Coomer stood outside the Crater as everyone else had gone in. It had been almost an hour and Coomer was beginning to feel anxious and considered going in himself.
He was also concerned with what was going to happen soon…
"Dr. Coomer!" A familiar voice was heard.
Coomer turned around and saw Gordon running towards him.
"Dr. Coomer!" He said,
"Thank god you're still here."
"I haven't left this spot since you told me Gordon!" Coomer replied,
"But weren't you and the others supposed to head to the Crater's center?"
"We were," replied Gordon,
"But shit got real bad, and…..and I need you to give me the Black Materia."
"You want me to do what?"
"I need you to give me the Black Materia." Gordon repeated.
"But Gordon, you gave me explicit instructions not to give the Black Materia to anyone, not even you!"
"I know what I said!" Gordon answered,
"But something bad has happened to Cloud, and we need the Black Materia to save him!"
"That……doesn't seem like a good reason to give it to you Gordon." said Coomer,
"How do I know this isn't some trick?"
"Coomer…" said Gordon,
"How long have you known me? Would I ever deceive you or anyone else?"
"Well Gordon we've known each other since…."
Since the game began.
"….since you first started working at Black Mesa! So for quite a long time Gordon!"
"That's right!" Gordon replied,
"Now I just need you to do as I say, just hand me the Black Materia."
"I still can't do that Gordon, those are the orders you gave me." replied Coomer.
"Okay, okay how about this." said Gordon,
"Follow me back to the center, I'm sure I probably told you not to follow us in, but you're the strongest out of everyone in this world. If Sephiroth or Benrey tried anything on you you'd probably easily dispose of them."
It took a few moments of Coomer debating within himself if he should follow Gordon into the center of the Crater.
But then he remembered, the sequence had to be followed.
"Well, okay Gordon, I'll follow you in!" said Coomer.
"Perfect- I mean good." said Gordon,
"Just stick close by."
As Coomer followed Gordon towards the center of the Crater, Gordon's eyes began to eerily glow green and a sinister look began to form on his face.
'That's it Coomer,' Gordon? thought,
'Do as the events are told.'
"President Shinra, I don't have a good feeling about this place." said Scarlet,
"I think it's best if we leave."
Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo were all at the center of the Northern Crater where Sephiroth was supposed to be at. Around them surrounded rich amounts of Materia, along with yellow crystals sticking out of the ground.
But Rufus was seemingly uninterested in all of it.
"You're right," said Rufus,
"It probably isn't safe here, but we saw Cloud and the others come in here, we would be foolish to leave now."
"Indeed we would." said Hojo,
"With the key to the real Promised Land within our grasp, why would we want to leave now?"
"You're talking about Him aren't you?" said Scarlet,
"Just what's so important about-"
Everything suddenly flashed white and Cloud and the others appeared, startling Scarlet.
"What the!? How the hell did you all get here?!" She shouted.
"No idea," Cloud replied,
"But……it's best if you all leave, the reunion is about to happen soon and things are about to get real ugly."
"And why would we do that?" replied Rufus,
"The key to the Promised Land is right within our reach, what plausible reason should we have to leave?"
"The Promised Land isn't real." said Cloud,
"You're only chasing an illusion."
"Oh it's real Cloud." replied Rufus.
"What? You think this place here is the Promised Land?" said Barret,
"This is where the Reunion is gonna happen as Cloud said! The Promised Land is just a myth."
Rufus laughed at Barret's response.
"What the hell's so funny!?" Barret replied angrily.
"You think I don't know that this isn't where the Promised Land is?" said Rufus,
"No, no the real Promised Land doesn't exist here, but the key to it is standing in this room as we speak."
"Key?" said Gordon,
"What fucking key are you talking about?"
Rufus looked at Gordon, and walked over to him and was now face to face with him.
"I'm talking about you Gordon."
"What?" said Gordon, as he and the others (minus Hojo) stared at both Gordon and Rufus in surprise and confusion.
"Ah, where are my manners?" said Rufus, as he extended his hand,
"I am Rufus Shinra, current president of the Shinra Electric Power Company, and its great to finally meet you Dr. Freeman."
