. good job." he heard the faint sound of Zack's voice before collapsing onto his side and losing consciousness.
He could hear footsteps, the clomping of boots on the ground getting closer. He couldn't remember what had happened; why he was finding it hard to breathe.
"Is he going to be okay?" He knew that voice. It was Tifa!
"Yes, he'll be fine. Run along now." Cloud's eyebrows subconsciously furrowed as he tried to figure out whether he knew the second voice or not. Whoever it was, he made a mental note to talk to them later if he knew them about how annoying their voice sounded.
Cloud heard softer footsteps walking away until they were out of ear-shot and knew Tifa had left. He tried to sit up but didn't manage to move an inch.
"Hmm, yes," The annoying voice was back. "Very, very interesting."
"Sir?"
"This one will be perfect as my new sample. What did you say his name was?"
"Cloud Strife, Sir."
"Strife!?"
"Yes, Strife."
"Ah, wonderful." Cloud fought against the wave of tiredness that was slowly engulfing him, desperate to hear more that was said.
"Hojo," the person now speaking sounded weak, and Cloud recognised it to be Zack. "You sleaze!" There was a laugh from the person with the annoying voice, Hojo, and Cloud felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.
"Now, now. Is that how you should talk to the scientist who controls your mako dosages?" Hojo laughed again, and it was this that accompanied Cloud into the darkness.