Cid, Barret, Coomer, and Bubby were all approaching the Mount Corel reactor where Coomer's passport supposedly was. Before they had all unanimously agreed to appoint Cid as the leader of the party until Cloud recovered. They had also discussed after they had retrieved and destroyed all the passports they would go to Midgar and rescue Gordon from Shinra.

And stop them from entering the world in Gordon's dreams, whatever that may be.

"So Coomer, this world in Gordon's dreams, you said there was a way in through his….eyes as you put it?" asked Barret.

"That's only a theory." replied Coomer,

"Before we left the Gold Saucer for the Temple, I……..saw something from Gordon I really shouldn't have."

"Saw something you shouldn't have? Like what?"

"I….actually it's best if I don't describe it."

"Why not?"

"You don't have enough insight!"

Cid and Barret looked at Coomer confused while Bubby kept walking on, clearly disinterested.

"We'll worry about it later." said Cid,

"The reactor is just ahead."

The reactor itself stood on a platform over a large hole that lead deeper into the planet. As the four approached the two Shinra troopers that were stationed at the entrance noticed them and armed their rifles.

"Halt!" One shouted,

"What is your business here?"

"We're here for the passport!" Bubby shouted, pulling out his Tau Cannon,

"Hand it over and we'll let you live!…….Not!"

The Shinra troopers responded by aiming their rifles at them while Coomer pulled out his M249 SAW, Barret armed his chaingun, and Cid pulled out his spear.

They were all ready to fight when suddenly the ground began to shake.

"What the- the the heck's going on?!" One trooper shouted.

"I don't know but just……what the hell is that!?" The other trooper shouted, pointing down the hold while struggling to maintain his balance.

Everyone looked down and saw a giant wooden figure beginning to emerge from the hole. It wasn't to long before the figure was towering over all of them.

The wooden figure itself looked as if it was made from oak. It had metal balls for hands and had chains hanging off its arms and legs. It's nose looked like a cut off tree branch and it had two green leaves sprouting from its head. It's eyes were glowing red as well.

"What the hell is that thing!?" shouted Cid.

"Well, I believe that's Mokujin from Tekken!" said Coomer,

"Better watch out! Who knows what moveset they'll use on us!"

"Kill that damn thing!" One of the troopers shouted.

The two Shinra troopers aimed their rifles at the wooden dummy and opened fire on it.

Mokujin raised his left hand in the air and brought it crashing down on where the Shinra troopers were. They tried to move out of the way but it was too late. The hand came crashing down on them.

Blood shot out like a ketchup packet being smashed as Mokujin slowly raised his left hand. Leaving a massive bloody imprint where the troopers once were.

"Oh shit!" said Barret.

"Don't focus on that you nitwit!" Bubby shouted, as he aimed his Tau Cannon at the giant wooden dummy.

"Kill this fucking thing first!"

Barret aimed his chaingun at Mokujin as did Coomer with his M249.

"Open fire!" shouted Barret.

They all opened fire, hoping to damage the giant wooden behemoth in the slightest-

And it was destroyed just like that.

"W-What?" asked Barret, clearly dumbfounded at how easy the wooden dummy was to destroy,

"That's it?"

"Well that was a fucking disappoint!" said Bubby.

"We didn't even get to see what moveset they had!" added Coomer,

"I hope it was Dragunov's!"

A small leather booklet came flying from the sky and landed a few feet on the bridge they were standing on.

It had the Black Mesa logo on it.

"What's that?" asked Cid,

"Is that your passport Coomer?"

Coomer went over to where the passport was lying. He crouched down and opened it as it laid on the ground and examined the inside.

"That's correct!" Coomer said as he got up,

"I'll let you do the honors Dr. Bubby."

"Don't mind if I do!" said Bubby, as he charged up his Tau Cannon.

He fired off a charged shot at the passport. In a millisecond the passport disintegrated, leaving a scorch mark in its stead.

"Alright, we got one." said Cid,

"But how will we know if that did anything?"

