Final Fantasy VII, A Novelization: The Jenova War

by Windwillow

What begins as a fight against a corrupt corporation turns into a struggle for the life of the planet itself. Based on the popular RPG, this is my interpretation of it, fully improvised chapter by chapter from basic notes made from playing the game. Contains violence, rough language, and suggestive themes. The final chapter is up: the battle at the North Crater. Enjoy!

51. Deliverance, At Last

Start Date: March 31, 2023

Windwillow

Quick note: This is your last chance to read Bound for Midgar. It puts things in perspective in a certain scene, but... not really that big a deal I guess...

Final Fantasy VII

Shinra is dead and gone. But perhaps the members of AVALANCHE will leave as well? With the final hour approaching, Meteor's final collision imminent, will Cloud's friends choose to join him for a final assault on Sephiroth? Let's be frank, ladies and gentlemen: I'm guessing that most, if not all, of us have finished the game and seen the ending half a dozen times or more. I won't say anything else you don't already know. Time to go out in style!

Chapter Fifty-One: Deliverance, At Last

Scene One

The night had passed, but the words they'd shared would never disappear. They really were all that they had left - each other, and nothing else. Even as the sun rose and the dusk turned to dawn and they remained in each others' arms, everything else had faded away with the shimmering moonlight. Cloud was the first to wake, the memories slowly returning to him. It had been a long night, but having spent it together with Tifa he had no regrets, even if he was marching to his own demise. At least they still had one another. He cracked a fragile smile and moved to rise, but to his surprise he was held back down by Tifa.

"Just a little longer..." Tifa whispered lightly, so faintly that Cloud almost didn't hear her speak. The feeling of his muscles against her cheek, the scent of his musk, all of it was priceless, and she didn't want to surrender any of it yet. If there was even a moment left to cherish, she intended to cherish it. "We'll never have this moment again, so... please... just a little longer, okay?" she asked softly. Both amused and honored, Cloud dropped back down to honor her request. So assuaged, Tifa snuggled her head on her beloved's chest, took in a deep breath, and sank back into his embrace with a satisfied sigh. This might be her last chance, and she had to take it.

However long the embrace was, the time for decision had come and it appeared that everyone else had chosen to follow their own paths. Cloud solemnly detached from Tifa and lifted himself to his feet, though as she stared at him there was the faintest trace of tears in her eyes. He stared closely at his blade, the weapon he'd inherited and wielded for ages, the symbol of the promises he'd made. Each step towards it was heavy, though as he stood before it he knew that the sword was sorely needed. Cloud hesitantly reached for the weapon, knowing that once he grabbed hold of it everything would come to its end. Even so he laid his tense fingers on the hilt and slowly dug the blade out from where it reposed in the earth. Reluctantly, he returned the sword to his back and turned back to Tifa, who stared at him with a fragile smile, and looked towards the airship moored just to the north. It was a heavy burden, but it was theirs to bear, and bear it they would.

"Just you wait for me, Sephiroth," Cloud murmured softly as he stared at his friend, who returned his gaze. The more he thought of his nemesis the deeper his hatred became, though when his eyes turned back to Tifa that hate instantly melted and a fragile smile crossed his face. "I intend to keep all of my promises, even if it kills me..." he stated firmly, sternly enough that he almost began to believe it himself. "Without Cid and the rest, I'll have to pilot the ship," Cloud sighed as they walked through the Highwind's catwalks. How would he even steer the stupid thing, let alone land it? "I hope I can pull it off..." he muttered.

Tifa giggled softly and brushed up against Cloud's arm, startling him. "You are a man of many talents, remember?" she chuckled. She remembered that Aerith told her that, back on the cargo ship. She'd told her all about the first time they'd met in Aerith's church, and when Tifa heard the 'price' for Cloud's services... It had hurt so much. "You told Aerith you could do a little of everything... So it'll be okay," Tifa said flatly. "We're here... together!" tittered Tifa cheerfully. This seemed to satisfy Cloud, if the cheeky grin on his face was any indication.

"We can do it... we have to do it..." murmured Tifa, mostly to herself in an attempt to assuage her fears. As the duo approached the bridge, prepared to depart alone, they could feel the rumbling of the ship's engines and felt the pressure of the Highwind taking flight. Realizing that it could only mean one thing, they gleefully charged into the bridge, hand-in-hand. They found everyone there - their friends, the crew, all the manpower they could ever pray for, and as Tifa skidded to a stop in front of Cid, she couldn't hide her smile. "You came back!" Tifa gasped. The light of hope wasn't dimmed yet. They wouldn't be fighting alone, and Sephiroth would have a lot more on his plate when they met the bastard face-to-face.

"Stop acting surprised and get your sorry asses in gear!" Cid snapped. He cracked open his lighter, lit his cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of foul smoke, soon joined by a wide smile. Talking with Shera, absolving her, all of it would not be for nothing. He'd faced his demons. Now it was time to bury theirs. "You think we'd miss this chance? You really are stupid if you do," he said flatly.

Turning to each of his friends in turn, Cloud's eyes widened just as deeply as his smile. "So... You guys made up your minds?" he asked hopefully. Even as he looked into their eyes he knew the answer, but he had to hear it in their own words. "I thought I told you that you didn't have to fight with us..." Cloud murmured softly.

"Drag your spiky head out of your ass before you cut something!" Barret snapped angrily. As he ran his fingers down his Gun-arm, they tightened almost hard enough to scratch the shell. He'd made his decision: since he had the gun on his arm, he intended to use it. "Marlene's in danger, and as long as she is, I ain't stopping till she's in the clear! And..." He paused, lowering his eyes, then turned them to Tifa and smirked, and she smirked back. He finally understood. "I owe it to a lot of people to keep fighting. Blood ain't gonna get washed away, but I sure as hell can at least own up to it and kick some serious ass," he said harshly.

As her entire body quaked and all the emotions within her stirred, Yuffie cheerfully lifted her arm in the air and pumped it hard. "Had a nice pep talk with Pa..." she sighed. She would never admit to anyone that she'd cried the way she had, and she intended to make those tears count. Spending all that time with her father, reconciling with him after the dam broke... This really was her fight, now. As her expression turned to a wide smile, she tightened her fists and puffed out her chest. "I got a reason to fight, and God damn it I'm gonna fight! That jackass Sephiroth better be scared, 'cause the great Yuffie's got a boot to shove up his ass!" tittered Yuffie excitedly.

"Grandpa died... and he died believing there wasn't any hope..." sighed Red XIII meekly as he hung his head. A glimmer in his eye perked up with his entire head, he flashed a toothy grin, and curled his tail around his paws. The reason he fought was clear: to prove Bugenhagen's despair wrong. There was hope, and there would be deliverance. The world he intended to leave to his children was one that Sephiroth had no place in. "I intend to prove to him that he was wrong, wherever he is! This is not where it all ends!" he said firmly.

"Only got one thing to say: Let's raise some serious hell! Ain't no way that jackass hurts anyone else... Especially a certain woman," Cid grinned sheepishly. After watching his friends' blank stares, he angrily extended his middle finger and stomped his foot. Even if he had forgiven her, he hadn't come to terms with his own feelings. He wasn't ready to say that he loved her yet, certainly not out loud and certainly not to himself either. "Say one word and I'll shove my spear up your rear ends!" he threatened. None of his friends decided to push their luck, nor did it occur to them to do so. When he saw that no one was arguing with him, Cid took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled sharply. At least that was over.

