"Thank you." Sephiroth told Cloud as he finally sated himself with the young man. "You still feel just as good as you did the first time…now I feel ready to deal with that Wutaian delegation." He got the jar of healing cream off his nightstand, and gently massaged it into the whip marks on Cloud's back. It was also highly anesthetic, so he didn't feel any pain as Sephiroth tended to him, only joy that he had served him so well. "Let's go take care of business." He kissed Cloud's neck and put his royal robe on, which was just a longer thicker version of his old coat, then headed out the door, leaving Cloud to follow him.

Tifa watched the Wutaians as they nervously entered the austere throne room, trying not to look at Jenova, who was now safely ensconced in the wall above Sephiroth's throne. They didn't realize Tifa was human at first, because she was standing so still they took her to be just a beautiful statue. Tifa grimly smiled at their shock when she stepped forward. "Hand out all your weapons." she ordered them. Walking past them, she took all the proffered weapons, pausing in front of a young girl. "I said all of your weapons, little girl." Tifa told her menacingly.

"That's all of them." the girl retorted defiantly, then found herself bent over, clutching her stomach from the strong blow Tifa had delivered.

"It's not nice to lie." Tifa calmly said as she removed some throwing knives from the girl's body, hidden where she had obviously thought no one would dare look. Double-checking the rest of the Wutaians and finding no more weapons, she walked over to a door in the back of the throne room.

"How could you, daughter? I allowed you to come with us against my better judgment, and this is how you repay us?" the Wutaian leader whispered fiercely at the girl.

"We shouldn't be paying tribute to them!" the girl fired back. "Are we cowards or warriors?!"

The long-standing argument between father and daughter stopped when Tifa opened the door, and moments later Sephiroth walked in, sitting gracefully in his throne. All the Wutaians bowed, the girl reluctantly following the others.

Cloud walked in right behind him, stopping beside the throne. He was wearing a dark blue robe to cover himself for the visitors, and he looked rather handsome in it. "We welcome the House of Kisaragi to Castle Jenova." Cloud spoke for Sephiroth. When the Wutaians raised their heads again, they were surprised to see Cloud perched on Sephiroth's right knee, with his hand on Cloud's back.

Tifa knew what they were seeing, and was glad she could focus on the visitors instead. She felt nothing but disgust at the sight of Cloud as nothing but a puppet. She hated not only what he had become, but what it made him do to her.

Four days after Nibelheim

Tifa woke up to strange noises, and she recognized Cloud as one of the sources, and she thought he was in trouble. She felt so weak that she had to let herself fall out of the bed she was in and crawl to the door where the noises were coming from. She couldn't do much to help Cloud in her condition, but she would try. Managing to fling open the door, Tifa was horrified to see Cloud on all fours, Sephiroth kneeling behind him, thrusting into Cloud like there was no tomorrow. The noises were coming from both of them, but Cloud was louder, and he was clearly enjoying it. Both of them were so lost in their joyous union that they didn't even notice she was there. Tifa herself was so stunned to do anything at first, then she started yelling obscenities at Sephiroth, exhausting her scant reserve of energy, and she collapsed in the doorway.

"You'll have to talk to her." Sephiroth told Cloud as the afterglow faded. "I can't tolerate her at the expense of our plan."

"I understand, sir." Cloud assured him. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." Sephiroth cupped Cloud's face in his hands, kissing him passionately. "You'll make her join us. You have to." Sephiroth covered the rest of his body with kisses, all the while repeating that Cloud had to make Tifa join them. When he was done, Cloud was convinced he would succeed. He would prove himself worthy of Sephiroth's favor. "I won't let you down!" Cloud repeating, his eyes shining with total adoration.

Tifa woke up again, finding Cloud changing the dressing on her wound. "What's wrong with you?" she demanded of her childhood friend.

"Nothing's wrong with me. For the first time, everything's alright." he replied with a smile.

Looking at him, Tifa got her first clue that this wasn't the Cloud she knew, and despite what he said, something was very wrong with him. His eyes looked…different. "You're having sex with the man who destroyed our village and tried to kill me!" she accused him. "How could that possibly be right?!"

"It's all Shin-Ra's fault!" Cloud snapped. "They made him do it! But…he wants to fix it all. We'll take down Shin-Ra and make this planet what it was supposed to be."

As Tifa listened to Cloud, she had the uncomfortable feeling that she was really listening to Sephiroth talking through Cloud. "I hate Sephiroth as much as I hate Shin-Ra!" she blurted out when she couldn't stand listening to him anymore.

"Don't you ever say that about him!" Cloud struck Tifa hard across the face, then instantly apologized. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Tifa! I just can't stand lies about him. You shouldn't hate him! Like I said, it's all Shin-Ra's fault. Sephiroth's the greatest! I couldn't have saved you without him." Cloud paused as his eyes once again shone with absolute adoration of the man. "And…" Cloud let out a laugh that was almost a giggle. "He's even going to let us have a family together. We can start as soon as you're healed if you want." Cloud gently put his hand on her stomach. "You still want kids, don't you?"

Tifa closed her eyes. "I need to rest now please." She had to stop Cloud from talking, she was going to lose it otherwise.

"Of course, you do need to get better so we can all be happy." Cloud kissed her cheek and left.

It took Tifa nearly a month to recover enough to take care of herself. In the meantime, she was forced to endure the constant assault on her sanity by Cloud's nonstop chatter about the evils of Shin-Ra and the greatness of Sephiroth while he took care of her. And occasionally she was forced to witness Cloud and Sephiroth's sick passion for each other. The only thing that got her through it was a deep desire to rescue Cloud. He was obviously just under Sephiroth's spell. If she could get rid of him, Cloud would be fine.

"I'll join you." Tifa said one morning just after they had all finished breakfast. She was hoping that Shin-Ra and Sephiroth would destroy each other and she could help Cloud recover himself.

A huge smile broke out on Cloud's face. "I'd knew you see the light!" He hugged her. "Now all you have to do is pay homage to him."

"Homage?" Tifa questioned as Sephiroth came and stood in front of her. "What do you mean?"

"Show him that you acknowledge him as your leader." Cloud explained as Sephiroth opened his fly.

"What?!" Tifa couldn't believe them. "I'm not…" she stopped when Cloud forced her to her knees.

"You're going to be special. I get to be on his right hand, and you get to be on his left hand. But you have to accept him into you first." He held her head straight as Sephiroth opened her mouth and forced himself inside it. Then Cloud started stroking her hair and telling her how he glad he was for her, and how wonderful things were going to be now. Tifa felt this had to be a nightmare, and submitted only because she thought this was a nightmare and she was sure she would wake up soon. Even so, it was hard to try and please Sephiroth when she wanted to just bite him clean through to pay him back for what he did to Cloud. When he came in her mouth, she hadn't expected so much, and felt so filthy as he dripped out of the corners of her mouth and soiled her shirt. Tifa didn't even realize she had been crying until Cloud started cleaning her up, telling her that she was definitely special now, having Sephiroth inside her. Hurrying back to her bedroom, she curled up into a ball, sobbing and shuddering as she prayed to wake up.