"Tommy!" Gordon shouted, as he ran into a room with the number "XIII" on it.
Gordon had sprinted a short distance in hopes of trying to catch Tommy, who was nowhere in sight after he went to find Sephiroth.
He entered the room and saw Tommy opening the exit at the other side
"Tommy!" Gordon called out, getting his attention.
"Tommy, do you remember what we talked about? You can't let beyblades influence you!" He shouted.
"I'm sorry Mr. Freeman, but I really need that one!"
"That doesn't matter!" Gordon shouted at him
"Do you remember what we talked about back in the prison? You have to stay with Aerith as much as you can! You can't just run off in search of a spinning top!"
"And I will protect her! Just as soon as I get what I want from Sephiroth!"
Tommy then exited through the door.
"Tommy, get back here!"
Gordon was about to give chase but then the room then began to shake.
"Oh fucking come on!" Gordon shouted in frustration.
A large creature then began to morph out of the wall. It looked almost like a Chestbuster from Alien and had two large arms with claws for fingers.
"Oh boy! More monsters to fight!" Gordon shouted sarcastically, as he aimed his chaingun and aimed it at the Demon Gate.
"You're not doing it alone!" said Cloud, as Gordon looked behind him and saw him, Aerith, and Cait Sith run into the room and stand beside.
"Cloud!" said Gordon,
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I lost Tommy."
"We'll worry about that later." said Cloud,
"Right now let's focus on this problem."
Gordon nodded and cast barrier onto Cloud and the rest of the party, he began firing onto the Demon Gate as Cloud charged in. The large creature shook the room and several sharp stalagmites from the ceiling fell and tried to land into Cloud and the rest, but they were able to dodge out of the way, unfortunately Gordon got hit.
"Gordon!" Aerith shouted as she healed him.
"I'm good!" He shouted as he resumed firing into the Demon Gate.
Cait Sith meanwhile was casting Fira onto it while Cloud was able to move in closer, jump up and land a slash on its head.
The creature growled in pain as it went to hit Cloud with its right hand. Cloud however was able to block it in midair. The creature then tried to swipe at him with his left hand but Gordon shot at it, slowing it down and giving Cloud enough time to land.
The creature raised his right hand and a large stalactite appeared above Cait Sith.
"Sith watch out!" Cloud shouted.
Cait Sith looked up but it was too late to dodge. The large rock came down on him hard and caused him to fall to the ground.
"Sith!" shouted Gordon, as he ran over to check on him.
"I'll- I'll be fine." He said,
"Remember, my main body is back in Midgar."
"Doesn't matter to me." said Gordon,
"You die here and I won't be able to find out why Shinra wants me."
"I'll figure it out for you regardless Gordon." Cait Sith replied,
"Just go and help Cloud and Aerith."
Gordon looked back at them who were still combating the Demon Gate then back at Cait Sith.
"Alright." Gordon said,
"But you stay right here, I'm not letting you die yet."
Gordon then charged back in and began firing onto the creature.
A green and red aura then began to form around him.
"Cloud!" He shouted, getting his attention.
"I'm at a Limit Break! I think I can finish this thing off!"
"Hold off," Cloud shouted at him.
"I'm nearly there myself, we'll use both at the same time!"
"Alright!" Gordon agreed, as he continued to lay down fire.
"How's Sith?" asked Aerith.
"He's wounded, but he told me to focus on the current threat right now!"
Aerith nodded as she cast Blizzara onto the creature. It then shook the room and another giant stalagmite appeared over Aerith. Gordon quickly ran over and grabbed her away from the big rock before it could crash down into her.
"Phew, thanks for that!" She said,
"Yeah no problem, now let's keep at it!"
Gordon continued to fire onto the Demon Gate as the aura around him persisted. He then noticed the same was slowly beginning to form around Cloud.
"Cloud!" Gordon shouted,
"You have one now too! Give me the signal and we can finish this fucker off for good!"
"Alright! On three!" Cloud replied,
"1-"
Gordon primed his chaingun.
"-2-"
Cloud set up the charge in.
"-3!"
Gordon's chaingun charged up and sent out a hail of bullets. Cloud charged in and stabbed the creature, he then jumped up with his sword still impaled, and then slammed it down hard.
