Cloud, Gordon, and the others all entered Icicle Village that sat atop a snowy mountain. It was currently snowing and as they approached the village it got more and more heavier.
The general feeling everyone had after what happened in the Forgotten City was somber, and Gordon was feeling it the worst.
'If only Benrey hadn't distracted me in that one instance, that one freaking instance I could've stopped Sephiroth and…'
When Bubby looked over and saw the look Gordon had, he scoffed.
"Okay," said Cloud as he turned to face the party,
"We'll go past this village and get to the North Crater, from there we'll put an end to Sephiroth and Benrey's plan."
No one responded but they all silently agreed. Bubby rolled his eyes. Truth be told the gloominess of the group was starting to annoy him, and he was contemplating on what to do to change it.
As they reached the edge of town, a man in snowboarding gear was there to greet them.
"Hey there," He said, "Where do you all think you're going?"
"We're heading to the Northern Crater." said Cloud,
"Why do you ask?"
"I wouldn't go down there right now if I were you." He said,
"A real bad blizzard is heading this way."
"Crap." said Cid,
"When is it coming and how long is it gonna last?"
"From what scouts have seen it should only go through the night, so my suggestion for all of you is to head to the Inn and stay for the night. Once the blizzard passes I'll give you the gear you need to get you down hill." The man said,
"There's also a map in the Inn that'll direct you down the mountain as well."
"Noted." said Cloud, as he turn to the others,
"Let's go."
They all followed Cloud into a nearby Inn. As they entered the innkeeper behind the front desk greeted them.
"Welcome!" She said,
"Will you all be staying for the night?"
"That's right." said Cloud,
"Just give us enough rooms for the night."
"Okay." The woman said, as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a handful of keys,
"This should be enough for all of you. And it's a good thing you've chosen tonight to stay. We have a huge blizzard heading our way in a few hours."
"So I've heard." said Cloud, as he took the keys and handed them to each party member.
"Say, are you alright?" The woman asked with concern.
"I'm fine." Cloud replied,
"Now listen up," He said, addressing the party,
"We'll stay here for the night but first thing in the morning we're heading down hill to the Northern Crater, understood?"
Everyone silently nodded as they all began to head to the stairs that led to their rooms, only Bubby wasn't having it anymore.
"Now wait just a damn minute!" He shouted, getting everyone's attention,
"I'm not having it anymore! You all need to stop this mopey bullshit!"
"Bubby?" said Gordon.
"The fucking attitude of sadness I'm feeling from all of you is so skin crawling!" Bubby said,
"And you Gordon!" He said,
"You're acting like you lost your goddamn puppy and everything doesn't matter anymore! It's fucking pathetic!"
"Bubby we just lost-"
"I know we just lost Aerith!" He shouted,
"But do you honestly think she would want us to act like a bunch of soppy bitches!?"
Everyone stared at Bubby, unsure of where this semi-motivational speech was coming from.
"Look, I know it seems like all our hope is gone. But what she would want us to do is to move along, she would want us to make it through!"
"Bubby, did you just-"
"I know what I said Gordon!" Bubby said,
"Now look here! We're all gonna go to bed now! And when you all get up tomorrow I better see god damn some motivated faces from all of you! And if it's the same as it is now I'll blow my fucking brains out!"
And with that, Bubby stormed past them all and went to his room and slammed the door.
"U-Uh okay." said Cloud, baffled like the others at Bubby's sudden outburst.
"Never seen Bubbs act like that before for all I've known him," said Cid.
"Well he does have a point." said Vincent,
"Aerith wouldn't want us to be all gloomy like this, let's all rest for the night and get ready for tomorrow."
Everyone agreed and went to their rooms
"Fine speech Dr. Bubby!" Coomer said from outside Bubby's room as he went to his own.
Gordon went into his room and closed the door, he sat down in a nearby chair and contemplated what Bubby just said.
'He has a point, we can't just stay sad like this forever.' He thought,
'I just wish things didn't turn out the way they did, I wish I could've saved Aerith with what I knew that was gonna happen, and I wish Tommy-'
He then remembered something, he pulled out the letter and stuffed Cactuar that Aerith left for him and cursed at himself for forgetting.