Cait Sith's mechanical body hummed and whirred back to life and the cat riding his mutant moogle flexed his arms and flashed a toothy grin. He'd talked with his parents for days, intimately explaining the fights he'd had and the conflicts he'd faced. His troubles, his traumas, and the people he'd met along the way... Reeve had become so wrapped up in his own words that he'd nearly forgotten to eat. Their words, their comfort, it finally gave him the strength to keep fighting. It wasn't just for his friends or even the world, it was for them. "I took care of some unfinished business just so I could come fight with you jerks! Don't make it all mean nothing!" he tittered.

Vincent remained characteristically silent, still deep in thought as he leaned against the wall. He'd fought his inner demons and put one of them six feet under, so anything he could contribute, he intended to give twofold. He cracked a soft smile, removed his gun from its holster and cocked it before giving a two fingered salute. There really wasn't any need for words to express what his actions already had. He'd made amends with Lucrecia and vowed that, even if he didn't deliver the killing blow, Sephiroth would be dealt with as the man he was - not the man he should have been.

Red XIII brushed up against Tifa's exposed legs with his warm fur and nuzzled his cheek on her thigh. The things that they'd observed for the last few hours were quite intriguing... and rather naughty. "And it isn't like we've all just arrived..." Red XIII smiled fiendishly, a smile that unnerved Cloud and Tifa. Before he could elaborate, Cid violently whacked him over the head and left a bright red welt, and though Red XIII bore his fangs, he said nothing more.

"Y-You... saw..." Tifa choked. As a gruff scowl crossed her face, she glared menacingly at Red XIII. The idea that they'd been watching her tender moments with Cloud flushed her cheeks a bright red, a red that was partially caused by embarrassment and the other half with anger. One look in his direction made it clear to Red XIII that he had made a very bad decision, and his head immediately drooped when she glared daggers at him.

"We don't have any sound up here," Cid said plainly as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. He was unable, however, to hide the flush on his face. While at first Tifa turned her glare to Cid, she eventually relented and her smile returned to her face. With her embarrassment at least slightly relieved, Tifa walked towards the end of the bridge, stared down at the clouds below, and turned back to her friends with a wide grin on her face. Her smile became more fragile, however, something that her friends immediately recognized. They all knew what she was about to say, and none of them wanted to ruin the moment.

"She left us one final shred of hope... and we're gonna take it and run with it!" Tifa cheered forcefully, her fists balling and her chest puffing. Everyone clearly felt the same way, if the smiles they wore were any indication. With a slightly more somber frown, she turned back to Cloud, who immediately jolted. "We had our differences, but we knew who mattered to us... and we're never going to let that love die," she said firmly with a smile on her face.

While at first taken aback, Cloud quickly realized what Tifa was talking about and his frown proved it. His memory stretched back to his dream in the Sleeping Forest, where Aerith had all but told him she'd loved him, but he took no action. When Tifa flashed a confident smile, however, his cheeks flushed bright red. While the two shared their tender moment, Cid walked towards the controls of the Highwind and his eyes drifted towards a certain lever as he slid into the captain's seat.

"Everyone, strap in and get ready!" Cid cheered, buckling himself into his seat. As his hand inched towards the lever, Yuffie's bloodshot eyes began to widen when she realized what was about to happen although she wasn't able to react in time. Cid took hold of the lever and pulled it hard, and the entire airship immediately and violently shook. The Highwind's engines revved up to the max and two jet engines engaged and, with a triumphant smile, Cid launched the airship straight towards Sephiroth's lair.

Although everyone else braced for impact, Yuffie was unable to grab on and was jolted far into the back side of the bridge's wall. She'd been hit and hit hard, but managed to drag herself from her crater enough to shake the rubble off her back and mutter a few nasty words. "You lousy old son of a bitch!" Yuffie screeched. As she stumbled off the wall and drunkenly staggered towards Cid, her hand maniacally inched towards her weapon. "I am so going to get you back for that! Gawd!" she shrieked. Cid's smile only stoked her fire, and her cheeks flushed bright red with anger. "Oh, you will pay..." snarled Yuffie. Cid paid absolutely no attention to her and continued on the route to the North Crater.

Scene Two

All there was left was to head to the North Crater at full speed, and the Highwind soared through the sky with the speed of a speeding bullet. Although the crew braced themselves and Yuffie continued to spew out foul words, a sight just up ahead caused Cid to abruptly bring the airship to a halt. Naturally, Yuffie was less than pleased, but everyone ignored her sea of expletives and opened their mouths in silent horror. Just ahead, directly above the northern scar, the dragon-like beast Ultimate WEAPON hovered menacingly in the sky. Although it took no offensive action, there wasn't much doubt that it would bar their path. Whether it was being controlled by Sephiroth or not? Did that even matter?

"You assholes so do not deserve me! You shouldn't take for granted a pure, beautiful young maiden when she can slaughter you! You all know that Sephiroth's the most scared of me, anyway!" Yuffie snarled. While at first she didn't notice Ultimate WEAPON, when she caught sight of it she immediately wet herself and nearly dropped to her seat in terror. "Oh! My! Freaking! Gawd!" Yuffie screamed. "We have to fight that thing?!" she shrieked in terror. She grabbed her head with both hands and dropped to her knees almost hard enough to skin them. That was bloody horrifying. "Cid, fire a laser... o-or a missile... or something! You've got to have some sort of bad ass weapon, right?!" screeched Yuffie frantically.

"Nope, never needed to arm the thing. Looks like we have a one hundred percent chance of going the way of the Dodo..." said Cid flatly as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. It was a damned shame and it pissed him off, but if it couldn't be helped it couldn't be helped. Yuffie shrieked and nearly passed out, but managed to feebly stagger over to Cid and whack him. "What the hell did you do that for?!" he snarled as he rubbed his head. That was not acceptable, and depending on what she had to say next she might end up with a shiner of her own.

"'Cause we're dead meat and you can't do jack squat! Gawd!" screeched Yuffie, her mania at its peak. The thought that they had this marvel of engineering and it had nothing that could help them was just so damned ridiculous! Why make the stupid thing if it didn't have something that could wipe out an all powerful bio-mechanical... Okay, maybe that wasn't so unreasonable. "It still sucks..." she whimpered lamely as she hung her head in resignation. "God dammit..." Yuffie cursed sharply.

"Oh, come on! We've come so far and now this?! What a load of crap!" Barret snarled.

"Sorry to state the obvious, but there's nothing that we can do to damage WEAPON," Vincent said plainly, his fist tightening. The thought that it ended here was next to unbearable. He hadn't come this far to give up, but if there wasn't any hope, what then? "Do we really have to retreat now? We'd need another WEAPON to deal with that thing... which we don't have. And it isn't like we could control one anyway," he growled. Disgruntled, he leaned back against the wall and sighed. This couldn't be the end, it just couldn't.

The entire party seemed to retreat into despair, but after a moment of thought Cloud's eye slowly turned to his materia gauntlet and the rune-ridged orb that had recently been embedded there. With no other choice, no other chance, Cloud gripped Bahamut's materia tightly and prayed with everything he had, but to no avail. If this wasn't the final moment, what was? When nothing came from his prayers, Cloud lost his composure completely. "Dammit, you piece of crap! Either do something or get the hell off of my arm! What are you, useless?!" Cloud cursed. This was it, and nothing? So much for the final, ultimate hope! The Planet really had been stringing him along the whole time!

"Call me useless again and I'll rip this airship in half and toss it at WEAPON. You dirty little brat."

