Final Fantasy 7
By Tayla Drago
(They arrive at the city of Kalm. It is a charming, idyllic town with a Dutch appearance.)
Tifa: So this is Kalm?
Yakumo: A nice place. No danger here.
Aerith: We should rest at the nearby hotel.
Yakumo: Good idea.
(Aerith and Yakumo enter the inn together first.)
Tifa: Let's go Cloud.
(Tifa, Red, Barret, and Cloud enter the inn last to getting a room up stairs.)
Barret: Nice place.
Red: Could get to the new areas we go to.
Aerith: Guess everyone's here now.
Barret: So let's hear your story...You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the planet. Let's hear it all.
Yakumo: Cloud, please. We wish to know about on whahappo you and Tifa. Who is Sephiroth?
(Cloud looks at his feet.. then looks at Barret. Everyone goes silent all over the room.)
Cloud: ...I used to want to be like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER. After working with Sephiroth on several missions, we became friends.
Barret: You call that a friend?
Cloud: Yeah, well...He's older than me, and he hardly ever talked about himself.
Tifa: ...
Cloud: So I guess you'd call him a war buddy... We trusted each other. Until one day...
Aerith: ...one day?"
(Cloud turns away from the others.)
Yakumo: Cloud?
Cloud: After the war it was SOLDIER's duty to put down any resistance against the Shinra...that was 5 years ago. I was 16...
(Yakumo grabs Tifa, for her to hold Aerith's hand, along eith Barret, Red, Cloud, and him to hold Yakumo next. She was going to use her powers for everyone to listen in and see the past for her to do, by closing their eyes and remaining calm is how it works.)
Yakumo: Everyone, gather around and close y eyes. Now stay calm to hear and listen in Cloud's past. We'll see it together. This is how it'll work
(So they do it seeing that Aerith had no problem and Cloud didn't mind.)
Cloud: That's fine.
Aerith: I'm ready.
Tifa: Me too.
Barret: Let's hear it out.
Red: I'm also ready.
Yakumo: Go ahead, Cloud.
Cloud: Thanks, Yakumo. Anyways, this is what happened...
(The scene changes. We are now in a military truck, on a bumpy ride along an old, almost-forgotten road. The windshield wipers do little to defend against the pounding rain. Boxes and crates are strewn about. Cloud stands near the back of the truck. Two Shinra soldiers sit on crates. Sephiroth sits on another.)
Cloud: It sure is raining hard.
(He walks over to one of the guards. He isn't looking well.)
Cloud: Hey, how are you doing?
(The soldier makes a dismissive gesture, then sinks down lower.)
"I'm all right."
Cloud: I wouldn't know...I've never had motion sickness.
(He walks to the other guard.)
Cloud: Everything okay?
(He walks to the middle of the truck. Sephiroth looks up.)
Sephiroth: Hey.
(Cloud turns.)
Sephiroth: Settle down.
(Cloud starts doing his squat thrusts.)
Cloud: They gave me new Materia. I can't wait to use it.
Sephiroth: ...just like a kid.
(Cloud stops.)
Cloud: You going to brief us about this mission?
Sephiroth: ...this isn't a typical mission.
Cloud: Good!
Sephiroth: Why do you say that?
(Cloud walks to the back of the truck and looks out.)
Cloud: I joined SOLDIER so I could be like you. But by the time I made First Class, the war was already over. My big hopes of becoming a hero like you ended with the war. That's why I always sign up whenever there's a big mission. Kind of a way to prove myself.
(He turns.)
Cloud: Say, how do you feel, MISTER Sephiroth?
Sephiroth: ...I thought you wanted a briefing?
(Cloud smooths his hair and walks to Sephiroth.)
Sephiroth: Our mission is to investigate an old Mako reactor. There have been reports of it malfunctioning, and producing brutal creatures. First, we will dispose of those creatures, Then, we'll locate the problem and neutralize it.
(Cloud taps his foot.)
Cloud: Brutal creatures... Where?
Sephiroth: The Mako Reactor at Nibelheim.
Cloud: Nibelheim...That's where I'm from.
(Sephiroth nods.)
Sephiroth: Hmm... hometown...
(A loud crash rattles the whole truck. The driver turns to the back.)
"Sir...s, something strange just crashed into our truck!"
(Sephiroth stands.)
Sephiroth: That would be our Monster...
(Fighting in which Sephiroth and Cloud fight a massive dragon. We see that Sephiroth has 30 times Cloud's HP, and can do about 300 times the damage. Sephiroth never loses any HP to the dragon's attacks. The scene changes, back to the inn at Kalm.)