'Fuck I was supposed to give these to him and I forgot cause I was so angry, god dammit!' He thought,
'And I don't know when or if I'll see Tommy again, shit!'
As he sat their feeling angry at himself for forgetting to give the things Aerith had left for Tommy, he remembered something else,
Something he had instructed Tommy to do back in the prison.
'Oh no' He thought,
'I entrusted him to make sure the Black Materia didn't get into Sephiroth's hands. Now he's not here anymore and…..'
He shook his head and sighed.
'I'll have to do it myself, like I tried with Aerith. But this time I'm not gonna screw up.'
Bubby was the first one up of everyone. He had pretty much fallen asleep as soon as he got into his room and was ready to leave.
"I swear those motherfuckers better have lightened up." He said to himself as he left his room and headed for the stairs.
"Hey Bubby." said a familiar voice.
Bubby turned around and saw Tifa walking over towards him.
"Oh, hey." He responded, as he pointed a finger,
"You and everyone else better not be in the same mood as yesterday."
Tifa slightly chucked.
"No Bubby, I'm feeling slightly better." She replied,
"That speech you gave yesterday was what we all needed, and I just wanted to thank you for that."
Bubby scoffed at her response.
"I didn't do that for any of you. I was just tired of all the gloomy bullshit!" He said,
"Now are you ready? We have a fucking planet to save!"
He then turned and continued making his way towards the stairs.
"Wait!" said Tifa, getting Bubby to groan, roll his eyes, and turn to face her again,
"There's something I want to ask you."
"What?" Bubby replied, clearly annoyed.
"How come Gordon is the only one of you that has armor?"
"Armor?" Bubby asked,
"What, you mean his HEV suit? I never wanted one, it was always uncomfortable to wear. Coomer said it limited his ability to box or something like that. As for the other guy, fuck if I know and fuck if I care!" He said, as he climbed down the stairs,
"And speaking of which, I hope he fucking dies along with his stupid dog!"
Tifa winced at Bubby's comment. While it was true the whole group pretty much resented Tommy for going with Sephiroth and Benrey, and Gordon had told everyone that he was essentially exiled from the party, a small part of her wanted to forgive him, despite what she and many others felt he does not deserve.
"Hey," said Cloud, as he approached Tifa.
"Hey Cloud." She replied,
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, somewhat better than yesterday." He replied,
"The others are awake as well, I'll grab the map from the lobby and we can get going."
Tifa nodded as she and Cloud went down the stairs. Cloud stopped by the front desk and headed outside alongside Tifa.
"Huh, that's weird." said Tifa.
"What is?" Cloud asked.
"Bubby was the first one up but I don't see him anywhere."
"He probably went on ahead to where the snowboarder from yesterday was." said Cloud,
"I'll go on and make sure he doesn't go on without us."
Tifa nodded as Cloud went in the direction of where they met the man from yesterday.
It wasn't too long after that the others were outside where Tifa was.
"Hey Tifa," said Gordon, as Tifa greeted him,
"Do you know where Cloud or Bubby are?"
"They both went over to where we met the man with snowboarding gear yesterday." She replied,
"I was about to head there too but wanted to wait for you all."
"Alright," said Gordon,
"Then let's get going."
Cloud and Bubby both had snowboards in their possession. Cloud had paid the man from earlier for additional snowboards for the rest of the party and was waiting for the rest of them to show up.
"Why can't we just go now?" said Bubby impatiently.
"We have to wait for the others." replied Cloud,
"When they get here we can go."
"But we're all going in the same direction!" Bubby said,
"Why the hell do we have to stand around and wait for them to get here?"
"We're sticking together Bubby." said Cloud sternly,
"I'm not letting anyone else separate from the group."
Bubby groaned as the rest of the party made their way over to where Cloud and Bubby were.
"Glad to see you're all up." said Cloud.
"And about fucking time too!" Bubby shouted.
"Yeah, hi to you too Bubby." said Gordon.
"I already paid the guy for what we'll use to get downhill." said Cloud, gesturing to the snowboards,
"Take each and we'll split up into groups of two."
"If that's the case I'll go with you Cloud!" said Coomer, as he grabbed a snowboard and went over to Cloud.
"Uh okay." said Cloud.
Gordon and the other grabbed a snowboard and discussed among themselves who would go with who.