Chills ran down Cloud's spine as he heard the booming voice in his ears and as the Bahamut materia began to quake. The summoning materia began to tremble at critical levels before finally a large beam of energy shot out from it and out of the airship's bridge. The light seemed to halt in place and steadily began to expand into a titanic creature, a winged dragon with wide claws and talons colored silver, its scales as black as obsidian. As Bahamut took shape and its form writhed Cloud could feel the anger oozing from his materia. When Bahamut fully formed, just as large as WEAPON, it lashed out its limbs and released a strong wave of energy that nearly toppled the airship and shook the bridge and everyone present to their cores. Slowly, menacingly, the Eidolon turned its gaze to an increasingly distressed Cloud and opened its mouth in a sinister snarling motion that made Cloud's hair stand on end even more than it already did.

"Now is the time to fight. Normally your prayers would summon me, but badmouthing me seems to have worked just as well, you filthy punk."

"H-H-H-Holy... What the what?! We're saved?!" Yuffie screamed, her joy almost overwhelming her as she stumbled drunkenly around the bridge. The thought that they had that huge dragon on their side lifted her spirits like never before. They had a chance now! "We got this guy on our side?! Oh, hell yeah! We're gonna win, guys!" she shrieked with a fist pump. When Bahamut remained silent, she angrily twitched her eye and her jaw dropped. "Right?! Tell me I'm right or I'm gonna kick your ass!" Yuffie screeched angrily.

"Fool. No one Eidolon stands a chance against WEAPON."

With a horrible screech Yuffie fell to her knees and wet herself with terror, a stare of sheer mania overtaking her face. "THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU EVEN SHOW UP?!" Yuffie shrieked. "It would've been nice to know that earlier!" she hacked. Her teeth ground and her armpits dampened, sheer fury and sheer terror mixing together into some sort of bizarre mixture of 'argh!' "What are you here for, then?!" snarled Yuffie maniacally.

"If the Planet gave this Eidolon to me, it can't be useless," said Cloud flatly. Folding his arms over his chest, he angrily tilted his head and twitched his eye. There had to be hope, he couldn't keep on breathing thinking that there wasn't. "I'm guessing that you know something that we don't. Does WEAPON have a weakness?" he asked hopefully.

"Don't get testy with me. But, yes... The Planet has taken into account that WEAPON might prove to be an obstacle to defeating Jenova, so it took precautions. At the bottom of Ultimate WEAPON's neck is a small core. Destroy that, and then I can destroy WEAPON."

"This guy is freaking unbelievable!" roared Yuffie. Even if he did look bad ass, if the son of a bitch couldn't beat WEAPON it meant jack squat. "We can't reach the back if it's trying to eat us!" Yuffie screamed as she staggered to her feet and stuck out her tongue. Bahamut didn't seem to take this favorably, given that he flashed her a glare that again moistened her bloomers and caused her to fall to her knees again in terror. "Okay, maybe I should have rephrased..." she whimpered.

"What a piss ant. You have an airship, don't you?"

"I get it... Bahamut will keep WEAPON busy while we navigate behind it and destroy the core!" Cid exclaimed gleefully.

"Duh, you imbeciles. Why was that so hard to figure out? The problem here is that it takes a phenomenal amount of energy to destroy the core. The most powerful fighter you have - that's you, Cloud - has to hit WEAPON's weak point with every ounce of power that you have. Everything, one-hundred-percent, or you'll fail. All-powerful bio-mechanical lifeforms tend to be resilient."

"I can't just jump off of the ship and hope I hit the stupid thing! What kind of plan do you have to make all this happen?!" Cloud yelled angrily. What the hell was wrong with this thing? He'd finally started to feel hope again, and he refused to let this crazy ass Eidolon say that there wasn't any again.

"That isn't my problem. You idiots figure it out and I'll get to distracting WEAPON."

Incredulous, Cloud stumbled and nearly dropped to his knees. When he finally caught himself, he slapped the summoning materia and threw out an expletive. "You really aren't helping much!" he spat. As Bahamut turned back to face him and flames licked its fangs, Cloud quickly shut up and Bahamut prepared to head off to face WEAPON. His fear, however, was quickly replaced by frustration. "Why do you Eidolons always have to have a stick up your asses?! God!" Cloud choked. Ifrit was bad enough, but Bahamut was borderline unbearable.

Scene Three

While WEAPON and Bahamut were roughly the same size as each other and the airship, their power levels were worlds apart. Although Bahamut was powerful, WEAPON was a bio-mechanical life-form that the Planet itself had created to combat Jenova. Even knowing this, Bahamut soared forward towards Ultimate WEAPON, slashing with its claws. WEAPON easily evaded, but more narrowly escaped Bahamut's tail when it lashed out at it. Despite dodging, WEAPON reared back and threw a vicious punch at Bahamut that the Eidolon only narrowly blocked by crossing both its arms. Although it took a considerable amount of struggle, Bahamut finally repelled the attack and detached from battle, flying close to the Highwind as it hung in midair. It turned its attention back to the crew on the bridge and narrowed its eyes. They were relying on it, but they'd have to step up as well if they wanted to survive.

"WEAPON has a breath attack centered in the middle of its torso. If that hits me, I'm dead, so you need to figure something out before it uses it. I suggest you come up with something quick before it fries me anyway."

As Bahamut again drew the attention of Ultimate WEAPON, the crew onboard the airship could only watch in silent amazement. After a few moments of gathering himself, Cid swiveled back to face Cloud with a desperate look in his eyes. He clearly didn't have much hope in the present situation. Even if Bahamut was gigantic and powerful, he'd seen how vicious WEAPON's strike had been and it gave him the cold chills. "How do we get Cloud into the core?!" croaked Cid. "I'm open to suggestions!"

Vincent put his chin in his hand and considered the options carefully. In the end, only one idea stood out. "Ram WEAPON and have Cloud jump into its core, then destroy it..." he muttered idly. The idea seemed logical; to get to WEAPON, Cloud would need to be as close as possible, and the only way to get there was the most direct route. "If that's the only solution... I suggest we get to it," Vincent said with a shrug. When he saw Cid's growing outrage, however, his eye began to twitch. "Let me repeat myself: Let's get to it," he growled.

"I'd rather have a missile flown straight up my butt! Forget it!" Cid screeched. He'd lost Shinra Twenty-Six, and he sure as hell wasn't giving up his baby to some cockamamie scheme from a nutcase that hadn't even been conscious for more than a month. After all the man hours he'd spent building the Highwind, and after having lost his other masterpiece, he had zero intention of doing the same to it. "Ain't no freaking way I'm putting my baby in that much danger! Come up with something else!" he snarled.

After some careful thought, Tifa came up with a new, similar idea. It wasn't one that Cloud would be so happy about doing, though. "I suggest a compromise... Fly towards WEAPON and stop suddenly, then Cloud jumps," Tifa said plainly, much to Cloud's shock and horror. She turned to Cloud with a somber frown, which then morphed into a disturbingly chipper smile. "If we use Barret's air cannon to launch him, the amount of energy that it generates along with the airship suddenly stopping ought to give Cloud more than enough power to get to the core!" she said cheerfully.

"I am not an action figure! What the hell kind of cockamamie plan is that?!" shrieked Cloud indignantly. Astonishingly enough, Tifa seemed unmoved by his outrage, and it only made the situation more ridiculous to him. "If Barret blasts me in the back with his attack, it'll just break my back and make me fall limply off the end of the damned airship like a stuffed animal!" he snarled. Barret's weapon had been used to batter down beasts and barriers far stronger than he was. What kind of nonsense was she spouting that he willingly put himself in the line of fire?