Cloud: Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him.
Yakumo: No wonder why you wanted to be like that man from his powers in fighting.
Aerith: So... Where do you come in?
Cloud: Me? I was mesmerized by the way Sephiroth fought.
Tifa: ...
Cloud: ...and then we reached Nibelheim.
(They see the next part within Cloud's thoughts. We are now at the front gate of Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown. Sephiroth approaches the gate, then stops and turns.)
Sephiroth: How does it feel?
(He looks around.)
Sephiroth: It's your first time back to your hometown in a long time, right? So how does it feel? I wouldn't know because I don't have a hometown...
Cloud: Umm... how 'bout your parents?
Sephiroth: My mother is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me. My father...
(He laughs.)
Sephiroth: What does it matter...? I know I have a close friend who was like a sister to me with a great husband and loving daughter, sort like friend/family to me was all I needed to get through. I'm not as emotional as I look. All right, let's go.
(He walks into Nibelheim. Cloud and the two guards follow.)
Guards: Psst... (You keep wandering around here and you'll get into trouble.)
"It's so boring, being on watch."
Cloud: Just sit tight, it's your job, right?
Cloud: I'll come and talk to you once in a while. Just stick with it.
(He speaks with Sephiroth.)
Sephiroth: The Mako smell is pretty bad here.
(Cloud continues into Nibleheim. Then everything goes black and Barret speaks up.)
Barret: Yo wait a minute!
Yakumo: What is it, Barret?
(Nibelheim fades back in. Sephiroth and the guards are gone. Cloud turns.)
Barret: Isn't that, um...? The name of Sephiroth's mother...
(Goes back to the present time for Yakumo knew what Barret was talking about.)
Yakumo: That's right! His mother's name is the same on what we saw from the Shinra building!
Barret: I know, right!? I remember Jenova. That's that damn headless spook livin' in the Shinra building.
Cloud: That's right.
Tifa: Barret, would you please let us hear what Cloud has to say? You can ask questions later.
Barret: Tifa, I was only...
Tifa: Okay Cloud, continue.
Aerith: It's a reunion of childhood pals!
Yakumo: Tell us what happen next, Cloud.
Cloud: ...I was really surprised with Tifa.
(Goes to black again to showing the past.)
Cloud: ...The town was quiet. Everyone must be staying in their houses, afraid to come out because of the monsters. No, maybe they're afraid of us...
(Showing Nibelheim. We are at a courtyard, just inside the gate.)
Sephiroth: We leave for the reactor at dawn. Make sure you get to sleep early.
(He opens the door of the inn, stops, and turns around)
Sephiroth: All that we need is one lookout, so you others, get some rest.
(A guard runs forward. Sephiroth turns.)
Sephiroth: Oh, that's right...You may visit your family and friends.
(Sephiroth enters the inn. Cloud enters a house first.)
Cloud: This is... my house. It has nothing to do with that incident five years ago.
(It fades t black.)
Yakumo: You mean where you were born in?
Barret: Yo wait, I wanna hear.
Aerith: Me too! It's been a long time, right?
Barret: Tell us more! You saw your family, right?
Cloud: All right...I don't know if you could call it a 'family'...My father... died when I was still very young. That's why my mom... was living alone in this house. Yeah, I saw my mom. My mom... she was a vibrant woman. Hadn't changed at all. But a few days later, she died...But when I saw her, she looked fine.
(Goes back to Cloud's house. Cloud takes a few more steps inside. We see his mother, working in the kitchen. She turns.)
Cloud: Uh...?
(She comes forward.)
"Ye-s?"
(She runs to him.)
"Cloud!?"
(She nods.)
"Welcome home, Cloud!"
Cloud: Hi, mom.
(Everything then goes all white... Cloud is standing on the few steps leading up to a small sitting-area. His mother is by him.)
"Come, come... Let me take a look at you!"
(She looks at him from the side.)
"Hmmm..."
(She looks at him from the back.)
"You look so handsome."
(She walks to the front again.)
"So is this a SOLDIER uniform?"
Cloud: ...Mom, I...
(Cloud is lying on the bed by the kitchen, it's a one-room house.)
"My, how you've grown. I bet the girls never leave you alone."
Cloud: ...Not really.
"...I'm worried about you."
(She paces a little.)
"There are a lot of temptations in the city...I'd feel a lot better if you just settled down and had a nice girlfriend."
Cloud: ...I'm all right.
"You should have...an older girlfriend, one that'll take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you."