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Benrey's head roared from above,

"JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT ONE DOESN'T MEAN YOU WIN, I STILL HAVE MORE!"

Cid let out a big sigh. Everyone on board the Highwind found it deeply unsettling that Benrey was watching them as he descended down towards the plant.

"Well, that answers that question." said Barret,

"Now let's get going, Fort Condor is where we'll find the other."

It was the evening. The sun was beginning to set and the residents of Mideel were finishing their daily chores and were heading home for the day.

Tifa had just left the nearby general store with some food and drinks for her and Tommy, along with supplies the clinic needed for Cloud. Tommy had asked for soda but since the store didn't have any soda Tifa had settled on getting Tommy apple juice.

'Hopefully he won't complain.' She thought, as she entered the clinic.

The doctor looked up and greeted her with a nod as she went into the room where Cloud was being tended to.

As she walked in she saw Tommy cleaning out the bedpan that they used when Cloud had to go to the bathroom.

Cloud himself was still in the same state as the last time she left. Unresponsive and unaware of his surroundings.

"Hey Tifa." said Tommy, as he put the bedpan under Cloud's wheelchair.

Tifa silently nodded at Tommy as she laid the bags of stuff she had on an empty table and started to unpack.

"Did they have any soda?" asked Tommy.

Tifa shook her head.

"Figures." Tommy said,

"Any issues getting the supplies we need?"

"Nope." Tifa replied.

"Good." said Tommy,

"Just line them up on another table, I'll sort through it and make sure Cloud gets what he needs for tonight."

What Tifa put on the other table was TPN (Total Parietal Nutrition) that Cloud would get through a feeding tube, along with medicine they would use to ensure Cloud's body stayed in good condition.

"It's all on the table," said Tifa.

"Good." replied Tommy,

"That's all I need you to do today, you can turn in for the night."

"Hang on a second." said Tifa,

"There's nothing else I can do?"

"Nope, I can take the rest from here." Tommy replied,

"He'll need someone to keep an eye on him for the night, and I'm the only one here who has that energy."

"No you don't." said the nurse as she walked in the room,

"You've been tending to him since 5 am, and you only just went to sleep two hours before. If anyone here needs energy it's you."

"She's right Tommy," said Tifa,

"You've been here all day without any breaks. As much as I appreciate the care you've been giving Cloud you need to focus on your own wellbeing too, just turn in for the night and I can-"

"I can't!" said Tommy, as he didn't even look at them as he changed out Cloud's IV tubes,

"I need make sure Mr. Strife is in perfect health when he wakes up!"

"And you can't do that alone." replied Tifa,

"If you continue working like this you'll burn yourself out. Just let me take care of Cloud for the night."

Tommy turned to face her, and she and the nurse could see how red Tommy's eyes were and the water that was running down them, along with the bags he had under them.

"Just go to bed Tommy, I can take it from here."

It took a few moments before Tommy opened his mouth.

"Okay…" He said, although he was in clear disagreement,

"I'll go to bed for a few-"

The door to the clinic swung open and a village resident ran in.

"Help!" She shouted,

"Those creatures are back!"

Tommy immediately ran over to her and pulled out his shotgun.

"Where?" He asked, urgency in his voice.

"Just outside of town!" She replied,

"There were dozens of them!"

Tommy turned his head to Tifa.

"Stay here and watch Cloud, I'll deal with this."

Tommy ran down to the beach with his shotgun in hand as people fled past him. As he got to the beach he saw dozens of Xen aliens terrorizing and killing groups of villagers.

Without speaking, he cocked his shotgun and charged in.

A group of Vortigaunts noticed him and began charging up their lighting. They fired but Tommy was able to dodge out of the way and shot the Vortigaunt closest to him. Its chest blew open as Tommy quickly cocked the SPAS-12 and slided, firing it off and killing another Vortigaunt. One charged in and tried to grab Tommy. Tommy got his shotgun up just as the Vortigaunt went to grab him.