"Well uh, I'm not adapted to snowboarding so I'm probably the weakest link here," said Gordon.
Truth be told, he was not looking forward to snowboarding in VR.
"I'll go with you Gordon," said Tifa.
"Sure." said Gordon, as he and Tifa went over to their own slope.
"Alright, Pizza and French Fry, just gotta remember those fundamentals." said Gordon.
"Gordon, I think that's ice skiing," said Tifa.
"Shit you're right." He realized, internally smacking himself in the head.
Tifa turned her head to look at the others.
"We'll see you all down there!" She said,
"You ready?" She asked Gordon.
"Ready as I'll ever be!" He replied.
And with that, Gordon and Tifa pushed forward and we're going downwards to the mountain's bottom.
Everyone else followed suit and went in their groups and descended down the mountain, leaving only Cloud and Coomer.
"Now Cloud, I should tell you I am an expert at skateboarding, having played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the Nintendo 64, however at snowboarding I'm quite the novice at!" Coomer said,
"I should've played 180 Snowboarding when I had the chance!"
"It's alright Coomer, I haven't snowboarded before either." said Cloud.
Although he questioned whether playing a video game would help in this situation. And after what happened with Sephiroth he was tired of hearing about them.
"Just follow my lead and we'll be fine."
"You got it!" replied Coomer, as him and Cloud went over to their slope.
They pushed down and we're sliding down to the mountain's bottom. As they went down Coomer began humming to himself.
"So here I am-" Coomer sang,
"-doing everything I can, holding on to what I am, pretending I'm a Superman!"
Cloud looked over, confused as to what and why Coomer was singing.
"I'm trying to keep, the ground on my feet! It seems the world's falling down around me! The nights are all long! Yeah, I'm singing this song, to try and make the answers more than maybe!" He sang,
"And I'm so confused, at what to do! Sometimes I wanna throw it all away!"
As Coomer kept singing, something about the song he was singing resonated with Cloud. He couldn't put his finger on it but something about what Coomer was singing was making him realize something about himself.
Something that was buried…
"We're almost at the bottom Cloud!" said Coomer, snapping Cloud out of his thoughts and stopping him from thinking about it any further.
Both him and Coomer slowed their descent as they approached the bottom. As they touched down they say the remainder of the group was already there waiting for them.
"There you guys are!" Tifa said, waving at them as they approached.
"Likewise." said Cloud, "We'll continue on foot from here."
He then saw Coomer walk past him.
"Hey Coomer." said Cloud, getting his attention,
"What was that song you were singing as we came down?"
"Oh uh, well-" said Coomer,
"That was just a song from the game I talked about earlier. I just felt like singing it as we were coming down." He said,
"Now let's get going, the Northern Crater awaits!"
Coomer then walked away, leaving Cloud shaking his head.
"Everything alright Cloud?" asked Tifa.
"I'm good," Cloud replied,
"Let's get moving."
A large cylinder of energy surrounded the center of the Northern Crater. It was the first thing Cloud and the others saw as they climbed to the top of the mountain where the Crater sat.
"Wow…" Tifa said in amazement,
"That's where the Northern Crater is?"
"That's right." said Cloud,
"A long time ago something fell from the sky and crashed down here, and left a scar on the Planet."
"Most of the Planet's energy is concentrated here. It's trying to heal the wound that was left." said Red XII.
"And Sephiroth and Benrey are planning on using that energy to summon Meteor," said Cloud.
"Or whatever the hell that was we saw back at the Temple." Gordon said.
"Right." said Cloud,
"We'll keep making our way to the Crater, but stay alert. Benrey and Sephiroth are probably nearby."
Cloud then began his descent down to the Crater with the party in tow. Gordon made his way over to Cait Sith as they walked.
"Hey Sith." said Gordon.
"Gordon," said Cait Sith, hesitantly greeting his companion,
"What do you want?"
"Just wondering if you were able to find out anything in regards to what Shinra wants with me."
"Well, truth be told, I did ask Rufus about it." Cait Sith said.
"Really?" said Gordon,
"Were you able to find out anything?"
"I don't know." Cait Sith replied,
"The answer he gave me was extremely vague."
"Well what was it?" Gordon asked somewhat impatiently.