Cloud: ...I'm not interested.
(Cloud and his mother are standing in the kitchen.)
"Are you eating right?"
(He nods.)
Cloud: I'm all right. The Company takes care of me.
"Is that so? You can't cook, right? I was worried sick about how you were doing..."
(Cloud's mother turns to face him from the stove.)
"Cloud...?"
(The screen flashes white.)
"You know, Cloud..."
(Flash.)
"...isn't that right, Cloud?"
(Flash.)
"I will always be your mother..."
(The screen fades to black.)
Cloud: ...Let's stop this...
Yakumo: We understand.
(Back to the story...Cloud goes into one of the sto to see someone who knew his friend Tifa.)
Zangan: So...You must be Cloud Strife. Finally see you in person.
Cloud: And who are you?
Zangan: I'm Zangan. I travel around the world teaching children martial arts.
(He jumps over Cloud.)
Zangan: I have 128 students all over the world! In this town, a girl named Tifa is my student.
Cloud: Did you say Tifa?
Zangan: Tifa has good sense. She'll be a powerful fighter.
(Cloud goes to the second floor of the inn. Sephiroth stands on the landing, looking out the window.)
Cloud: What are you looking at?
(A guard comes upstairs and goes into the bedroom.)
Sephiroth: ...This scenery...I feel like I know this place...We have an early start tomorrow. You should get some sleep soon.
Cloud: Yeah, let's get some sleep
Sephiroth: I've hired a guide to the Mako reactor. I've heard she's young. I hope we can rely on her...
(They go to sleep. The next morning. The group is outside, near the Shinra Mansion. Cloud speaks to Sephiroth.)
Sephiroth: Once the guide gets here, we're heading out.
(Tifa enters, wearing a kawaii cowboy hat. Tifa's father steps forward.)
Tifa's father: Listen to me, Sephiroth. In case something happens...
Sephiroth: ...Trust me.
Tifa: I'll be all right, Dad! I have two men from SOLDIER with me.
(She turns to Sephiroth.)
Tifa: I'm Tifa. Nice to meet you!
Cloud: Tifa! You're the guide?
(He runs forward.)
Tifa: That's right. I just happen to be the number one guide in this town.
Cloud: It's too dangerous! I can't involve you in something like this!
(Sephiroth takes a step toward the town exit, then turns to Cloud.)
Sephiroth: Then there's no problem if you respect her...Let's go."
(He walks to the exit. The photographer from before steps forward.)
"Ummm..."
(Sephiroth turns.)
"Mr. Sephiroth! Please let me take one picture for a memento! Tifa, can you ask him for me too...?"
(Cloud stands by the wall of the Shinra Mansion. Tifa stands next to him. Sephiroth, slowly, comes over and stands by Tifa.)
"Cheeeeese!"
(The photographer takes the picture. Sephiroth immediately walks toward the exit again.)
"Great, thank you! I'll give each of you a copy once I get it developed!"
(Showing of a flyby of the dark, foreboding Nibel Mountains. There was a Mako Reactor built in Mt. Nibel. The cold air of the mountains of Nibel. It was no different... We see the party walking along a mountain path, then Cloud at a ricketyrope bridge. He begins walking across and meets Tifa standing in the middle. She continues a bit. The two guards catch up.)
Tifa: It gets harder from here! Followme!
(She runs the rest of the way across. Cloud follows. He meets Tifa and Sephiroth near the opposite side, just then everything starts to shake...)
Tifa: Uh... the bridge!
(The bridge breaks in the middle of the collapsing bridge. Cloud grabs Tifa's hand, holding her up, then Cloud falls, then everyone. As it was showing the broken, empty bridge as it swings, colliding with the side of the canyon. The scene changes again. We see the party, sans one guard, land at the foot of the canyon...)
Sephiroth: Everyone seems to be all right. Can we get back to where we were?
Tifa: These caves are intertwined, just like an ant farm...Oh, and Sephiroth... There seems to be one person missing...
Sephiroth: It may sound cold, but we've got no time to search for him. We can't go back now, so we must go on. We'll travel together from here.
(Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, and the one remaining guard travel along the path,reaching a cave, dimly lit but with brightly colored, sparkling walls.)
Cloud: What's this?
Tifa: A mysteriously colored cave...
Sephiroth: It must be the Mako energy. This mountain is especially abundant in it. That's why the Mako Reactor was built here.
(They continue through the cave, reaching a beautiful, glittering fountain.)
Cloud: ...And what's this?
Sephiroth: A Mako fountain. It's a miracle of nature.