Tifa smirked and slyly raised a finger in front of her face. Cloud's eye twitched when she did; her confidence both terrified him and pissed him off at the same time. "I've already thought about that," she said wryly. "If you use the combination of both your Fire and Bolt materia and push against the air bullet, it'll actually launch you even further! That, and Barret's cannon, plus the force from the Highwind's sudden stop should be more than enough to get you to the core!" said Tifa firmly.

His eye twitching with alternating anger and outright horror, a frightened Cloud stumbled back and nearly dropped to his seat in terror. While he wanted to argue, the fact that Tifa was looking at him with her hands on her hips proved that he no longer had a choice, so all he could do was whimper and hang his head. "I've said before you're all trying to kill me... Well, you just did!" he croaked angrily. For her part, Tifa seemed unaffected, though Cloud's fist tightened and he considered flipping her off when she wasn't looking. He didn't do it, mainly out of self preservation. If she'd caught sight of it, she'd probably have beaten him to within an inch of his life.

"You people are so freaking aggravating..." Cloud muttered as he, Tifa, and Barret ascended to the top of the airship, with Cloud trembling all the way. Once he'd seen where he'd actually be standing, he indignantly asked that he at least be tethered in place, a request that Tifa granted him. Cloud prepared himself by crossing his right arm over his shoulder holding the Buster Sword and holding his left arm behind him to cushion the air cannon's blast, but as Barret stood behind him dialing up the air cannon to the max, the fact that this was a stupid idea became more and more apparent. He silently turned back to Tifa and gave her a vicious death glare. Not only was this insane, it was an outright insult to think that she'd make him jump off the ship and fly through the air after being shot in the back. He and Tifa would have to discuss this later. "Even if you throw me, I'll probably miss!" yelled Cloud. While Tifa could only barely hear him over the din of the wind, he angrily repeated: "How do I not miss?!"

"You have fifteen seconds. Wait any longer and we're all toast."

Although Cloud didn't understand Bahamut's words at first, when the Eidolon locked arms with WEAPON and restrained it, it became clear: if he didn't strike the core in fifteen seconds, WEAPON would obliterate Bahamut and everyone would die. With nothing left to do but brace himself, Cloud leaned forward and nervously prepared to jump. This was so insane.

"You ready, Cloud?!" Cid called over the megaphone.

"Well, do I have a choice?!" Cloud screeched angrily.

There wasn't another choice. Using all the navigational skills he had, Cid flew the Highwind into position just behind WEAPON's weak point and prepared to go full speed. While Bahamut continued to grapple WEAPON, Cid put the engines into full speed and zoomed towards the beast as Barret finished his own preparations. Although the wind pressure was almost unbearable, because Cloud had been tethered he was able to narrowly hold on. The closer the airship came towards the back of WEAPON's neck, Cloud hesitantly prepared to give the order to start the plan. It was an idea he was still less than pleased with, and the streaks of sweat that dripped down his face and moistened his clothing proved that.

This is, hands down, the stupidest idea I've ever heard of! But if it all comes down to me and one, single strike... Dammit! This is freaking insane! I've just got to pull the trigger and hope the gun fires!

Cloud closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, steadily narrowing his eyes on to WEAPON's back and praying that there really was a weak point there. Although he'd begun to shake, he took in another breath and shook it all off. There wasn't any time for fear or for doubt. This was it, and there wasn't any time to consider how insane this all was. There were fifteen seconds between them and oblivion, and there was no time to think about how dangerous the task was. It was now or never, all or nothing. All that he could do was brace himself, take a deep breath, and yell...

"GO!"

At the order, Barret reluctantly fired at full strength towards Cloud. While this would normally kill him, by using his combined materia's power to push off against the attack Cloud was able to cushion the blast and propel himself forward, just as the Highwind abruptly came to a complete halt. With the combined power of the airship stopping, Barret's cannon, and Cloud's explosive use of elemental energy, he was sent rocketing forward like he'd been fired out of a gun, immediately snapping the tether that bound him to the airship. Bahamut and WEAPON had clashed for almost as long as the Eidolon could hold out. Just as its strength began to wane, the core in front of Bahamut began to light up. Fifteen seconds and Bahamut would be no more. While Bahamut used every ounce of strength it had to restrain Ultimate WEAPON, the creature began to charge its Ultima Beam, centered in its chest. If it went off, Bahamut would die - and any chance of confronting Sephiroth would die with it.

As the Ultima Beam continued to charge and the seconds ticked by, Cloud continued to accelerate faster and further than he'd ever thought his body could withstand. His bones creaked and his muscles felt like they were tearing, but there wasn't time to think about that. Fifteen seconds ticked down to ten, ten down to five, and just at the final second Cloud's aching body finally reached WEAPON. He was ecstatic to see that there really was a glowing orb just where Bahamut said it would be. Using all the strength he had left in his weary body, Cloud took his sword in both hands and, just as he began to approach, he lashed out both arms and his sword together with them in one, mighty strike. Just as the timer ticked to its final second, Cloud's attack landed and the core was slashed in half. Ultimate WEAPON screamed out in agony and threw back its head, which was the precise moment Bahamut had been waiting for.

The Eidolon disengaged from its grapple and reared back its head much like WEAPON had before hurling forward a massive blast of breath that, when it struck, burned WEAPON's head into ashes. Ultimate WEAPON's corpse began to quake uncontrollably as its massive torso began to plummet down into the depths of the ocean to its final resting place, though even if WEAPON had been defeated, Cloud had the sickening realization that he had no way to get back to the airship. His body plummeted along with WEAPON towards the sea below as he screamed his lungs dry, though he felt a sudden pressure hit his back and he realized that Bahamut had caught him in one of its claws. As Bahamut disengaged and soared back up to return him to the airship, the mania finally hit and Cloud began to laugh insanely, just happy to be alive. That, and he'd finally cracked and lost his connection to reality, so the mania was full-fledged, loud, and proud.

Scene Four

When Bahamut threw Cloud onto the deck of the airship, it seemed like he was barely conscious only out of sheer terror, and he was still laughing uncontrollably. Once he'd gathered himself, the entire party gathered together in the conference room where, of course, Cloud sat at the head. He sat at the head, his head leaning as far back as it could go, breathing frantically. The sheer amount of stress that he'd endured required that the party wait a full hour for him to regain his strength, and as he pulled his head up and laid his head on the table, he flashed a nasty look at Tifa, whimpered, and finally just gave up. There wasn't any point in arguing with her.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Tifa asked. Astonishingly, she didn't realize that Cloud had given her a vicious glare. It hadn't even occurred to her, actually. For some reason she hadn't picked up on the idea that she'd almost killed him. "It looks like you went through hell and back... Can you even fight at max strength?" she wondered.

"We... are never going to talk about this again. Ever," heaved Cloud. This had been even worse than Aerith's plan, the one that had ended with a set of fake breasts strapped to his chest. After a few more deep breaths, Cloud turned his head to Cait Sith. There was still one final bit of data he needed to collect. "Where is Meteor going to land, and how long do we have before it does?" he asked quietly.

Reeve was already halfway through a bottle of scotch when he finally gathered the courage to stare back at Cloud through Cait Sith's eyes. "Midgar. We have a couple of hours... No firm estimate, though," he said plainly. He'd been hard at work organizing the ruins of the city. Still, there was only so much one man could do, and with the power down and manpower in short supply there was a limit to what he could do.