"He told me 'It's not what I want with Gordon, it's what I want that's in him.'"
"What?" Gordon asked, taken aback by what Cait Sith said,
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me." said Cait Sith.
Gordon sighed and shook his head as they continued their descent.
'"What I want that's in him?" What the fuck does that mean?' Gordon thought, as he took a deep breath,
'Okay, we're gonna encounter Rufus pretty soon so I'll have to ask him myself.'
As they made their way closer, they all noticed in the distance the black hooded figures along with Benrey's skeletons were also converging onto the center as well.
"Well if these guys aren't a sign that they're both here I don't know what is." said Gordon.
They then heard the sounds of what sounded like a helicopter overhead. Everyone looked up and saw a large aircraft carrier flying overhead towards the Crater's center.
"Is that?" said Barret.
"It's Shinra." said Cloud,
"They're here for the Black Materia as well. We need to get to Sephiroth and Benrey before they do!"
The party then made haste to get to the center before Shinra could.
As they got closer they noticed their was a higher frequency in hooded figures and skeletons, only this time the hooded figure seemed to be dying off, while the skeletons were seemingly unaffected.
"What the hell is happening to them?" asked Cid.
"Don't know, don't care!" said Barret,
"Right now Benrey and Sephiroth are the priorities."
They crossed several strong gusts of wind as they got closer to the Crater's center.
And that's when Sephiroth and Benrey appeared. Sephiroth was slashing at two hooded figures as Benrey shot and killed another pair.
"Sephiroth!!" Cloud shouted, anger in his voice,
"This is the end for the both of you!"
Sephiroth laughed as he turned to face the party.
"You're right, this is the end, but for this body at least."
He then turned his head to Benrey.
"I'll let you take care of them."
Sephiroth then seemingly vanished as Benrey stepped forward, his eyes locked on Cloud.
"Why couldn't you be a good little boy!?" He shouted at Cloud.
"What?" said Cloud,
"You're just like him!" Benrey shouted, pointing at Gordon,
"You're both forcing me to be this way!"
"What the fuck are you talking about Benrey?" Gordon interjected,
"How are we forcing you to do anything?"
As Gordon shouted at him, Benrey noticed another person out of the corner of his eye, it was Tifa, and when he saw her he suddenly focused his attention on her.
"Oh yo!" Benrey said to her.
When Tifa saw that Benrey was talking to her, a fear that lay dormant within her for years suddenly awakened, and it caused her knees to shake.
"Yoooooo it's been a while! How's your dad?" He said as if he was greeting a friend he went to college with.
"You- you-" Tifa said, her voice quivering as she continued to shake.
"HEY!" Gordon shouted, getting Benrey's attention,
"Leave her out of this, this is between me and you!!"
He then aimed his chaingun at Benrey, who looked unfazed.
"Is this what you want?" He said, as he pulled out a black object.
It was the Black Materia….or a PS3 controller in this case. Gordon still couldn't figure out why it was a PlayStation 3 controller.
"You can have it." He said, tossing it to Cloud who caught it.
"W-What?" said Cloud, baffled as to why Benrey would hand it over to him so willingly,
"Why are you-"
"It's the role you have to play." said Benrey,
"With those Things cells in you you're gonna give it to us regardless."
He then turned around his back to the party.
"Be seeing you!"
Everything flashed white and where Benrey was, a skeleton took his place.
"What the hell?" said Barret.
The skeleton didn't say anything, but instead walked towards the center of the Crater.
"What did he mean by those Things cells in you?" Cid asked.
Cloud didn't respond, but looked like he was deep in thought.
"So that's what this is all about." He said to himself.
"The JENOVA Reunion…"
"What are you talking about Cloud?" asked Yuffie,
"Are you saying it's JENOVA we've been after all this time?"
"I can't explain it right now." said Cloud,
"Right now the only thing I'm focused on is defeating Benrey and Sephiroth."
"Wait, hang in a sec!" said Bubby,
"What the fuck is going on? Are you saying all this time we haven't been chasing that white haired fuck?"
"No, we have…" said Cloud,
"The real Sephiroth is inside, and he's releasing a strong will from the Planet's wound."
He then looked at the Black Materia.
"We have the Black Materia. Now the only thing we have to do is put an end to Sephiroth and Benrey once and for all."