Gordon stared at Rufus' hand for a few moments, then reluctantly extended his to shake it, only for Rufus to grab him and pull Gordon in to the point where their eyes were inches from each other.
And the way Rufus was looking at him, it was as if he was trying to look into him.
"Hey back off!" Gordon said, shoving Rufus off of him,
"What the hell are you even talking about anyway?"
"Oh, my apologies about that." said Rufus, as he brushed himself off,
"I was just checking if I could see the Promised Land in your eyes."
"Promised Land in his eyes?" Cloud asked,
"What are you talking about?"
"The person before us is the key to the real Promised Land." said Rufus,
"Everything here, all of this-" He then pointed around the room they were in,
"-is meaningless, however, inside you Dr. Freeman, is the real Promised Land, the one that will provide this Planet with all the resources we need."
"You're a fool if you think you can get there Rufus." said Hojo,
"None of us can, it's a world beyond any of our comprehension."
"That's because none of us have tried the right way." said Rufus,
"But I know of one way we can get there, one way that not even Coomer knew about in the report we read."
"Did someone say my name?" said Coomer, as he entered the room much to Gordon's horror.
"Coomer what the fuck are you doing here!?" Gordon shouted,
"I told you not to come here!"
"But you did, Gordon! I even followed you in! But we did get separated at one point."
Coomer then noticed the yellow crystals in the room.
"Say, aren't these crystals similar to the test sample you inserted in the test chamber?"
"Huh?" said Gordon, as he looked over at the crystals.
'He's not wrong,' Gordon thought,
'These are similar to the crystal that caused the resonance cascade, but what are they….you know what, I'll probably find out soon enough.'
Cloud walked over to Coomer, but the way he walked made it seem like he wasn't himself.
"It's good to see you again Dr. Coomer," He said,
"Do you have the Black Materia?"
"Right here Cloud!" Coomer said, as he pulled the Black Materia/PS3 Controller out of his coat pocket.
"Good," replied Cloud, "Give it to me."
Coomer didn't respond, but stood there holding the black object in his hand.
"It's alright Coomer, I-I……."
"Have to do this."
Coomer then handed it to Cloud without any objection.
"C-C-Coomer what the fu.." said Gordon in half horror and half disbelief.
"Cloud don't do this!" Tifa shouted, causing Cloud to look at her.
"I'm sorry Tifa." said Cloud,
"You've been good to me for so long and…" He paused,
"I've never really been 'Cloud'……hopefully one day you can meet the real one.."
Cloud then seemingly flew up to the ceiling.
"Cloud wait!" Gordon shouted, as he tried to give pursuit.
Coomer shot out his arm, blocking Gordon's path.
"Coomer, what are you doing!? I need to-"
"Let it play out." said Coomer, as he stared at Gordon with a serious expression.
"Coomer, what do you mean? We need to-"
"Let it play out, don't break the sequence."
Cloud meanwhile was now standing upside down on the ceiling.
'All this time….I thought I was pursuing Sephiroth…..but I was just being summoned by him…' He thought,
'Benrey…..you were JENOVA all along weren't you? You want me here too…..you want to play Heavenly Sword with me….'
Cloud then began walking to the huge light blue crystal that was atop the center of the room.
'I'm here Sephiroth! I'm here Benrey! We can play MAG now! But I want to be a part of Valor.'
As Cloud got closer to the crystal, the stalagmites on the ceiling began to break apart and fall onto the ground, causing everyone to move out of the way to avoid being hit. The crystal then dislodged itself from the ceiling.
And inside was Sephiroth.
"So he is here!" Hojo shouted,
"With Sephiroth here, he'll be awakened at last. And he'll….he'll be able to dispel the rumor!"
"Rumor?" said Cid,
"What the hell are you-"
But when he looked over at Hojo, he noticed that he was twitching rather irregularly, and the "IG" tattoo on his neck was also moving around as well.
'What the hells going on with him?' thought Cid, as he looked back up at Cloud.