The Demon Gate shouted in pain as blood began pouring out from the wound Cloud inflicted and the bullet holes Gordon gave it.
Cloud then gave it one final slash and the creature stopped moving, now a lifeless corpse.
"It's dead right?" Gordon asked.
"Yeah, we got it." replied Cloud,
"Now let's go help Cait Sith."
The trio then went over to Cait Sith who's stuffed moogle had a large hole on its side.
"Sith, you alright?" Cloud asked.
"This body is fine-" he pointed to himself,
"-But this one could use a little more work." He said, pointing to the moogle.
"Let me help." said Aerith, as she cast Cura onto him.
It was enough for the moogle to get up, but it was obviously shaky.
"Thanks." said Cait Sith.
"You all should get out of here, I'll handle the rest."
"What do you mean?" asked Gordon,
"I'll solve the rest of the puzzles here. That'll cause the temple to shrink down and become the Black Materia."
"Hang on a sec." said Gordon,
"If you die here then you won't be able to give us the info we need. We still need to know what Shinra wants with me."
"I'll figure it out for you." replied Cait Sith,
"And I'm sure you'll run into another Cait Sith soon."
He then turned to the door that led back into the temple.
"Now go!"
Cloud nodded as Cait Sith ran back into the temple.
"Right," said Cloud,
"Now let's get out of here."
Gordon, Cloud, and Aerith were crossing the bridge that headed outside of the temple and rejoined the others.
"There you guys are!" Barret said,
"What happened in there? And where's Cait Sith and Tommy?"
"Sith stayed behind to get the Black Materia for us." Cloud said,
"Tommy…"
"Fucking went with Sephiroth for a freaking beyblade." said Gordon.
"What?" said Cid,
"What do you mean he went with Sephiroth?"
"Sephiroth offered him a beyblade and Tommy just went off with him."
"Oh dear, he fell for the same trick Forzen played on him!" said Coomer.
Bubby meanwhile was shaking his head.
"I told you all this was a bad fucking idea!"
"Bubby, you're not helping so shut up!" said Gordon.
The temple began to shake and the party turned around to see it be absorbed by a big black orb and shrink down to size.
"Looks like Sith got the job done." said Cid,
"Let's get this freaking thing and be done with it."
They all then crossed the bridge and looked down the big crater that was once the temple and saw a black object at the bottom.
"That must be the Black Materia," said Cloud,
"Stay here while I get it."
"I'm coming with you," said Gordon.
"Gordon?" asked Tifa,
"In case Benrey or Sephiroth try anything. I wanna make sure Cloud has backup."
"Fair enough, just stay close." said Cloud, as he and Gordon slid down the crater.
When they got a better look at the Black Materia, they noticed it didn't look like any Materia they had picked up along their journey.
In fact, it didn't look like Materia at all.
"What the?" Cloud said, as he picked it up.
When Gordon looked at it, he couldn't believe what he was looking at.
What Cloud held in his hands was an irregularly shaped object. It had two joysticks at the bottom and a d-pad on the left. It had four buttons on its right (a pink square, a green triangle, a red circle, and a Blue X). The word "SONY" was in the center along with 3 buttons, one was labeled "START", one was labeled "SELECT" and one right in the middle had a logo that read "PS."
"What the fuck?" Gordon said in astonishment,
"This can't be possible."
"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.
"That's….that's not the Black Materia." said Gordon,
"That's a PlayStation 3 controller."
"What?" asked Cloud,
"What are you talking about? Are you saying Sephiroth already has it?"
"I- I don't know. I-"
"That's exactly what I was looking for." A familiar voice said.
Everyone looked up and saw Sephiroth floating in the sky, his sword in hand.
"With that, I'll be able to summon Meteor, and the world we envisioned will become a reality!"
"Like hell we'll let that happen!" Barret shouted, as he aimed his chaingun at Sephiroth.
Suddenly without warning, skeletons appeared and began circling around each party member, all while blowing teal balls around them, which in turn bonded them in place.
Everyone but Aerith.
"What- what the hell!?" Cid shouted,
"What are they doing to us?!"
"They're encasing us in the Black Mesa Sweet Voice!" Coomer shouted,
"We need to break free!"
Everyone struggled as Aerith walked forward and slid down to where Gordon and Cloud were.
"I won't let you have it!" She shouted.