They struggled with the Vortigaunt trying to rip Tommy's shotgun away from him, another took the opportunity to try and swipe at him.

Tommy quickly let go of the shotgun, fell back first to the ground and pulled out his MP5. He shot the Vortigaunt charging at him, which fell lifeless to the ground. Before the Vortigaunt holding his shotgun could react Tommy unloaded the rest of his magazine onto him.

Tommy then got up and picked up his shotgun from the now lifeless Vortigaunt.

He cocked it and turned his attention to the Bullsquid that was eating a now dead villager. Reloading his MP5, he opened fire onto the Bullsquid.

The Bullsquid jumped in surprise and turned its attention to Tommy. It fired off an acid ball toward Tommy but Tommy rolled sideways out of the way and continued to shoot the Bullsquid.

The Bullsquid then decided to charge at Tommy. Tommy, thinking quickly pulled out his SPAS-12 and when the Bullsquid was within range, he unloaded a double shot onto the Bullsquid which blew its head in half. The squid-like creature slid down to the ground, dead.

Tommy then turned his attention to the group of Houndeyes and Alien Grunts which were charging in his direction. He aimed his shotgun at the Houndeye that was closest to and squeezed the trigger and click.

Tommy gasped as he realized he had just run out of shells and hastily went to load more. The Houndeye was then in front of Tommy and was charging up its attack as Tommy was still loading in shells.

That's when a slender figure, faster than the eye could see, dashed in and kicked the Houndeye with such force it went flying right into the water.

"Tifa!?" Tommy said, as he finished loading his SPAS-12 and cocked it,

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay with Cloud!"

"I'm sorry Tommy, but I can't let you do this alone. I need to protect this village too!" She said,

"And don't worry about Cloud, the Doctor sealed up the clinic before I left."

Tommy shook his head in disagreement and charged in at the group of aliens with Tifa at his side.

"Focus on the Peeper Puppies! I'll handle the Grunts!" said Tommy, as he began firing onto an Alien Grunt.

Tifa, assuming he was talking about the small green aliens that had three legs and hundreds of eyeballs in its mouth. Went in and began punching and kicking the Houndeyes. Several of them went flying from the strength of Tifa's attacks.

She grabbed one and flung it at another Houndeye, both of which went flying and left a huge skid mark in the sand. She noticed that their were only two left so she used the Blizzarda Materia she had on her and cast it on the two Houndeyes, killing them instantly.

She looked over and saw Tommy had killed two Alien Grunts and was fighting two others.

She quickly dashed in which one of them noticed. The Grunt fired off bees from its arm gun, Tifa was able to dodge some of them but one was able to get her on the arm, leaving a cut.

She winced in pain as she continued to dash in, soon coming face to face with the Grunt.

She gave it a devastating uppercut which sent it flying high into the air. Tifa, wasting no time, jumped into the air slightly above and delivered a powerful downward kick onto it. The Grunt went flying downwards and shot straight down into the ground.

As she landed she looked over to see Tommy fire off his SPAS-12 into the Grunt's head. Brain matter flew from it as the Grunt fell to the ground lifeless.

They surveyed the area and saw all the aliens that had appeared to attack Mideel were dead. They eased up as Tommy stashed his shotgun into his lab coat.

"That should be all of them." said Tifa,

"Let's head back to the clinic."

Tommy didn't respond, but instead let out a big sigh.

"Why?" said Tommy, which caused Tifa to look at him,

"Why did you come here? I told you to stay with Cloud."

"And I told you I couldn't let you do this alone." Tifa replied.

"I'm more than capable of handling situations like this on my own. What if something happened to Cloud while you were gone? We need him to-"

"Do you think I wanted to leave Cloud!?" Tifa shouted,

"I want to stay by his side at all times! But I can't just sit idly by while the village is under attack. And- and-"

"And what?"

"I- I need you." She said.

A long moment of silence passed as Tifa tried to find the right words to break it.

"Need me for what?" asked Tommy.