"Cloud wait." said Gordon,
"You can't go in with the Black Materia. You saw what Sephiroth was able to do to you at the Temple. It's more than likely he'll try to force you to give it to him, just look how confident Benrey was in that fact."
"Then what do you think we do?" asked Cloud.
"Give it to me." said Gordon.
"What?"
"Just do it!"
Cloud then looked at the Black Materia, then at Gordon, and then reluctantly handed it over to him.
Gordon then stood their with the Black Materia in his hands, and seriously contemplated on what he was going to do next.
'Alright, now that I have……what the fuck do I do now?' He thought.
Truth be told he didn't give much thought on what he was going to do once he got up to this situation, he knew that he couldn't bring the Black Materia in with him but at the same time he couldn't entrust it to anyone else either, knowing that Sephiroth would try and trick one of the party members into giving it to him.
'Okay, okay think!'
He then looked at Coomer and an idea popped in his head.
"Dr. Coomer." He said as he made a b-line towards.
"Gordon?" said Coomer.
"I need you to hang onto this and do not let it leave your possession under any circumstances." said Gordon, as he handed the Black Materia to Coomer.
"D-Dr. Freeman this is quite the task you are throwing onto me! I'm not sure I can-"
"You can Coomer." said Gordon reassuringly,
"Out of everyone here you're the strongest. And I can confidently say you're more than capable of taking on Sephiroth yourself."
"Uh t-thanks Gordon!" said Coomer, taken aback by the sudden complement.
"Okay, another thing I need you to do is….I need you to get out of here." said Gordon, although he was seriously contemplating if this was a good idea.
"What do you mean by that Gordon?"
"I need you to take the Black Materia and run. Run as far as you can and don't look back."
"I can't do that Gordon!" Coomer shouted,
"I can't just leave you all here. We're a team after all!"
"I know Coomer, but you need to-"
"He's not leaving Gordon." Cloud interjected, causing Gordon to turn his head to him.
"Cloud you don't understand, if the Black Materia stays here then-"
"He is not leaving us, I am not about to have what happened to Aerith happen to anyone else."
"C-Cloud you've seen how strong Coomer is, he's more than capable of-"
"You heard the man Gordon!" Bubby said,
"We're the science team! We don't just let our own go like this!"
Gordon shook his head at Bubby when he heard that.
'Well you didn't have any issue throwing me to the marines. And we did just exile Tommy.' He thought as he sighed.
"Alright, fine." Gordon said,
"Coomer you can stay, but you need to do one thing for me, and this is incredibly important."
"Sure Gordon, what is it?" asked Coomer.
"Under no circumstances are you to give the Black Materia to anyone else. Even if me or Cloud or any of the others ask you for it you do not give it to them, Understood?"
It took a few moments for Coomer to process what Gordon had instructed him to do.
"You got it Dr. Freeman!"
"Okay then." said Gordon, turning to face the party,
"Let's go."
As everyone but Coomer continued onwards to the center, Gordon noticed Tifa was still in the same state she was in when Benrey spoke to her.
"Hey Tifa," said Gordon, snapping her out of it and getting her attention,
"Are you okay."
"I-I'm fine." She said hesitantly.
Gordon gave her an unsure look and nodded as the continued onward.
'What was that between her and Benrey?'
Suddenly everything flashed white.
"W-What's happening?" asked Tifa, as she frantically looked around.
"It's Sephiroth." Cloud said in a manner to try and calm Tifa down,
"We're getting closer to him, anything could happen."
When the white light dissipated they all suddenly found themselves at the entrance to Nibelheim.
"Nibelheim…" said Tifa,
"Could this be an illusion created by Sephiroth?"
"Most likely." said Cloud,
"He's trying to confuse and throw us off, we just gotta keep moving."
"Cloud lookout it's Sephiroth!" shouted Bubby.
The group turned around and saw Sephiroth walking towards them, only it looked like he didn't even notice the party at all.
"Relax, he's just replaying the memory." said Cloud, as they all got out of Sephiroth's way.
As Sephiroth got to the entrance, he turned around to face the ones who were approaching.
"Let's keep moving." He said, as he walked into the village.