Gordon armed his chaingun while Cloud drew his buster sword.
"Hm." Sephiroth said, as he began to descend downwards.
Cloud felt a sudden jolt of pain hit him in the head, causing him to drop his sword and clench his skull.
"That's a good boy Cloud." said Sephiroth, as he reached out his right hand.
"Now, give me the Black Materia."
Cloud, seemingly against his will, slowly began reaching his right arm out to give the controller to Sephiroth.
"You're not getting it on my watch!" Gordon shouted, as he ran in to stop Cloud.
A skeleton then appeared in front of Gordon, stopping him in his tracks. The skeleton then blew white balls into Gordon's mouth.
The world around him suddenly began to turn white.
'what the fu-'
he then fell to the ground, unconscious.
It was white. Everywhere was white. Gordon looked around everywhere and found nothing but a white void.
"Fucking shit!" He shouted,
"Fucking Sephiroth probably has the Black Materia now! Or at least I think it is the Black Materia?!"
Gordon shook his head in frustration.
"God dammit! Why the fuck was there a PS3 controller? Why was Benrey's head where Meteor was? And why couldn't fucking Tommy do what I told him!"
Gordon let out a frustrated growl.
"Now what the fuck am I supposed to do!?"
The white void around Gordon slowly began to dissipate, and he found himself in a forest.
"What the heck?" He said to himself as he looked around.
At the far end of the forest was a bright light.
"Shit, this is where I think it is, but why am I-"
He then looked over to his left and saw a familiar face, who also looked around at their surroundings.
"Cloud!" Gordon shouted, getting his attention.
"Gordon?" said Cloud,
"Where are we?"
"I don't know, I-"
"Cloud, Gordon…" A familiar voice said.
They both looked over at the light at the end of the forest and saw a figure walking out of it.
As they came into view they recognized them as a familiar friend.
"Aerith!" Cloud shouted,
"I'm sorry about what happened before! I-I-"
"Don't worry about it." She said,
"As for Sephiroth, let me handle him."
"You can't!" shouted Gordon,
"You can't handle Sephiroth alone, if you do he'll- he'll-"
"It's alright Gordon." said Aerith softly,
"I know what you tried to have Tommy do, but it's unnecessary, I know what part I have to play in this."
"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked,
"And where are we?"
"This is the Sleeping Forest." Aerith replied,
"From here you can get to the City of the Ancients."
"Aerith." Gordon said,
"You can't do this alone, just wait for us to get there alright, I promise I'll protect you."
"You don't need to do that." She said,
"It's like I said, I know what role I have to play in all of this, and Sephiroth is going to use Meteor regardless of what you do."
She then walked back towards the light.
"The secret is up ahead." She said,
"And I feel as if an unknown presence is luring me there."
She then turned to look at Gordon
"And there's two other things I wanted to bring up before I go."
"What is it?"
"First, I left a letter for Tommy in the City, make sure he gets it the next time you see him. And.."
She then turned to face Cloud.
"Please, no matter what happens, forgive him. That's all I ask."
"What?"
She then looked at Gordon. But as she looked at him Gordon noticed something different about the look in her eyes.
As if she was looking through him.
"I'll be going now. I'll make sure to come back when all of this is over."
She then turned around, and ran back into the light.
"Aerith!" They both shouted,
They tried to give chase and felt themselves running, but when they looked down they found that they were running in place.
"Oh looks like she gonna try and fuck up our plans." A voice said.
A figure descended down from the trees, it was Benrey, his Desert Eagle in his hand.
"Guess I'll need him to take care of her."
Cloud and Gordon's vision went white and the forest around them along with Benrey faded away.
Gordon's vision slowly started to reform. He found himself staring up at a ceiling.
"What the?"
He looked down at the ground and saw that he was standing on top of a full size bed.
"Gordon!"
Gordon turned his head and saw Tifa and Barret in the room with him. On the bed next to him was Cloud, and he was laying down.
"Gordon, what are you doing standing on the bed?" asked Barret.
"Uhhh." He stammered,
"Was I standing on the bed the whole time?"
"No you were laying down just a second ago, then all of sudden you shot up onto your feet." Barret replied.
"Oh uh, okay then." replied Gordon,
"Guess I should get off." He said, as he climbed down off the bed.