Tifa: It's so beautiful...
(She walks to the fountain. Looks like they were alone, for what appears to be a body of a woman was watching over them from above, but what was it? Or who was she?)
Tifa: If the Mako Reactor countinues to suck up the energy, this fountain will dry up too...
(Sephiroth comes to the fountain.)
Sephiroth: Materia. When you condense Mako energy, materia is produced. It's very rare to be able to see materia in its natural state.
(Cloud walks to the fountain.)
Cloud: By the way... Why is it that when you use materia you can also use magic too?
Sephiroth: You were in SOLDIER and didn't even know that?...the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic... or so they say From elements to ESP abilities.
Cloud: Magic... a mysterious power.
(Tifa looks around, then bends down.)
Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha!
Cloud: Did I say somethin' funny?
Sephiroth: A man once told me never to use an unscientific term such as mysterious power! It shouldn't even be called magic! I still remember how angry he was.
Cloud: Who was that?
Sephiroth: Hojo of Shinra, Inc. ... An inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes.
(Tifa looks up.)
Tifa: A Mako fountain... So this is where the knowledge of the Ancients is.
(From the living being following the quietly, they continue their journey at the Mako Reactor in Mt. Nibel. The group approaches the stairs up to the entrance.)
Tifa: We finally made it. We sure took the long way though.
Cloud: Tifa, you wait here.
Tifa: I'm going inside too! I wanna see!
(Sephiroth climbs halfway up the stairs, then looks over his shoulder at Tifa.)
Sephiroth: Only authorized people are allowed in. This place is full of Shinra's industrial secrets.
Tifa: But!
(Sephiroth turns to the guard.)
Sephiroth: Take care of the lady.
(Cloud and Sephiroth climb up the stairs and enter the reactor. The guard blocks Tifa's path in.)
Tifa: Mm, man!
(She turns away and angrily plants her hands on her hips.)
Tifa: Better take real good care of me then!
(Once inside the place for Sephiroth to lead, Cloud follows him from behind. He sees the woman c'overing herself in a long hood clothing' having her foot caught in a drain pipe hole and can't get out to hurting herself. Fell inside to getting in the buulding first. So Cloud aiding her to be pulled out gently and bandaged up for her to walk around again, though Cloud didn't see her face or she didn't speak, she looks at him to suprised that someone cared.)
Cloud: You alright?
(The strange woman stood quietly.)
Cloud: You'll be fine. Suppose I was lucky to get you out of there for you foot. Better leave this place. Too dangerous.
(With that she was about to reach her hand to Cloud.)
Cloud: No need to thank me, I just had to.
(So she takes off from walking away, from Cloud turning around for a few seconds to see her gone really fast, he then catches up with Sephiroth.)
Cloud: (She was mysterious. What was a girl like her doing in a place like this?)
(She continues to watch over them from above this time. We see Cloud following Sephiroth into the Mako reactor. Look at the picture... look familiar? Cloud follows him through a door. The next room is bathed in red light. There are many metal pods in rows, each with a clear glass portal to look into. Sephiroth is standing at the top of the stairs leading though the middle of the rows. There is a door by him. Above the door is a plate with one word engraved on it- Jenova...)
Cloud: This is... Jenova, right? The lock won't open...
(Cloud follows him partway back down the stairs, then stops. Sephiroth examines one of the pods.)
Sephiroth: This is the reason for the malfunction. This part is broken. Cloud, close the valve.
(He walks to another pod. Cloud closes the valve on the first pod, then walks to Sephiroth.)
Sephiroth: Why did it break...?
(He jumps up and peers into the view port of the pod. He speaks to himself.)
Sephiroth: ...now I see, Hojo. But, even doing this, will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast.
(To Cloud.)
Sephiroth: This is a system that condenses and freezes the Mako energy... that is, when it's working correctly. Now, what does Mako energy become when it's further condensed?
Cloud: Uh, umm... Oh yeah! It becomes a Materia.
Sephiroth: Right, normally. But Hojo put something else in there. ...Take a look. Look through the window.
(Cloud hops up, peers into the pod and sees... a hideous, unnatural monster. He lets go of his handhold below the portal and lands sitting on the floor.)
Cloud: Wh... what is this!?
Sephiroth: Normal members of SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with Mako. You're different from the others, but still human. But what are they? They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you.
(Cloud gets to his feet.)
Cloud: ...Is this some kind of monster?
Sephiroth: Exactly. And it's Hojo if Shinra that produced these monsters. Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are.