"I….need you to help me take care of Cloud, and…."

"No you don't." said Tommy.

"Huh?"

"You don't need me to help you take care of Cloud, you and the other doctors are more than capable of doing it yourselves, I'm just the third wheel that's only being assigned something to make it seem like I'm helping when I'm not even needed."

"That's not true Tommy, you've been a-"

"Big help? Please, I'm nothing, I'm just some 36 year old kid who doesn't know any better, doesn't know what's right from wrong and doesn't know when a real friend is right in front of him."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tifa.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know what you and the others think of me. You hate me, you all hate me, and I don't blame you." said Tommy, as tears began to flow down his face

"Because of me Aerith is dead! All because-" He pulled the beyblade out from his coat pocket,

"-I let Sephiroth manipulate me into taking this fucking toy!"

He then threw it onto the ground.

"Tommy…" Tifa said, as she went over to him.

He then wiped the remaining tears from his face and took a huge breath from his nose.

"Let's just head back." He said, as he walked past her towards the direction of the town.

"Tommy, wait." said Tifa, causing Tommy to stop in his tracks.

He then turned around and faced her. And despite wiping the tears off earlier, they were still present and flowing. He had his head down and was looking at the ground away from Tifa.

"Look at me." She said.

Tommy slowly raised his head and made eye contact with her.

"You have been a big help. Taking care of Cloud is something I can't do on my own." said Tifa,

"And what your doing for him is going above and beyond. I know that you don't feel like you're doing much but you've done more than either me or the doctor could."

Tommy looked down again and began shaking his head.

"No, no it doesn't matter." He said.

"What doesn't matter?"

"You still hate me." Tommy replied, his voice beginning to crack,

"It's like I said, I got Aerith killed, I betrayed her and all of you! All-" he then pulled out his Glock,

"-All for a fucking top!"

He then marched over to where he threw the beyblade and began shooting at it. It broke apart into multiple pieces as Tommy continued to shoot it until his clip was empty.

Tommy then stood there, tears still flowing down as he tried his best to hold himself from fully crying.

It was then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay Tommy," said Tifa,

"Let it all out."

As soon as Tifa said, Tommy began to wail uncontrollably, as if all the pain and grief he felt from when Aerith died was being let out all at once.

Tifa then made the motion of turning Tommy around and surprisingly embraced him. Tommy responded by putting his arms around her, his face buried in her shoulder.

While she along with the others resented Tommy for going with Sephiroth, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him after seeing the state Aerith's death left him in, and she saw how deeply it affected him.

After a few moments they slowly moved away from each other. Tommy's face was wet and his eyes were swollen and red.

"T-Thanks…" He said, as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

Tifa didn't respond, but silently nodded.

"You got hit." Tommy said, nodding towards the cut on Tifa's arm.

"Huh?" Tifa said, as she noticed the cut the Alien Grunt left on her arm,

"Oh, I didn't notice till now."

"Let's head back, I'll get you patched up." said Tommy, as he walked back towards the direction of the town.

Tifa then turned around and followed suit.

"You've changed," said Tifa.

"Huh?"

"You've changed Tommy, you're not the same kid as before."

'Although kid is a light way of putting it.' She thought.

"I guess." Tommy replied, as they both left the beach.

The room was empty. Gordon was still tied up on the table, nobody was in the room as Hojo and Darnold had left a little while ago.

Gordon was examining his surroundings to see if there was a way he could free himself.

"Fuck man there has to be some way out of here." He said to himself,

"Not that I'm really in any danger, but staying stuck here is kinda boring."

The door to the room opened and Darnold walked in. An idea then popped in Gordon's head.

"Darnold!" said Gordon,

"You gotta get me out of here! Hojo isn't here and I haven't seen any guards or anything stationed outside."

"I can't do that Dr. Freeman." Darnold replied.

"What?" said Gordon,

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I can't free you, I'm under orders to keep you here until the right time."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Gordon asked, upset at Darnold's refusal to free him,

"We worked at Black Mesa together! I drank the potion you made that gave me this!"