"What happened?" Cloud asked, as he got up and sat on the bedside.
"You handed the Black Materia to Sephiroth and attacked Aerith! That's what happened!" Barret replied in an unhappy voice.
"Aerith…" said Cloud,
"Where is she now?"
"She's gone." replied Tifa,
"After the Temple she left the group without a trace, the others are out looking for her now, along with Tommy too."
"Another Cait Sith joined us as well." Barret said.
Cloud shook and put his fingers between his hair.
"The City of the Ancients, that's where she's going."
"We need to go now." Gordon said,
"If we wait any longer, who knows what Sephiroth and Benrey are gonna do."
"They already know though." said Cloud,
"Even if we go now we won't be able to-"
"That doesn't matter right now Cloud!" Gordon said, interrupting Cloud,
"You can't just sit here moping around, we need to get to the City right now!"
"I can't." said Cloud dejectedly,
"You all saw what Sephiroth did to me at the Temple, if he's anywhere near me I don't know what I'm gonna do."
"Yeah I won't lie." said Barret,
"You're the reason Sephiroth and Benrey have the Black Materia."
He then grabbed Cloud's shoulder and forced him to look at him.
"But it's like Gordon just said, you can't just sit around and feel sorry for yourself!"
Cloud looked down, self doubt etched onto his face.
"I can't! I'm- I'm afraid…"
"Cloud…" Tifa said softly, as she gently placed her hand on his other shoulder.
"I know this all seems hard for you, and I wish you could just sit this all out. But we're all in this together and we can't stop now."
Cloud looked at her.
"You're…you're right. But I don't know what I'll do if I see Aerith again."
"If you try what you did again I'll knock sense back into ya!" Barret said,
"Now get up on your feet and let's get going!"
"Yeah, just like Barret said." said Gordon,
"Let's get moving!" He said, as he headed to the exit of the shack they were in.
"Hang on a minute Gordon." said Cloud, as he got to his feet,
"What was Aerith talking about back there?"
"Huh?" said Gordon, stopping in his tracks and turning to face the trio.
"What do you mean?"
"She said she knew what you tried to have Tommy do, what did she mean by that?"
"Oh well, um-" Gordon stammered, trying to find the right answer,
"I- I had Tommy act as Aerith's bodyguard."
"What?" Barret asked,
"Why would you have him do that?"
"I- I just thought since they were getting close and I just thought maybe Tommy could keep a close eye on her in case anything happens."
"What do you mean by that?" Cloud asked,
"Do you know something we don't?"
"What? N-No I- I was just looking out for a friend, I was…"
Gordon stopped and struggled to come up with what he was going to say next.
'Should I tell them?' He thought,
'No, no! That's the last thing they need to know. If they know that I know what's going to play out in the near future, who knows how they would react.'
"I was just doing it to protect a friend, that's all there is to it."
"Does it have anything to do with what we saw in the temple?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms.
"Huh?" said Tifa,
"What did you see in the temple?"
"On the drawings they had in the room we encountered Sephiroth, the aliens Gordon apparently fought at Black Mesa were fighting the Ancients." Cloud said,
"And where Meteor was was Benrey's head."
"What?" Barret said surprised,
"What does that even mean?"
"I- I don't know." said Gordon,
"I'm being completely honest with you, I don't know why the aliens we fought were on that wall, they shouldn't even exist here to begin with!"
"What do you mean by 'they shouldn't exist here'?" asked Tifa.
"I mean….I mean they shouldn't be here they shouldn't…" Gordon trailed off,
He shook his head in frustration.
"What the fuck is going on!?" He shouted,
"They shouldn't be here! They shouldn't fucking be here!"
"Gordon calm down!" said Tifa,
"Why shouldn't they be here?"
"They should all be at Black Mesa! They should all still be in their home world! They- they can't possibly exist in this period. Let alone the time when the Ancients existed!"
He shook his head again in disbelief.
"Fucking hell what the fuck does all this mean?"
"I don't know." said Cloud,
"But you still have some explaining to do. There are some things you haven't been truthful about".
"Like what?" Gordon asked,
"Like how you lied about Shinra being the ones who shut down Black Mesa."
"Huh?" said Gordon, looking at Cloud,
"What are you talking about?"
"I asked Tommy about his version of what happened, he told me the 'United States' shut it down."