"Dammit... That's exactly what I was afraid of..." Cloud croaked as he hung his head and moaned. He'd suspected that Meteor would touch down at the place with the most Lifestream gathered in a single place, and since he doubted Sephiroth would bring an asteroid down on himself, that left only Midgar. After a few moments of silence, he lifted his head and sighed. There was only one solution. "Then, I want an away team to evacuate Midgar," he said, to everyone's shock. He leaned back in his seat and locked his arms around his head like a pillow, gathering his thoughts before he explained his logic. "Look, if we don't do this in time, at least the citizens can hunker down and weather the storm until we do finish him off. Normally I'd suggest that our friend in Midgar supervise the operation, but there has to have been casualties from WEAPON's attack, people who can't move on their own. Taking care of everyone is just as high of a priority as defeating that jackass in the first place," he said resolutely.

A few moments passed and the party hovered around the table in thought. Dividing their manpower seemed like a ridiculous idea, when they needed all the help they could get to deal with Sephiroth. Finally Cid snapped open his lighter, lit his cigarette, and after a few moments of thought he put it out in his ashtray. The answer seemed obvious: divide and conquer, while dividing off the two who weren't of any use. "I say that we send the two expendables: Yuffie and Vincent... The rest of us will attack Sephiroth, kick his sorry ass, and free Holy," he said plainly.

"E-E-Expendable?! What the bloody hell do you mean expendable, you lousy jerk?!" Yuffie shrieked. She nearly climbed over the table to assault Cid, but was pulled back into her seat by Vincent. And she didn't take kindly to it. As the indignant rage began to bubble from her body, she angrily reached towards her weapon and stuck out her tongue at Vincent. It really didn't seem to affect him much, if at all, however. "Touch me like that again and I'll poke your eye out!" she snarled.

While he fought off Yuffie, Vincent quietly nodded at Cid and shoved her back in her chair. Although she continued to struggle, one final glare chilled her enough that she immediately stopped resisting. "You're afraid of heights and I'm not willing to deal the finishing blow," he sat flatly. "That makes us the perfect choice for the Midgar evacuation team. So I suggest you calm down, take your medicine... and get ready to leave," said Vincent firmly. As he stared coldly into her eyes, Yuffie's own bloodshot ones tightened and her face began to crack. This was insane, and she again began to resist, despite being unable to move Vincent's arm at all.

"Y-Y-Y-You lousy son of a..." Yuffie stammered as she writhed and struggled against Vincent's grip. Finally, with an indignant howl, she plopped back in her seat and closed her arms with a huff. It had finally dawned on her that the logic was there, and much as she wanted to complain, she wasn't able to find a good counter argument and so she sat in her seat and stewed. She'd come here to fight, not evacuate. She'd cried with her father and ingratiated herself to him for this?! Even so, she couldn't help but agree that Ultimate WEAPON had nearly given her a heart attack, and that was a long ways away. Sephiroth would be face-to-face with her. Even if she did want to fight... she also really didn't, so doing her part this way worked fine for her.

"Should I remain behind as well?" wondered Reeve, who had finished his drink. He wasn't the ideal fighter by any standard. He had no formal combat training, no experience in fighting other than a few idle scraps, and even that might not mean much considering the caliber of the foes that he'd be facing down in the North Crater. The only major battle he'd gone through was the scrape at the Desert Prison, and that was thousands of miles away against grunts that even the other party members had pulverized with virtually no effort. Could he really offer anything remotely resembling actual value?

"No," Cloud said flatly. Reeve jumped a little at the intensity of Cloud's words, wondering if he would really be that helpful? "Your Echo materia can't be counted out... and it might make the difference if we have to fight something big. Without Vincent and Yuffie, we have to make sure we come at Sephiroth with everything we've got... together," said Cloud firmly. Tifa immediately realized what he meant, as the word brought a smile to her face. They had more than one another; they had their friends. All the fears she'd held melted in the face of a growing sense of hope. They could do it.

Tifa rose from her chair and stretched her legs, adjusted her gloves, and clapped her hands together with a significant amount of force. "It's now or never..." she said, a grim smile on her face. "I have five years' worth of justice to deliver. And I intend to give Sephiroth the thrashing he deserves. No holding back," Tifa said firmly, also stretching her neck. This was going to be the end to the nightmare that had started five years earlier in Nibelheim, the culmination of Sephiroth's sins and their own determination. "And it's going to be glorious to kick the teeth out of his rotten ol' head," Tifa said smilingly.

Cloud quietly laid a hand on the conference table to brace himself as he rose, pushing off against the hard wood with an eager intensity, the will to fight. He looked down the table at his friends, each in turn and grabbed his sword, which lay propped up against his seat. After a few moments of thought, he lifted his weapon, swirled it, and attached it to his back with a sharp clack. Even in this dire situation, he couldn't help but smile as he stared at his friends' determination, as he knew that this was the moment of decision. They'd all made their peace, prepared for the worst, and prayed for the best. And now...

"It's time!" Cloud exclaimed forcefully as he slammed his fist into his palm triumphantly. This was the fated hour. Like Tifa said, holding back wasn't an option. Sephiroth had rampaged long enough and ruined more than enough lives. There was no other option but to hand him his sorry ass in a hat. "Let's go rip that bastard a new one, you guys!" he cheered, shortly thereafter joined by his friends.

Yuffie, however, only feebly raised her arm. "I cried with that old fart for this?!" Yuffie hissed under her breath. When everyone turned to her, having heard her curse, the young kunoichi snorted and folded her arms over her chest. "Didn't say nothin'! Let's get going before I change my mind!" she snapped.

Scene Five

The first order of business was to drop off Yuffie and Vincent at Midgar, where they were received by Reeve's agents and led into the ruins of the city. With that dealt with there was really only one thing to do: head to the North Crater and prepare to bust up Sephiroth and whatever freaky mutants he had waiting for them. The airship steadily approached the crater and Cid activated the below-deck cameras to scan the area, which he found to be essentially one large hole ridged by cliffs and jagged rock with a massive pool of green Mako waiting beneath them. As he examined the pits beneath them, Cid breathlessly extinguished his cigarette and wiped the sweat from his brow. This wouldn't be easy, but it would be messy. "Aw, hell... We get too close to that much Mako and the airship might break apart!" moaned Cid. He straightened his scarf and flashed a thumbs-up to Cloud. "We'll prepare some parachutes and dive right in!" he said cheerfully.

"Dive... right in?! That means we can't come back, right?!" Barret exclaimed. A few moments of thought passed and he hung his head in resignation. "Of course... That's the point... God, this is gonna suck..." he whimpered. He'd been through a lot of adversity on this journey, but parachuting into a pool of molten Mako and praying for the best certainly didn't appeal to him very much.

As he worked a kink out of his neck, Cloud was unable to hide his amusement. "So that means you're scared?" he smirked. Barret quickly returned his humor with his middle finger, but Cloud didn't seem to be too affected. Barret's eye twitched for a moment and he stomped his foot, but still headed out to the deck to parachute down. Cloud and Tifa shared a brief look of amusement, then with the rest of the party suited up and prepared to jump.

Cid withdrew his lighter and put a cigarette in his mouth, but before he lit it he snapped the lighter shut and stuffed it in his pocket. "Who am I kidding? The only time you light up is after the fat lady sings!" he cackled as he turned to leave. After all, he had Lady Luck herself emblazoned on the side of the Highwind. A gambler needs to know when to hold back or go all in, and this was the final straw. He'd need nothing less than a Royal Flush to pull this one off.