Cloud: Normal members of SOLDIER? You mean you're different?
(Sephiroth clutches his head, trembling.)
Cloud: H... hey, Sephiroth!
(He puts out his hand.)
Sephiroth: N... no...
(Sephiroth stops trembling.)
Sephiroth: ...Was I?
(He draws his sword and begins furiously attacking the pods. Cloud jumps away.)
Sephiroth: ...Was I created this way too?
(He slashes at the first pod.)
Sephiroth: Am I the same as all these monsters...
(Cloud interrupts.)
Cloud: ...Sephiroth.
(Sephiroth just continues attacking the pod with his sword...then after a long moment, he stops, his shoulders heaving.)
Sephiroth: You saw it! All of them... were humans...
Cloud: Human!? No way!
(Sephiroth stops and turns towards Cloud, his sword still drawn.)
Sephiroth: ...I've always felt since I was small...That I was different from the others. Special, in some way. But... not like this...
(The girl comes back to warn Cloud of the danger that was coming.)
Cloud: It's her!
Sephiroth: Who!?
(He looks down, shaking his head. Suddenly, there is a loud noise and he jerks his head up. One of the pods explodes with a hiss of steam. The front half falls forward, revealing another monster, like the one Cloud saw. It lies there on the overturned dome of metal, not fully formed, twitching... repulsive. The woman in hooded clothing goes over using her strange looking arm to do something to the monster of some kind. The everything goes black after that.)
Cloud: Am I... human? I didn't quite understand what Sephiroth was saying at that time. I was even more surprised by that fact that Shinra was producing monsters. And another, who I didn't know that I saved, came back to saving Sephiroth and me...
(Goes back to the inn at Kalm. Yakumo felt more pain within Cloud and Tifa the more she was feeling this out and hearing the entire story.)
Yakumo: My God...How sad, even for another being a girl.
Barret: Damn, Shinra! the more I hear, the more I hate 'em!
Tifa: ...who would have ever thought the Mako Reactor held a secret like that.
Red XIII: That would seem to explain the increase in the number of monsters recently. I think we should listen carefully to Cloud. Don't you think so, Barret?
Barret: Why you talkin' to me!?
Yakumo: Ah, Cloud? Should we listen to the rest? You can stop it you want to.
(Cloud place his hand on Yakumo to cheer her up more than she was to him.)
Cloud: It's fine. Let keeps going.
Yakumo: Okay then.
(So the story continues on...)
Aerith: Tifa... You were waiting outside then?
Tifa: ...Yes.
Cloud: We returned to Nibelheim. Sephiroth confined himself at the inn. He didn't even try to talk to me.
Yakumo: What about the Mako who was once SOLIDER girl that saved yo two?
Cloud: ...Who knows...At first. She put one of the that came out of the pod out of it's misery and took off. We just headed back without saying anything. Not a word about it. Not even for him. But I knew we haven't seen the last of her.
Yakumo: Oh.
Tifa: Then all of a sudden he just disappeared, right?
Cloud: We found him inside the biggest building in Nibelheim.
Tifa: The villagers used to call it Shinra mansion.
Cloud: Long ago, people from Shinra used to live in that mansion...
(Going back about the past in Nibelheim. Cloud runs out of the inn with a guard, then runs to Shinra mansion. He passes through a group of people milling outside the gate, then enters. He climbs to a bedroom on the top floor. A guard is waiting at the door.)
"There's no sign of Sephiroth, but I know I saw him go into this room..."
(Cloud enters the bedroom. He passes through a secret door in the fireplace, down a long spiral staircase, and through a dark cave. He reaches a secret library, where Sephiroth paces back and forth, absorbed in a book.)
Sephiroth: ...an organism that was apparently dead, was found in a 2000 year old geological stratum. Professor Gast named that organism, Jenova...
(Pans up to a good view.)
Sephiroth: X Year, X Month, X Day. Jenova confirmed to be an Ancient...X Year, X Month, X Day. Jenova Project approved. The use of Mako Reactor 1 approved for use...
(Sephiroth walks down a narrow hallway lined with books. He stops and looks upwards.)
Sephiroth: My mother's name is Jenova... Jenova Project... Is this just a coincidence?
(He looks downward.)
Sephiroth: Professor Gast... Why didn't you tell me anything? ...Why did you die?
(Cloud leaves. Goes to the book-lined hallway. As Cloud speaks, we see a series of images of Sephiroth, reading. With each successive image, the bookshelves become emptier, and the stacks of books on the floor grow higher.)