"Tommy said that?" asked Gordon.
"Correct."
"Wait, hang on a second." interjected Barret,
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Me and Tifa decided to do some digging into what happened at Black Mesa and asked them separately of their versions of events. We wanted to wait until we had a full picture of what happened to tell all of you but figured since we have Gordon here now it seems to be the best time to ask him." said Cloud.
"Wait, what?" said Gordon, looking at Tifa.
"Tifa I thought, I thought…"
Tifa looked away from Gordon, trying to hide the guilt she was beginning to feel.
"You know what, fuck it. It doesn't matter now." said Gordon,
"What matters right now is finding Aerith, getting the Black Materia back and stopping those two fuckers."
"And what about the United States?" asked Cloud,
"Why did you lie about them?"
"Cloud I- I didn't have a choice. I had only just met all of you and I didn't want to bring it up in case you all decided to turn me in." replied Gordon.
"I was just looking out for myself and the other members of the science team in that instance, and I'm sorry about that."
"Alright, that's a fair enough reason. I don't like it but fair enough." said Cloud,
"But how do we know they aren't going to come after us in the future?"
"They won't." Gordon replied,
"We wiped out their entire military, or at least that's what Coomer says."
"Not all of them." said Cloud,
"Tommy said one escaped."
"What? Oh you mean Forzen." said Gordon,
"Yeah he got away when we had him cornered, but Benrey claimed he killed him. So take that as you will."
Cloud sighed and shook his head.
"Alright then." He said,
"From here on out I want no more lies. If we ask you anything you had better answer with the full truth, is that understood?"
It took a few moments, and Gordon deeply deliberated what he was going to say next.
He then took a deep breath.
"Yes." He said,
"I promise I won't lie anymore."
'Just don't ask any questions that would lead to me admitting this is all a game.'
The door to the shack opened and Coomer and Bubby walked in.
"Ah Gordon! It's good to see you're awake!" said Coomer,
"But I have some bad news! Aerith left the group and we haven't been able to find her, and we can't find Tommy either."
"Yeah, Tifa told us that." said Gordon,
"Ah, hello Cloud! It's good to see you awake as well!"
"Uh, hey Coomer." replied Cloud.
"Well Cloud I wish I could bring some good news but unfortunately I have more bad news!"
"Yeah I know, Aerith left the group. But we know where she-"
"It's not that Cloud." Coomer interpreted, turning to face Bubby.
"Dr. Bubby fucked up big time!"
"I didn't fuck up!" replied Bubby irritably,
"I was hoodwinked! That young brat tricked me!"
"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Gordon.
"Bubby lost all of our Materia!" said Coomer.
"Wait, what!?" Cloud said,
"What do you mean you lost all of our Materia!?"
"I didn't lose it!" Bubby shouted,
"That stupid kid tricked me into giving it to her! She said I would be able to go back to space if I did!"
"Wait what kid?" asked Gordon,
"Who are you talking about?"
"The one that does that weird chopping motion with her arm."
"Weird chopping motion?" asked Barret,
"Are you talking about Yuffie?"
"I guess." replied Bubby.
"Wait Bubby wha- h-how and why did you have all of our Materia in the first place?"
"I collected it for her." He replied,
"She then told me she was gonna build a rocket ship with them and I would get to go back to space!"
"And you freaking believed her!?" Gordon shouted.
"I want to go back to space Gordon! I told you that's my goal in life!"
"Well your damn goal just cost us all the Materia we had!" Barret shouted at Bubby,
"Now what the hell are we gonna do!?"
"Barret, it's fine." said Gordon,
"I know where she's probably going."
"And where's that?" asked Cloud,
"Wutai." replied Gordon,
"And how would you know that?" questioned Cloud.
"Think about it: her fighting style and name, all the markings of someone from there."
"Good point." said Cloud,
"Then we'll need to head to Wutai first. We can't continue our journey without our Materia."
"That's not the only thing she took Cloud!" said Coomer,
"Bubby also said she tricked him into giving her all of our soda!"
"What?" Cloud said, disbelief in his voice, and anger starting to rise up in him.
"She took our soda."
Cloud began to huff, which caused Tifa to look at him with concern.
"We're leaving now." He said.
"Cloud?" Tifa asked.
"We are going to Wutai NOW!"