"Fat lady? Who's the fat lady, and why would she sing?" asked a perplexed Red XIII.

"People say that when you win, the fat lady sings. It's a kind of slang for..." Cait Sith paused for a moment and shrugged before hopping off the bridge. Red XIII could only tilt his head in confusion before he followed suit.

Parachuting into the crater was much more intimidating than doing so into Midgar. At least with Midgar they knew they had a safe place to land, but with the North Crater their only hope was to find some place that wouldn't skewer them or drop them into the pit of Mako prematurely. Following a brief appointment with the blood-soaked skies they landed safely in a rocky area, one that at least had a path leading down, although it was at best precarious. All that remained below was death, suffering, and a massive pit full of Mako, plus whatever freaks Sephiroth had waiting for them. It was far from reassuring to see the bubbles form and pop as if they were pools of magma.

"Um... What next?" Red XIII pondered as he shook his parachute off of his lithe frame. Finding something that would fit a person with four legs took a few tries.

"I kind of wanna know myself..." muttered Cid. Once he'd detached his parachute and returned his spear to his back, Cid stared silently down at the unknown world below with a bit of trepidation. He didn't want to go down, either, but every journey begins with a first step, a step that he hesitantly took. Although the rock slightly shook as he put his weight on it, Cid found to his relief that the path would hold up. Even if it was a terrifying road to walk, at least they could walk on it. "Shut up and move, Red," Cid snapped. Even if he did say it, he didn't particularly believe in it, and he certainly wasn't enjoying it. "If we keep wasting time, everything'll be for nothing and this whole damn business is pointless," he said coldly.

"Well, sooner or later we're gonna have to get our feet wet..." muttered Tifa as she crossed her arms together and shivered. She stared down into the pool of molten Mako below and shook her head. The danger was there, and they couldn't put it off forever, but anything they could do to lessen the danger was a risk worth taking. "Let's make it later. The closer we come without falling in, the better. If we go too quickly, we're dead... Then again, if we go too slowly, Meteor hits and we're still dead... Keep an even pace, guys," she ordered.

The path downwards was rocky and unsettling, but for the most part the road they took was more or less stable. They thankfully weren't set upon by any monsters as they descended, though as they continued on Barret spotted a dark shadow above them and looked up to find an intimidating stone creature glaring at them from a higher platform. Before he could prepare to fire, Tifa deftly swatted his arm down. "It's a statue... Nothing more," Tifa said plainly. With a shrug of her shoulders, she continued on. "Maybe Sephiroth's trying to throw in some creepy artwork on our way down, try and intimidate us? Gotta admit, that kind of sculpture doesn't do anything for me," she sighed. Although Barret wasn't totally convinced, he nevertheless slowly turned back around and proceeded with the others. This was the moment of decision, and if he doubted every little detail he'd probably crack.

With that said, everyone proceeded down the path once again. They never noticed a tiny crack form in the statue's eye that slowly broke apart to reveal a demonic gargoyle - a winged fiend that hides itself by turning to stone. It quietly extended its wings and prepared to strike, and attempted to dive-bomb Barret. Before Barret could even react with fear, the gargoyle's body detached from its head and the monster's corpse fell down deep into the Mako pits, beating against the rock all the way. Barret swiveled around to see Cloud, his sword drawn, who then silently sheathed his blade. Although Barret scowled at Cloud he said nothing, though Cloud flashed him a cocky smirk that he certainly did not appreciate. What came next were a series of rocky, cavernous chambers that led ever deeper into the crater. There weren't any more gargoyles, luckily, though Barret was careful to look behind himself at all times. After a few minutes of travel they arrived at a large chasm, looking down into the Mako pits below. There were actually two paths, one to the left and the other to the right.

"Which route do we take?" asked Red XIII.

After a bit of thinking, Cloud quietly came to a decision. "We'll split up into two groups," he said calmly as he held up two fingers. "One goes right, one goes left. Trying to send six people down a single path might mean we get too crowded and fall into a pit or something... Besides, three people can move faster than six people..." Cloud thought for a bit longer and then nodded his head. "Barret and Cait Sith are with me, Tifa leads Red XIII and Cid. That seems like a nice balance of power," he said. "My team goes left, Tifa's takes the right path. Let's do this! Be careful, but don't go too slowly..." said Cloud firmly.

"Y-You know, what... I-I get a really bad feeling about this idea..." Red XIII moaned as he hung his head. It didn't seem to be a particularly smart idea. Why split up their combat power when they were heading straight into the bowels of hell? But it did make some sense: if the path was narrow they'd risk falling in, and by splitting up they could cover more ground more quickly. "But if the leader decides it, it's decided. Everyone, just please, be careful..." he pleaded.

Scene Six

Tifa, Red XIII, and Cid were assigned the right path. The domain they entered was bizarre; multiple fossils of strange, undiscovered beasts littered the area, and much of the footing they had was on top of a titanic creature of some sort, perhaps a dragon. For the most part they traveled down the spine of the creature, leading down in a winding path with its rib cage being large enough to call a cavern itself. As they traveled their footing was unstable, and at one point Red XIII had nearly plummeted to his death before Cid snatched him by the leg and dragged him back up to safety. After passing through the draconic creature's skeleton, the team finally hit actual, solid ground.

Their journey through that path was much the same as the first, though it seemed that more conventional animals like lions and giraffes joined the display along with whatever else was buried down below. While passing through Cid had become almost entranced by the fossils. He knew that Shera fancied herself an armchair expert on archaeology, and the idea of showing these discoveries to her kept him busy as they crossed. If he'd been any more caught up, he wouldn't have noticed the ground begin to crack, but he did, and so he shoved his friends back as a huge beast tore its way out from the ground beneath. Winged and fanged, colored black and violet, it was immediately clear what this monster was, and it didn't bode well.

"A D-D-Dragon?!" Red XIII choked, sliding to a halt and bearing his fangs. Even as he did, the sheer magnitude of the threat that the Dark Dragon posed made him realize that he could growl all he liked at the thing, but it would still eat him. The only other dragon he'd ever seen had been at the Whirlwind Maze, but this one was in a different class altogether. He had his doubts whether even the greatest of Dragoons could do much against this monstrosity. "Cid, you're up!" he yelled. Receiving no answer, he angrily repeated: "Cid, you're up! You said at the Whirlwind Maze that Dragoons kill dragons, right?!" snarled Red XIII.

"Yeah, if they're the right size... and this one isn't the right size!" snarled Cid as he snatched up his weapon shakily. The Dragon Rider had been one thing. This was something entirely different; it was almost the size of the Behemoth, and it had taken all eight of them to take that down. "The sucker's freaking gigantic! I think we just passed a fossil of this thing a few minutes ago..." he muttered. Even if he'd never admit it out loud, the idea of fighting the Dark Dragon utterly petrified him. Dragoons do indeed slay dragons... but when they're the size of a house, things tend to change.

"Well, then what the hell do we do?!" screeched Red XIII.

"Give me a minute to figure it out, idiot!" Cid growled angrily.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you idiot?!" Red XIII roared.

As Cid and Red XIII bickered, the Dark Dragon wasn't obliged to wait. It swung its huge tail back and then towards Red XIII, but the tail was caught by Tifa. Although she managed to grip the tail with both arms, she was unable to lift the dragon up enough to throw it. In response the Dark Dragon lashed out with its tail and sent Tifa flying deep into the rocky wall, where she lay worn out and prone as the Dark Dragon turned back to finish her off, but Cid wasn't waiting for the dragon to kill Tifa. He ran his hand along the head of his spear and created a quaking, bubble-like orb around the tip and stabbed the dragon in the back. The impact of the gravity-coated spear ripped open one of its wings and pierced the Dark Dragon's skin enough to mark him as the next target. Before it could, multicolored tendrils of light burst from the ground and tore the wing off completely. Red XIII's Earth Rave singled him out for the dragon's breath attack, as flames licked its ivory fangs and it turned to Red XIII in preparation to attack.