"Cloud! Cloud do not give him the Black Materia!" Gordon shouted,
"Do not fucking give it to him!"
Cloud, seemingly unable to hear Gordon or anyone else, put his hand into the crystal that encased Sephiroth and handed him the controller.
The controller then began to emitted a dark aura. Green lighting bolts began to shoot out from the crystal Sephiroth was encased in and green portals also began appearing in the room as it began to shake even harder.
"Crap what do we do!?" said Yuffie.
"To my airship, now!" said Rufus.
Everyone ran out of the room as the crystal fully dislodged itself from the ceiling and caused the room to become flooded, all while Cloud was still inside.
Everyone was aboard Rufus' ship as it began pulling away from the Crater.
"We need to go back!" Tifa said,
"Cloud's still inside, we need to go back and get him!"
"Forget about him!" Bubby shouted,
"He's probably dead by now! Right now we need to focus on our own safety!"
The light barrier that was around began to expand. A giant kaiju-like blue monster then emerged from the Crater, followed by a gray one that roared upon making it to the surface.
"What the hell are those things!?" shouted Bubby.
"Those are the Weapons!" said Hojo,
"They only come out when the Planet is in great danger! But it doesn't matter now! Nothing will stop Sephiroth and Benrey!"
"That's not the only thing!" Bubby shouted,
"Look Gordon, those fucking aliens are back!"
As Gordon and the others looked down, they saw horde of aliens coming out told the hole the Weapon's emerged from like ants scurrying out of their hill.
"Oh fuck!" Gordon shouted,
"I wish I could say I'm surprised but-"
The silver one was then right above the ship and began to charge up.
"What the?" said Barrert,
"What the hell is it-"
The Weapon then suddenly dashed forward at breakneck speed, shaking the ship and causing everyone to stagger and balance to prevent themselves from falling.
Only for some reason this caused Gordon's vision to become blurry.
"Wait, what the heck is-"
Before he could say another word, he felt himself falling.
Only it wasn't he, the person playing as Gordon that was falling, but Gordon's model.
"Wait what the fuck?!" The player said, as Gordon's model hit the floor and everything around him went dark.
"What the fuck is going on? Did the game just crash?"
he couldn't even see his arms or any part of his model.
He quickly alt-tabbed the game to see it was still running on his desktop.
"The game's still running fine." He said to himself,
"But why the fuck is it a dark screen now?"
"Don't worry about that Gordon." A voice said.
"What the- who said that?" The player said, as he looked around trying to find the voice's source.
"Right behind you Doc." The voice said again.
The player turned his head around a saw a man in a SOLIDER outfit like Cloud's with black standing their.
"What the…" The player said to himself,
"Aren't you…."
"Yeah, I am." The black haired SOLDIER said,
"Surprised to see me?"
"Well, yeah, I mean aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"That I still am." Zack replied,
"But our mutual friend more or less brought me back just for this occasion."
The player closed his eyes briefly and then opened them back up, deciding it was best to get back into character.
"Mutual friend? Who are you talking about?" asked Gordon.
"You know who he is. Blue suit, gray briefcase, weird voice, that ring any bells?"
"Wait," said Gordon,
"Are you talking about Him?"
"That's right." said Zack,
"Okay then…" said Gordon, still unsure why he was talking to someone who died before the game even began.
"Why are you here to begin with?"
"He told me to tell you this:" Zack said,
"Stop trying to break the sequence of events. While I do appreciate that you tried to save Aerith's life, as much as I hate to admit it, it had to happen, and you know why."
"I do." Gordon replied,
"The Lifestream will be used later to help fight off Meteor, but I was just trying to do something positive by saving her life. I figured since I'm somehow able to interact with this world now I might've been able to change certain things."
"As much as you want Gordon, you can't. This world's events can't be changed, even one slight break of any of the events could trigger a major paradox."
Zack then scratched his head when he said that.
"Or at least that's what He told me."
"Why did he bring you back to tell me all of this?" asked Gordon,
"Couldn't he just come himself?"
