Chapter 107: Interrupted

Whatever attack Jenova had gathered all that power into itself for, it unleashed it in a searing burst of white light. Tifa turned her face into Cloud's throat. But, even then, her mind still was in the habit enough that it tapped the materia in front of her and mentally 'flipped' the simple latch that let what it was pour into her and let her 'remember'. The same way she 'remembered' fire or ice or lightning when she cast it. Cloud and Zack hadn't had time to touch the materia. But they'd touched her and their 'tap' to the materia funneled through her just the same.

And what swept through her was…

It was nothing she could understand or even try to. It just… was.

It was white and it shimmered like sunlight on water. No. It was the shimmer of sunlight on water. No. It was sunlight. No. More. It was the sun.

No.

More.

It was distant suns.

More.

It was all the suns in the universe.

More.

The edges of her mind started to crumble away, like a lip of sand undermined by the endless ocean waves. It was… too big. Too much. Too… not her.

And then she felt a hand close around hers even though she'd forgotten she even had hands. It was slender and warm and…

"Aeris…" the old nickname and she felt the smile, like sunshine. Gentle sunshine. And suddenly the endless suns faded and the universe shrunk and she felt grass and green growing things, actually smelled what a clear, blue sky smelled like, felt the rain on her face and the sun too. She sighed and everything, all the wild, dark, empty places that were too huge, seemed to sigh out of her as well. The green and gold and blue life whispered out of her as well but it was all right. Because they belonged outside of her. Not inside…

She blinked her eyes open and at first it was too dark to see anything. For a second, she wondered if she'd gone blind. And then…

Sunshine…

Cloud.

His golden hair was across part of her vision as he held her and beyond that... she saw the familiar neon green of the Lifestream and…

And Jenova.

Jenova curling and curling and curling in onto itself. At first she thought it was another attack and then she realized… it was imploding. Slowly, inexorably, getting sucked into itself and a smaller and smaller ball. From the way the monster twitched and fought and writhed… it looked painful too. In fact – Tifa shut her eyes and turned her face back into Cloud, feeling sick. She knew what Jenova had done, or at least parts of it and yet, still, there was something horrible and sickening about the way it was being compressed into its own body. There was a horrible sucking sound that went on far too long, liquid and rubbery sounding and suddenly –

Everything stopped. Silence fell.

Tifa peeked an eye open but only saw the edge of Cloud's jaw and more of his sunlight and gold hair. Against her other side, she felt Zack stir. After another long minute, he made a noise and Tifa finally worked up the nerve to look at what the Ancient's magic had done to their old enemy.

A single black stone perhaps the size of Cloud's fists, glinted, obsidian and sharply angled, on the broken floor on the other side of the twin swords. Other than that, the room was empty of everything but the three of them.

"We're… done?" Zack's voice betrayed the same caution that was in Tifa's mind and Cloud gave no answer. Hesitant, Zack stood up and stepped over to the fallen stone. He didn't try to pick it up. Instead he looked back at his two companions. His brows came down.

"Cloud?"

"I – " Cloud's voice was rusty and he straightened, pulling Tifa to her feet, though keeping her tucked against his side. Unconsciously, his left hand fisted and a river of black liquid ran down it to pool on the floor. Almost innocently, voice puzzled, Cloud stated: "I thought I'd be dead."

"What?" Zack had picked up the use of Tifa's favorite word, somehow sensing that their blond companion wasn't just talking about losing the fight against Jenova. But – Tifa got it. She got it and was suddenly furious.

"You jerk!" she hit Cloud and she hit him hard enough to push a grunt out of him. "You mean, all this time, you thought that when Jenova died you would too?! And you let us kill it?!"

"Tifa – " his voice was soft and she shook her head.

"No. No, Cloud. It's not okay. Why didn't you – you should have – it's not fair!"

"Wait – what?" Zack's face focused from one to the other. "What?!"