"Cid!" Tifa shouted as she struggled to emerge from her crater. It would still take a few seconds to do so, seconds that they quite simply didn't have. Cid and Red XIII would have to help save themselves. She managed to break herself free of the wall and jabbed her thumb down at the dragon's head. "Take him out!" she roared. Realizing what the plan was, Cid grabbed Red XIII in one arm and vaulted up high above the dragon. He threw Red XIII over to Tifa (who caught him) and again coated his spear in a bubble of gravity, then stabbed it straight into the Dark Dragon's skull just before it released its attack. The impact caused its breath attack to implode, and the dragon's head burst into chunks of flesh and bone. As Tifa slid to a stop with Red XIII and laid him to the ground, she gave a wide smirk and pumped her fist. "Looks like the power of teamwork won out!" she laughed.

"But... You didn't do anything..." Cid muttered idly.

This was the wrong thing to say, which was proven when Tifa brutally slammed her ankle into his neck and blasted him into the wall right next to where she'd been thrown. While he landed and began to quake in pain, having been tossed into solid stone, Tifa angrily adjusted her gloves and Red XIII looked on in horror. As he emerged from the crater and staggered to his feet, gripping his aching throat weakly with both hands, Cid feebly managed to glare at Tifa, but her own glare silenced him and he silently patted the dirt from his pants with a gruff, guttural groan (and a nasty word under his breath). There was never going to be a circumstance where he could stare her down, and that royally pissed him off.

Scene Seven

Whereas the right path seemed to be some sort of archaic graveyard, the left path's structure was even stranger. Its walls seemed to pulse back and forth, almost like a beating heart's insides. By a certain stage in their travels, the theory was posited that they were indeed inside some sort of unbelievably large organism. So, in essence, they were traveling through the body of some bizarre, still-living creature. What kind of creature it was and what it was doing there remained elusive, however.

"I wouldn't want to deal with this thing's head..." Cait Sith muttered, to which Barret nodded. As they proceeded through a chamber of bony walls with an active muscular and circulatory systems, there was a natural sense of apprehension, and when they turned the corner and fell into a deep cavern, landing on a pulsing flat area, Barret began to freak out. The surrounding area seemed to beat like an actual heart, and there were also bones ridging the chamber. As he stumbled to his feet, Cait Sith wearily lifted his megaphone to his shoulder and began to quake. "I... believe we've reached the creature's core," Cait Sith groaned. "And I think I understand now: this isn't so much a creature as much as some sort of bio-organic offshoot of Jenova when it landed," he said nervously. "When Jenova hit the Planet and created the crater, some part of it fissioned off and embedded itself here... So, we're essentially inside Jenova..." muttered Cait Sith.

"So we've been inside Jenova's guts this whole time?!" Barret screeched. Jenova had been the least of his worries. He'd been focusing so much on fighting Sephiroth that dealing with his whacked out mother never even occurred to him. "What kind of funky body does this freak have?!" he snarled.

"We... have bigger issues..." Cloud groaned as he drew his sword. "I think there's something living inside the core... and... it doesn't seem to take kindly to intruders..." he moaned. As he haggardly slid his feet into position his body swayed almost drunkenly, the cumulative stress and physical exertion had started to catch up with him. His muscles ached, his bones ached, every part of him was still sore from the encounter with Ultimate WEAPON. How much energy would he have left for the actual fight with Sephiroth?

As the structure continued to pulse, seemingly behaving like an organic being, the trio were shocked and horrified to see a titanic steel arm break open from the creature, like it was dragging itself out of Jenova's throat. The remainder of the creature wasn't an encouraging sight: a hulking humanoid with spiked gauntlets and spiked shoulder guards. As it lifted up the situation became worse; it was carrying a sword almost half its size, a cleaver ridged with teeth and multiple blades. The Iron Giant had set up shop inside these living caverns, with no better place to be in but the most secluded and safest area on the Planet. It had no natural predators, and for food all it would need to do was nibble on Jenova's innards. Barret immediately opened his weapon, but chose not to fire when he realized that the bullets would only ricochet off the armor and strike them.

"Anyone know what step we take next?! I'd kind of like to know before it eats us!" hacked Cait Sith.

Barret closed his Gun-arm's hatches and narrowed the air cannon at the Iron Giant's chest. "We gotta break open the armor before we do anything else!" he shouted. Before Barret could fire the Iron Giant reared back and swung its cleaver at him. Cloud immediately intercepted the attack and was able to hold it back, but he was thrown into a wall when the creature pushed through, which immediately bounced him back out. Barret took the chance, narrowed his aim, and shot a burst at the Iron Giant's chest, causing a large chunk of its armor to break open. The beast staggered but didn't fall, though as the smoke receded a large, pulsing core could be seen where Barret's attack had struck.

"I can see the heart beating!" Cait Sith exclaimed.

After gathering himself he took in a deep breath and whistled into his megaphone, sending blades of compressed air at the Iron Giant that sliced at its legs and dropped the beast to the floor on its knees. From where he'd landed Cloud braced for a moment and sprung high into the air, circling through the air several times before finally driving his sword straight into the Iron Giant's heart. The Iron Giant let out a horrific roar, quaked, and finally began to fall inert. As the Giant faded, Cloud gave its body a hard kick that launched the corpse straight down the creature's throat, lifted his sword, and then drove it straight into the center of the platform they were standing on, causing the entire chamber to suddenly erupt with a wave of searing heat. The result was a sickening shriek as the entire area went silent and the walls and floor immediately stopped moving. The entire atmosphere seemed to darken and the air took on a gut-wrenching, gaseous stench.

"What the hell did you just do, Cloud?!" Barret screeched.

Cloud withdrew his blade from the ground, swung it to cast off the blood on it, and snapped it back into its sheath. "I took out the thing's core, so it withered and died... We're essentially inside a husk right now," he said plainly. The insides of Jenova's bio-organic offshoot had been the source of the twisted monstrosity they'd fought. Without the Iron Giant as a defensive mechanism, Jenova's warped form had nothing to defend itself with.

"And how do we proceed?" Cait Sith asked.

Cloud ignored him and stepped towards one of the sheets of dead flesh that covered the walls, lifted his sword and slashed open a path through muscle and sinew, causing the flesh to sag and fall limply to the floor as if they'd pulled down a curtain. As its green blood and purple guts began to ooze from the Buster Sword, Barret promptly gagged and threw up in disgust. Cait Sith looked on in sympathy, though Cloud only shrugged his shoulders and returned the blade to its sheath. If this was too much for him, then when he came face to face with Sephiroth he might wet himself.

Scene Eight

With both the Dark Dragon and the Iron Giant destroyed, the two paths slowly melded into a single road. After properly celebrating, the two teams related to each other what they'd gone through. Cid, however, left out the part where he'd been assaulted by Tifa and Barret declined to admit that he'd vomited because of the sheer grossness of what he'd seen. With Cid still sore and Barret still queasy, the party took a short break until the two of them had recovered. Further on down they traveled, finally reaching their last stop: the pool of green Mako that had been visible from up above the surface. From here on out, there wasn't any other choice: dive right in and hope for the best.