"See, this is just a replay of the memory." said Cloud,
"Let's just-"
"Uh Cloud-" said Barret, as he looked at the approaching figures,
"Who is that?"
Cloud then turned to see what Barret was looking: it was two Shinra troopers, and a man with black hair in a SOLDIER outfit similar to Cloud's.
"What the? That's not Cloud." said Yuffie.
Tifa meanwhile was internally beginning to stress out.
'No, no, don't show this.' She thought,
'I don't want him to see this.'
Gordon meanwhile took a deep breath and shook his head.
'Oh boy here we go.' He thought,
'Cloud's gonna learn the truth soon.'
"This is all just a dumb illusion." said Cloud, dismissing what he just saw,
"Let's just keep going-"
"Yo wait up!" A familiar voice said.
Everyone turned around and saw, to Gordon's shock and horror, Benrey was running to where Sephiroth and the black haired SOLDIER were.
"Gotta keep up man!" The black haired SOLDIER said, as Benrey joined them.
They all then vanished from sight. Leaving Gordon breathless.
"What the fuck? What the fuck?" Gordon said to himself, panic was beginning to set in,
"WhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHE-"
"GORDON!" Cloud shouted, causing Gordon to stop and look at him,
"Calm down, this is just an illusion."
"No, no." said Gordon, in disbelief at what he saw,
"B….Benrey isn't supposed to be here, he's not…he's not…"
"Gordon, this is just an illusion, Sephiroth is trying to play us."
"No no no NO!" Gordon shouted,
"This- this is all real! All of this is what really happened! But Benrey isn't supposed to be here! He shouldn't exist at this time he shouldn't- he shouldn't fucking be here he-"
Cloud then went over and gave Gordon a hard slap across the face, knocking him out of his rambling.
"Knock it off." Cloud said sternly,
"You're letting them both get to you. They're trying to get into your mind. Just keep your head straight and we'll finish this once and for all."
"O-Okay." said Gordon, as he nursed the cheek where Cloud slapped him (or in this case made it look like the slap hurt him).
"Now, let's keep going." Cloud said to the rest of the party.
"You still don't get it do you?" Sephiroth's voice said.
The village was suddenly engulfed in flames as everyone looked around trying to find the source to where it was but to no avail.
"What you're seeing here is reality. The memory you have is an illusion."
"Bullshit!" Cloud shouted,
"I remember everything from that day! The heat from the flames! The pain I felt in my heart!"
Sephiroth laughed when he heard what Cloud said.
"Is that what you really think?" He asked,
"You're nothing more than a mere puppet, you all are. You don't have a heart. So how can there be any meaning in a memory from a being such as yourself?" He said,
"And besides, this is what They want you to remember."
"They?" Cloud asked,
"Who're They?"
"It doesn't matter." said Sephiroth,
"I only want you to understand."
"Understand what?" Cloud asked,
"Why are you doing all of this?"
Sephiroth then appeared before the party.
"It's because I want to take you back to your real self." He said,
"The one that gave me the Black Materia on that day. And honestly who would have thought a failed experiment such as yourself would be so useful?"
Sephiroth laughed again.
"F….Hojo would die if he knew."
"Hojo?" Cloud said,
"What the hell does he have to do with this!?"
"You want to know?" Sephiroth asked,
"Five years after Nibelheim fell, you were constructed piece by piece using JENOVA's cells. You were made to be a puppet." He said,
"You were made as an incomplete Sephiroth clone. Not even a number was given."
"He's lying!" Tifa shouted,
"Don't listen to him Cloud! Everything about Hojo constructing you is a lie!" She said,
"Remember our memories together. When we were kids, our time under the stars…"
Sephiroth laughed at Tifa's words.
"You don't sound so certain Tifa." He said,
"The memories you have of Cloud are probably fake as well. That is JENOVA's power."
He then began to approach her.
"No..no.." said Tifa, shaking her head in disbelief.
As Sephiroth came closer, he felt the barrel of Gordon's chaingun press against the side of his head, causing him to draw his eyes to him.
"Don't even think about it." said Gordon, as he turned his head to Cloud and Tifa.
"Don't listen to him! The memories you have Tifa are real! You and Cloud did grow up together in this village! He's just trying to get you to doubt yourselves!"