"I'm a dead body, Zack. Not a test tube clone. I finally figured it out – had it explained – showed to me. Jenova reanimated me – with her cells." Cloud made a noise and it was bitter and calm somehow at the same time. "I thought I was a monster. I thought Hojo made me in a tube. I thought I was a clone of someone else. I'm not. I was just a dead body. Sephiroth killed me years ago and Hojo got a hold of my body the way he got a hold of Zack's. Except he stuffed me full of cells taken from Jenova and she reanimated me. Except I was… faulty. And Zack saved me. And I… forgot. Or made myself forget. But I was still alive because her cells were in me. And because I was a failure those cells were killing me." He made the noise again. "All this time, I've been wishing I wasn't a clone of myself. Now I wish I was."

Zack's eyes were worried. And when he opened his mouth it became apparent, he wasn't in the least worried about what Cloud was, clone or Jenova implant or dead body or otherwise.

"So… if she dies… that kills the cells inside you that are keeping you alive?"

"I… thought so," Cloud admitted.

"Wow," Zack leaned down in one smooth motion and scooped up the rock. "So we've got to find a safe place to put this so you'll stay okay, right?"

Cloud made a noise in his throat and it was impossible to tell if it was laughter and tears or a scream. Tifa turned into him and wrapped her arms around his ribs like iron. She heard as well as felt him inhale as he opened his mouth to speak.

Except someone beat him to it.

"I'll take that."

She hadn't heard the voice in months and even then, she'd only heard it once and briefly. And yet, still, Tifa's heart recognized the voice even before her mind did and she shuddered.

Oil and silk.

"Sephiroth," it was Cloud's voice that growled out the name.

She heard the Fusion Sword swing free and found herself suddenly behind Cloud. And beyond him she saw…

The familiar fall of long silver hair. Snake's eyes like jade. Black leather and impossible grace and feline assurance. Those pale eyes focused on Cloud.

"Good to see you again… Puppet."

Cloud made a low noise and his sword swung up into a guard position. The man in black and silver looked past to focus on Zack.

"I'll take my mother now. She and I have… unfinished business to attend to."

"Oh, I'm going with 'hell no' on this one," Zack answered, pulling his own sword free and holding the black stone against his chest with his free hand.

"What?" Sephiroth's smooth voice refused to be insulted. Or stopped. "Not 'over my dead body'?"

"Uh," Zack was at a loss and decided on straight forward. "No."

"Zack, this is mine." Cloud's voice was so calm and sure that for a second neither Zack nor Tifa thought to protest. And then –

"What?" Tifa managed and Zack shook his head.

"No way. We put him down together."

"Zack," Cloud focused on him. "This is a sword fight, not a monster battle. With our swords the size they are, we'll get in each other's way. You need to keep the stone safe. And Tifa."

"I am not going to be her guardian because you got yourself killed," Zack protested and Tifa had to stop herself before she added her own 'yeah!' to it. Cloud's smile was barely there, a crooked twist at the edge of his lip.

"Didn't ask you to. If I die I want you to shove off. I don't want to watch you falling in love with her from the Lifestream."

"Hey – " Zack protested and Cloud ignored him. He didn't take his eyes from Sephiroth.

"Tifa," his voice was the caress, all warmth and safety and love, that only his voice could – had ever made her name. "You defeated Jenova because you were the only one that could. Aerith found the stone because only she could. Sephiroth is mine. Because he's always been mine."

"You had to stab me in the back last time," Sephiroth's voice was amused. Cloud's response was calm.

"You still ended up dead with some pulply alien leading you around on a leash."

For just a second, pale fire flared in Sephiroth's eyes and then he was moving so fast that Tifa couldn't even keep track of him anymore. Cloud moved just as fast.

"Oh shit," Zack grabbed Tifa's arm and dragged her back with him toward the nearest wall as the two combatants crashed together. His eyes were huge. "I didn't know Cloud could move that fast."

"Maybe he couldn't. Maybe he's been waiting." She bit her lip and thought… 'maybe I was wrong and Cloud wasn't saving the last of his energy for Jenova. Maybe he's been waiting for Sephiroth all along.'

Cloud had never mentioned being able to sense Jenova. But he'd been consistently accurate on knowing when Sephiroth was nearby.