Cloud: Sephiroth didn't come out of the Shinra Mansion... He continued to read as if he were possessed by something, and not once, did the light in the basement go out...
(Cloud is lying on a bed on the first floor of the Shinra Mansion. He awakens, and goes down to the library, passing the guard in the bedroom.)
"Sephiroth seems different."
(He continues down the stairs to the library. When he arrives, Sephiroth laughs from off screen.)
Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha...
(Cloud runs down the hallway of books, to the inner reading room.)
Sephiroth: Who is it!?
(Sephiroth is seated at a large desk, surrounded by books. The shelves that line the walls are in several places bare of books, and a couple of the shelves have fallen down.)
Sephiroth: Hmph... traitor.
Cloud: Traitor?
Sephiroth: You ignorant traitor. I'll tell you. You saw it didn't you?
Cloud: Saw what?
Sephiroth: One of those things...But it was a she. She was different than the rest in those pods.
(He faces the wall.)
Sephiroth: Want to know that thing you saved was important than those other weaklings?This Planet originally belonged to the Cetra. Cetra was a itinerant race. They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on...At the end of their harsh, hard journey, they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness. She's a key that I must have.
(He turns to Cloud, he remember saving a strange woman, he didn't think it was a SOLIDER becoming a type like the rest at the building.)
Cloud: (That was one of them?)
Sephiroth: But, those that disliked the journey appeared. Those who stopped their migrations built shelters and elected to lead an easier life. They took that which the Cetra and the planet had made without giving one whit in return!
(He looks down.)
Sephiroth: Those are your ancestors. Why didn't I notice that fine looking creature sooner!?
Cloud: Sephiroth...
Sephiroth: Long ago, disaster struck this planet.
(He looks up and walks to another spot, facing the wall.)
Sephiroth: Your ancestors escaped... They survived because they hid. The Planet was saved by sacrificing the Cetra. After that, your ancestors continued to increase.
(He looks at Cloud.)
Sephiroth: Now all that's left of the Cetra is in these reports.
Cloud: What does that have to do with you?
Sephiroth: Don't you get it?
(He stands next to Cloud, not facing him, but facing down the hallway.)
Sephiroth: An Ancient named Jenova was found in the geological stratum of 2000 years ago The Jenova Project. That thing we saw, is her half breed daughter, the last survivor on this day today.
(He holds his face.)
Sephiroth: The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the Ancients... no, the Cetra.
(He looks up and straightens.)
Sephiroth: ...I am the one that was produced like she was.
(Cloud turns to face him. Sephiroth does not turn.)
Cloud: Pr... produced!?
Sephiroth: Yes. Professor Gast, leader of the Jenova Project and genius scientist, produced me and the other we saw.
(Sephiroth walks down the hallway, then stops and stands motionless at the end.)
Cloud: How... how did he...?
(He runs after Sephiroth, then stops.)
Cloud: Se... Sephiroth?
Sephiroth: Out of my way. I'm going to see my mother and her daughter.
(He walks, determinedly, out of the library. Cloud follows, out of the mansion. Cloud exits the Shinra Mansion. The entire village is consumed in fire; flames and smoke reaching high into the sky. He runs to the courtyard. Zangan is tending to an injured person lying on the ground. Also for some girl to see her parents lying dead on the ground was Sephiroth's doing to the other villagers too, who was she? Sad, crying, and feeling all alone from the horrors that happened in seconds, for she goes after him which wasn't a very good idea to do.)
Zangan: Hey it's you! You're still sane, right? Then come over here and help me!
(Cloud runs to Zangan, leaping over a piece of flaming debris.)
Zangan: I'll check this house. You check that one over there!
(He runs into the house next to the Inn. Cloud speaks to the person on the ground. It's the photographer from before.)
"Hey, Ummm... Am I going to die?"
(A guard is lying on the ground near Tifa's house.)
"Sephi... roth..."
(Cloud runs into the house next to Tifa's, his mother's house, then runs out. He shakes his head sadly, then walks to the center of the courtyard. Everything goes into black.)
Cloud: Terrible...Sephiroth... This is too terrible...
(Then shows where we can see both the courtyard and the Shinra Mansion. Near the steps leading down to the courtyard stands Sephiroth. Two townspeople rush toward him in an attempt to subdue him. He cuts them down with his sword. Sephiroth stands in the midst of the flames, an empty expression on his face, then walks away, through the fire, unharmed. A flyby of the Nibel Mountains, past the Mako Reactor. Cloud arrives to see the village girl injured to being stabbed to death and bleeding out badly for him to stop the bleeding in time. Lies her somewhere safe and away from the building to going in. It was no doubt Sephiroth's doing. Cloud dashes into the reactor and climbs down to the entrance to the pod room. Tifa is kneeling in front of the door. A long, thin, sword is on the floor nearby. A man lies before her, dead. Cloud sees the female creature being a half human and Jenvoa being before his eyes.)