"Oh am I Dr. Freeman?" Sephiroth asked, as he turned to face Gordon,
"Then tell me, what about what you just saw? How can Benrey be here when he's not even of this world?"
"I was just about to ask you that." said Gordon,
"How do you know Benrey?"
Sephiroth again laughed.
"You'll find out sooner or later, you just need to progress further, and I'm sure the Father will tell you. Those are the rules of the game aren't they?"
"Game?" Gordon asked, "What game?"
"You know what I'm talking about." said Sephiroth,
"This is all just a game."
"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked, causing Sephiroth to turn his head briefly to Cloud before back at Gordon.
"Why don't you ask him." said Sephiroth, gesturing his head at Gordon,
"He's the reason we're all here."
"What?" said Cloud,
"What are you talking about?"
"Let me ask you something Gordon." said Sephiroth, as he turned his attention back to him,
"Exactly what makes you so certain that Cloud and Tifa's memories are true to them? How long have you known them?"
"I-I was just-" Gordon said, trying to find an answer.
"You made it sound like you've known them for a long time. But you've only known them for a week."
Gordon stood there, struggling to find a response.
"And back at the Forgotten City you somehow knew I was about to kill Aerith. Mind explaining that one?"
"I- I just knew that- that you were gonna pop out somewhere and- and I wanted to…to…"
Gordon stopped, he really didn't want to admit what he was about to say.
"It's alright Dr. Freeman, you don't have to tell me, but why don't you tell them the truth."
"The truth?" Gordon asked,
"What are you talking about?"
"The truth about us." said Sephiroth,
"The truth about our world, what purpose we really serve, and what's going to happen when your journey ends."
"Th- uh the-"
"And not just the truth about our world." Sephiroth continued,
"Why don't you also tell your other companions the truth about their world. Why don't you tell Tommy, Coomer, and Bubby who they really are. Benrey already knows, and I suspect Coomer does too."
"I know who the fuck I am!" Bubby interjected,
"I'm a Black Mesa test tube baby. They grew me by slapping a bunch of chemicals together until they made a person! That's who I am!"
Sephiroth chuckled at Bubby's remark.
"Believe what you want, if that's what the story They gave you." He said.
"You keep saying They, who the fuck are 'They'"? said Gordon, finally getting the ability to speak up.
"You know who 'They' are Gordon." said Sephiroth,
"'They' created all of this."
"What?"
"They created this world for you and others like you." Sephiroth said,
"And let me ask you this: is Gordon Freeman even your real name?"
This caused Gordon to gasp.
'Does, does he know? Does he know who I really am?' Gordon thought,
'Is Sephiroth…..is Sephiroth…..no, that can't be possible, he can't be fully aware this is all a video game, can he?'
While this was certainly a possibility, Gordon didn't know what to make of it.
"It matters not." said Sephiroth,
"As soon as I get the Black Materia I'll be able to create the world Benrey and I envisioned."
He then flew up into the sky.
"I'll be waiting at the center."
He then flew out of sight, leaving everyone speechless.
"What…what was he talking about?" said Barret,
"Gordon what was he-"
"It was all bullshit." said Gordon,
"He's trying to throw us off like Cloud said, he's trying to get us to doubt ourselves. We can't listen to anything he says, we just gotta keep moving."
"But Gordon-"
"We are moving!" said Gordon as he stormed past everyone.
"That seemed like a huge waste of time!" said Bubby as he followed Gordon.
Everyone silently followed Gordon further into the Crater. Leaving only Cloud and Tifa.
"Cloud…" said Tifa, concerned for his wellbeing.
"It's fine Tifa, what Sephiroth said was all a lie." said Cloud,
"I know who I really am." He then followed the others into the Crater, leaving Tifa trying to process what happened.
'Cloud…..I know you….the real you….all my memories of you are real and…' She thought,
'And Gordon…..how do you….how do you know…just who are you?'
She shook her head and ran over to catch up with the rest.
Once this was all over, Gordon had a lot of explaining to do.
'But Benrey…..he was here 5 years ago….I'll never forgive him for what he did.'
Author's Notes: Just want to give a quick heads up, the next chapter is going to be shorter because I will be away. And the chapter after that might have a delay.
But fear not, afterwards there should be no delay in chapters after that, hope you are all enjoying the story!