"He figured if I was here you would listen." Zack replied,
"And I'm sure you're probably hyped speaking to me, aren't you?"
"Uh, yeah that's true." said Gordon.
Truth be told, he was internally marking out interacting with the whole Final Fantasy 7 cast like this, but at the same time he had to keep up the roleplay.
And he did not want any of them finding out the cold truth about their world.
"But, there are two other things I want to tell you."
"What is it?"
"One, you saw Benrey in the Nibelheim flashback, correct?"
"I did," Gordon replied,
"And that was the real one, so does…does that mean Benrey was here at one point?"
"He's been here for a while I'm afraid." Zack replied.
"How long?"
"Longer than you think."
"Okay then." said Gordon,
"Why was he at Nibelheim? And what is his relationship with Sephiroth?"
"I only met Benrey once prior to Nibelheim during the Genesis War. From what I can gather, he and Sephiroth have known each other for a long time."
"But that can't be possible." said Gordon,
"We've only been here for a week, how could he know Sephiroth prior? He's not even from this world!"
"It's like Coomer said, time moves differently for all of you." said Zack.
Gordon had to ponder what Zack said. When he first met Coomer back at Nibelheim he said that Shinra began experimenting on him 25 years ago.
'Okay, just to entertain this notion,' Gordon thought,
'Could Coomer have somehow come to this game prior to me showing up. And could that be the case for the other three as well?'
"Alright, fuck.." said Gordon, as he snapped out of his thoughts,
"What's the second thing?"
"Holy and the Lifestream won't be enough to stop Meteor," said Zack.
"What? What do you mean by that?" said Gordon,
"That's how it's always happened. When Holy wasn't enough the Lifestream rose from the Planet and helped it destroy Meteor."
"Yeah but…you saw what was in the temple, you're not dealing with Meteor this time." Zack replied, referring to the Benrey head where Meteor was in the Temple,
"You're gonna need to do something else."
"And what's that?" Gordon asked.
"Well um, this is gonna sound ridiculous." Zack said, as he scratched his head,
"You're gonna need to destroy your friend's passport's."
"Huh?" said Gordon, baffled at Zack's answer.
"At least that's what our mutual friend told me." said Zack,
"But that's all I can tell you for now. He'll tell you the rest when you see him."
"And when will I?" asked Gordon,
"And where the hell has he been-"
Everything around Gordon suddenly started to become white, and Zack began to fade away.
"Sorry Doc, this is all the time we had." said Zack,
"Don't know if we'll see each other again, so give Cloud my regards!" He said, as he gave Gordon a confident smile and a thumbs up.
"Wait wait wait wait!" Gordon shouted, as he tried to reach out to Zack.
Only now Zack was gone, and Gordon was now surrounded by a bright light.
The light was bright and it hurt Gordon's eyes, causing him to squint and look in the other direction.
The light began to dissipate and his surroundings became more clear.
He found himself in a metallic room with several monitors and a single door on the left side. He noticed someone in a lab coat was working on a monitor.
Upon closer inspection he recognized him as Hojo.
"What the hell?" Gordon whispered, as he tried to move.
Only he couldn't. Not only could he not walk but he couldn't even even move his arms either.
As Gordon looked down he found himself strapped to a table. His torso was tied up and his arms were tied up on his spread out on his sides. His legs were also tied up.
He quickly looked over to his right arm and was relieved to see his chaingun was still attached.
When Hojo turned around he noticed Gordon was now awake.
"Oh, so you're awake." Hojo said,
"Rufus will be pleased, not that it matters."
Hojo then turned and walked towards the door that led out of the room.
"I'll let him know so he can continue to chase the false fantasy of trying to get to your world. But by that time Benrey will have come down and changed this one."
"What the hell are you talking about?" said Gordon.
"See for yourself."
Hojo then turned on a nearby monitor that showed a current Shinra News Network broadcast on TV. The audio was off but Gordon could see they were covering Meteor.
Only when Gordon got a good look at Meteor, he realized that it wasn't Meteor, but a giant Benrey head.
"Oh fuck."