Cloud: You are real...
(She points out to Tifa lying next to her dead father, Sephiroth got to him too, but unlike the girl hanging by a threat thanks to Cloud, he didn't make it.)
Tifa: Papa...
(She leans down to him.)
Tifa: Sephiroth!?
(She straightens.)
Tifa: Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?
(She slumps forward.)
Tifa: Sephiroth... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... Shinra... Everything!
(She sits up; then, in fury-)
Tifa: I hate them all!
(She stands, picks up the sword, then runs into the pod room. Cloud and the she-creature follow her. Sephiroth stands before the thick steel door at the top of the stairs in the pod room. He places his hands on the door.)
Sephiroth: At last, you came back. Mother, I'm here to see you. Please, open this door. She has returned as promise. See?
(Panning downwards. We see Tifa, wielding Sephiroth's sword and assuming a fighting stance, at the bottom of the stairs.)
Tifa: How could you do that to papa and all the townspeople?
(She runs up the stairs in a blind fury. She tries to attack Sephiroth, who wrestles the blade away from her with ease. He cuts Tifa down. The sound of his blade echoes as we see Tifa, in slow motion, fly backwards and land, crumpled, at the bottom of the stairs. Cloud runs into the room and stops, in shock. Sephiroth, carrying his sword, turns calmly and walks into Jenova's room. Cloud and the she-creature run to Tifa and kneels by her.)
Cloud: Tifa!
Tifa: ...You promised... You promised that you'd come... when I was in trouble...
(Cloud picks up her up, gently, then carefully, tenderly, leans her against one of the pods. He rushes up the stairs, after Sephiroth with her joining him. Jenova's room. We see Jenova, a bizarre female being hidden beneath oddly angelic armor, connected to a mass of machines and electrical equipment. It shows Sephiroth, standing facing his mother with his arms raised.)
Sephiroth: Mother, let's take this planet back together. I've thought of a great idea. Let's go to the Promised Land. We'll take your daughter with us!
(Cloud and the creature enter the room, coming up behind Sephiroth.)
Cloud: Sephiroth...My family! My hometown! How could you do this to them!? For this thing!? At least she has feelings unlike you and the others!
(Sephiroth, slowly, looks down and lowers his arms. His shoulders start bouncing.)
Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha... They've come again, mother.
(He stops laughing.)
Sephiroth: With her superior power, knowledge, and magic, Mother was destined to become the ruler of this Planet."
(Sephiroth speaks to Jenova...)
Sephiroth: But they...Those worthless creatures are stealing the planet from Mother. But now I'm here with you, so don't worry.
(Then tears the upper half of her armor off, snapping wires and intricate machinery. We see what was inside the armor. Jenova's true form. A fragile, alien woman, skin blue as if she was frozen for many years. The other she-creature almost reacts to her powers to refuse to be one with Jenova again.)
(Cloud brandishes his sword for the she-creature joins him.)
Cloud: What about MY sadness!? My family... friends... The sadness of having my hometown taken away from me!? It's the same as your sadness!
(Sephiroth stands by Jenova, his arms raised, holding his sword high.)
Sephiroth: Ha, ha, ha... my sadness? What do I have to be sad about? I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the leader of this Planet. I have orders to take this planet back from you stupid people for the Cetra. What am I supposed to be sad about? Now hand her over to me.
(Cloud turns his face away.)
Cloud: Sephiroth... I trusted you...
(He looks up and raises his sword.)
Cloud: No, you're not the Sephiroth I used to know!
(The fight between Cloud and Sephiroth, slowly at first, then building speed, until the two of them seem to blur into each other, Cloud with his sword raised for battle, Sephiroth, chin on his chest, his sword-grip held close to his face... everything then goes into white after that. Only for one voice of a woman 'being the she-creature gets Tifa and Cloud's body in saving their lives in time after Sephiroth escaped out of nowhere.)
"Young man and woman...You two cannot die this way. This is the least I can do, to live another day. Take my powers..."
(With that and the girl too, like she was being reborn. For she slowly fades away to giving her remaining gifts to saving two lives and giving a gift within someone else a second chance.)