He nodded towards his chaingun.

"While you weren't with us when we made our way to the Lambda Complex you're still somewhat a member of the science team. So you need to let me out of here!"

"And I told you I can't do that Dr. Freeman!" Darnold replied,

"Shinra's and Hojo have been nice enough to let me continue making my potions in peace! And it's like I told you before, not until the time is right!"

"They're fucking using you Darnold!" Gordon shouted,

"And what the fuck do you mean by 'not until the time is right!?'"

Darnold shook his head in annoyance.

"What I mean is I can't let you out until-"

The door to the room opened again and Reeve walked in. Darnold stopped mid sentence.

"Well um, I suppose I should get going Dr. Freeman!" said Darnold, had he hastily passed by Reeve and left the room.

"What the fuck man…" Gordon said to himself.

He then turned his attention to Reeve.

"Cait- I mean Reeve." said Gordon,

"What are you doing here? And what's going on?"

"I can't stay for long Gordon." said Reeve,

"I just came to update you on what's going on."

"Like what?" asked Gordon,

"What's going on with all of you?"

"Well first, Shinra had everyone at Junon Harbor and was going to execute them. Luckily with the appearance of one of the Weapon's and my intervention it was stopped." said Reeve,

"We all managed to escape with Tommy's help."

"Tommy?" asked Gordon,

"What was he doing there?"

"He told us he was their to help us escape." replied Reeve,

"He also told us where we could find Cloud."

"Find Cloud?" asked Gordon, although he knew where this was going,

"He wasn't with you at Junon?"

"Nope, Tommy told us he found Cloud washed up on shore a week ago and had him taken to a clinic in Mideel." replied Reeve,

"And……I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"What is it? Nothing really fazes me anymore at this point."

"Cloud has mako poisoning, and it's really bad."

"How bad?" asked Gordon, trying to sound shocked.

"He's unresponsive and unaware of his surroundings, the doctor said that it's a miracle he's even still alive."

A heavy silence befell the room when Reeve said. Although Gordon didn't let on he wasn't as down about it as Reeve probably was.

'It'll be fine, I'm sure Tifa is taking care of him right now and she'll help Cloud regain his true self soon.'

"What- what are you and the others doing about it?" Gordon asked.

"We left Cloud at the clinic but Tifa and Tommy stayed behind to act as his caretakers."

"Tommy stayed?"

"That's right, and he's under the belief that with Tifa with them, Cloud can somehow recover from his mako poisoning."

"What?" asked Gordon,

"What does he mean by that?"

"He said that his father told him that with Tifa being at Cloud's side, Cloud has a chance of coming back to normal."

Gordon gave Reeve a confused look when he said that.

'Tommy's father? Who…who the hell is he talking about?'

He then shook his head.

"Alright well, whoever Tommy's dad is hopefully he's right and Cloud can come back to us." said Gordon,

"Right now, I need you to help me get out of here."

"Gordon, I can't do that." replied Reeve.

"Yes you can." said Gordon,

"Just loosen my restraints a little and I can break free on my own, but make sure you're a good distance away when that happens."

"I told you I can't." replied Reeve,

"You may not see it but Rufus has a load of cameras in this room and the area in which your in. Not to mention he basically has an army of armed troopers and SOLDIER's between you and the exit out of here."

"Fuck!" said Gordon, discouraged at what Reeve just described,

"Well what can you do for me now?"

"Right now all I can do is provide you info on what's going on with us. I don't know if I can stall what Hojo and Rufus have planned for you but I'll try my best." replied Reeve.

He then turned and made his way to the exit.

"Just hang in there for now." He said, as he left them room, leaving Gordon alone in the room once again.

"Fuck man that got me nowhere." He said,

"But I really have no choice but to just stay here and hope for the best."

His thoughts then turned to Cloud and the state he was in, and how Tommy and Tifa were taking care of him.

'And I hope they can find a way to get Cloud back to his real self soon…'