"And you, young lady, I have not much time to live. Jenova and that human must be stopped no matter what. Take care of the two if you see them and use my gifts. Save this world..."
(And that was it, she was gone forever after that. What happened to Cloud facing off against Sephiroth to ended just like that? Who knows? And the girl? Unknown...But Cloud fights for his own to protecting others and Tifa to fight on five years later never to hear Sephiroth after that until now. Those were the only things they could remember from almost the break of death. Yakumo also remember something a little during the time.
Yakumo: (I heard about that event...I was lucky to escaped that village to visit my older sister. My real one. Just me, my Mom, and my Dad. Until that fire happened...So it was him...I'm not sure what happened to my sister, but for my parents...They die from the fire to protecting me and allowing me to escape; though I didn't want to to leaving them behind, but i had no choice to keep on running and being a coward. And for what? Having these powers out of the blue after that? I was lost, cold, alone, and couldn't make it on my own...Aerith and her Mom came to my aid and took me in. I had a new family, and a sister of mine I still had to fine, knowing she was alive somewhere in this world. Maybe...Maybe I should tell Cloud and the others about this, on what I can remember so far.)
(Cloud and the others are in the inn at Kalm back in the present time.)
Cloud: ...and that's the end of my story.
Yakumo: So sad...Lucky for two to still be alive.
Barret: Wait a damn minute! Ain't there more?
Cloud: ...I don't remember.
Yakumo: That was all I could get from Cloud's thoughts.
Aerith: What happened to Sephiroth? And the female creature? The girl?
Cloud: In terms of skill, I couldn't have killed him. I don't know what happen to that...Thing...I know that the girl got out alive. That was good, was the only time I saw her though.
Tifa: Official records state Sephiroth is dead. I read it in the newspaper.
Yakumo: But seeing him killing those people at the Shinra Building, it must be a lie.
Aerith: Shinra, Inc. owns the newspaper, so you can't rely on that information.
Cloud: ...I want to know the truth. I want to know what happened then. I challenged Sephiroth and lived. Why didn't he kill me?
Yakumo: So you don't remember the last few parts.
Cloud: Afraid I don't.
Yakumo: (Oh, Cloud...)
(Yakumo heard, saw, and felt out Cloud and Tifa's pain throughout the entire story that they could remember about just like she was trying to.)
Tifa: ...I'm alive, too.
Yakumo: From Sephiroth striking you with his sword, it would've killed you, Tifa.
Tifa: I know...That's one of the weirdest parts I don't get.
Aerith: Seems like a lot of this doesn't make sense. What about Jenova? It was in the Shinra building, right?
Cloud: Shinra shipped it from Nibelheim to Midgar.
Yakumo: That had to make sense.
Aerith: Did someone else carry it out after that? It was missing from the Shinra building.
Tifa: Sephiroth...?
(A pause.)
Barret: Damn! Don't none of this make sense! I'm going, going, going, gone! And I'm leavin' the thinkin' to you!
(Barret stops by the top of the stairs.)
Barret: Yo, Cloud! Let's get a move on!
Cloud: Right, let's head out soon once we get some rest. We'll leave first thing in the morning.
Barret: Yo, c'mon let's go! Get some sleep to leave afterwards!
(He runs out into the next room.)
Cloud: Oh brother...
Tifa: ...Cloud...?
(She walks forward. Cloud turns to her.)
Tifa: How bad was I when Sephiroth cut me?
Cloud: I thought you were a goner. ...I was really sad.
Tifa: We are friends after all. You must've been worried about me...
Aerith: I...The Ancients... Cetra... Jenova...Yakumo's mysterious past with ESP powers... Sephiroth and myself...
Tifa: We better get some sleep now before Barret waits for us all day tomorrow.
(Everyone leaves to their own rooms except Red XIII, still seated by the window, tail twitching curiously.)
Red XIII: What a fascinating story...Please excuse me.
(Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Red headed in their rooms first. As Cloud and Yakumo had to sleep in the same room together, lucky it was big enough for them with two beds to be seeing in. As The girls are in the other and the guys are as well on their end. Everyone sleeps for Yakumo had to tell Cloud first before telling anyone else about her odd and mysterious past. She just had to.)
Yakumo: Cloud, can we talk?
Cloud: What's on your mind, Yakumo?
(She pauses for a few seconds to say this to Cloud.)
Yakumo: I think...You and Tifa's past...It might've happened to me too. I thought I should tell you about it.
Cloud: !
(What could it be about on what Yakumo said to herself a little while ago? She's about to tell Cloud about it first in the next one.)