"Well, this sucks... We can't put it off any longer, guys," sighed Tifa. She stretched her neck, adjusted her gloves and stared down into the deep, seemingly endless green void. After exchanging glances with each of her friends, she quietly stared down into the abyss. Even just staring at the light, beautiful as it was, she could feel the dread bubble up from her soul. "I've been here before... but I'm guessing it'll look different in Sephiroth's corner of the Lifestream..." she muttered.

Cid stared down into the molten Mako, and a chill ran down his spine. "Any reason we need to hold back?" he questioned. When he received five blank stares, he hesitantly poked the Mako with his spear, causing it to ripple as if he were touching a pool of water. The Mako was a disturbingly molten, bubbling mass of green liquid, the oozing pus of a waking nightmare. None of them wanted to jump in, but they each exchanged glances, prayed for the best, prepared themselves for the worst, and dove together into the green ocean of energy.

Entering the Lifestream was a psychedelic experience to be sure. From the first moment they touched the liquid, the group seemed to drop in through a bubble of sorts, much like Bugenhagen's observatory, though surrounded by multiple colors. The bubble broke and they plummeted deep into a swirling vortex of green light, passed through waves of energy that tingled their skin, and finally landed on solid ground. It was solid, but wildly colored and seemingly organic, and it almost seemed to be breathing in and out, with a number of platforms spiraling down into the core. There was no way they could see the bottom through the foggy green atmosphere that hung in the air like smog. The platforms spiraled around into a helix-like shape, leading down each in turn from one area to the next. Although apprehensive, there really wasn't any choice but to move on.

As they passed through the Lifestream, tiny bubbles of multicolored lights seemed to chase after them, almost hunting them. Once they'd gone through several platforms, the bubbles zoomed past them and coalesced into a single mass. What the bubbles revealed was a remarkably ugly creature. Its wings were feathered yet also scaled, leading down through its entire body to form a sort of carapace around the actual monster: a three-headed chimera, its three heads consisting of a lion, some sort of mutated bird, and what seemed to be a sort of bizarre crustacean. Its tail was also noteworthy, as it seemed to be a living, slithering serpent that was complete with a head and fangs of its own.

"Damn... He's trying to slow us down..." snarled Tifa. She grit her teeth and tightened her fist as she hardened it. As she stared at the Grand Chimera she began to waver, however. This was only the opening act; the further down they got, the nastier they were likely to find their opponents. "And I'm guessing this isn't the only present he's left for us. If we take on each monster all the way down, none of us will have enough stamina to fight the bastard himself... Smart..." she growled. There was no telling how many freaks he had waiting for them. What if this was the weakest? What was left up ahead?

From behind Tifa, Red XIII lunged forward, skidding to a halt directly in front of the Grand Chimera. As she looked on in wonder, Red XIII flashed a smile back at her that she definitely did not appreciate. She already had a vague idea of what he was about to say, and it both frightened her and infuriated her. That kind of strategy was barely any strategy at all, given what they were facing up ahead. "Go! I'll hold it off myself!" Red XIII insisted, to his friends' horror. Before they could argue, he angrily flashed his fangs at them. "Get going!" he snarled. "If each of us keeps a monster busy, that frees up the rest to continue down!" shouted Red XIII forcefully.

Tifa flashed a concerned look to Cloud, then to Red XIII. The determination in his eyes seemed insane, but she grit her teeth and dashed towards the Grand Chimera. When it opened its mouth to bite her, Red XIII breathed out a series of searing-hot white fireballs that struck it and caused it to reel in pain. As he slid into position while the others passed by him, Red XIII prepared himself for a one-on-one fight, even if it was a suicidal one. He was going to do his part to get them to Sephiroth, damned the consequences. He was surprised however, as a pair of boots skidded to a stop next to him, and he turned and watched as Barret solemnly ran his hand down his Gun-arm as he stepped up next to him, prepared to fight. Red XIII stared in mute amazement, as it became clear that he wasn't going to be fighting alone, and so when he turned to stare at the beast, he was unable to disguise the smile on his snout.

Barret immediately moved around the Grand Chimera to put it in a pincer attack. All the advantages they could find were sorely needed. With a loud snap he opened the hatches on his Gun-arm and began to unload, and unlike many opponents he'd faced lately the Grand Chimera was mostly flesh and blood so the bullets riddled it with enough force to spurt blood all across the beast's body. As he fired, however, he was caught off-guard by the beast's serpentine tail and was knocked prone to the ground. Before the Grand Chimera could deliver a finishing blow, however, its fatal mistake was not paying attention to Barret's position. From below, he had full access to the beast's most tender weak point: its fleshy underside.

As the fiend reared back to attack, Barret closed the hatches, narrowed in, and delivered an air bullet that ripped open a huge hole in its chest. The remains fell limply to the ground, but unfortunately the beast fell on top of Barret and he was seemingly crushed by the Grand Chimera's dead body. Horrified, Red XIII immediately rushed to Barret's side and tried to tug at the carcass, but it was too heavy for him to move. Just as he'd given up, a thick arm jutted from beneath the Grand Chimera's corpse and, to Red XIII's elation, Barret dragged himself out from under the beast's carcass. He staggered to his feet, spat a bunch of fiend bile to the side, and flashed a thumbs up. It was time to rejoin the others.

Scene Nine

Several more platforms awaited before their next trial. This time the enemy emerged from a large column of fire, and it was far more horrific than the Grand Chimera had been. Standing over ten feet tall and boasting eight gnarled limbs, the monster that they had to fight was what seemed to be a titanic, undead dragon - its bony ribs and a sinister demonic skull appeared to support the fact that it was no longer of the living. Each of its long arms ended in a vicious claw accompanied by talons that laced around its wrists like bracelets. Of all the things they could wind up facing, another dragon?

"Oh, yuck... It's a good thing Yuffie isn't here... She'd wet herself," Tifa groaned. After stretching her legs she hardened her fists and assumed a fighting stance, but was blocked by Cid, who put himself between her and the Dragon Zombie. As her anger peaked, she considered smacking him but thought better of it. For him to do the same damned foolish thing that Barret and Red XIII already had was outright stupid. They needed all the strength they could muster for the fights down below, and she considered fighting the Dragon Zombie with all of them together as being the only logical option. "I thought you said big dragons weren't your thing!" she snapped.

"They are when I'm the only choice! You three get going!" Cid growled. He twirled his spear and hoisted it over his shoulder with a cocky grin. Although Tifa attempted to stare him down, this time he won the battle so she grit her teeth and prepared to make a break for it. As Cloud and Tifa moved past the Dragon Zombie, Cid prepared to intercept it, but the demon was knocked off its feet with a supersonic blast of air. Cid whirled about to find a trembling Cait Sith, grappling his megaphone with clear terror on his face. With a scowl on his face, Cid angrily produced his middle finger. "You can't handle this thing! You're too weak!" he snapped.

Cait Sith said nothing, but took up position next to Cid and brandished his megaphone while Cloud and Tifa hurried onward. Cid shrugged and lunged, using his spear to skillfully parry each of the Dragon Zombie's eight arms. Each strike, every stroke, was like a performance of the highest caliber by a dancer who was peerless in his art. One strike flowed into a second, a blow was parried and immediately countered. It was an intricate and beautiful performance, but when the Dragon Zombie put its eight arms together Cait Sith realized what Cid didn't: this wouldn't be a physical attack. As light flew towards the fiend's interlocked arms, Cid confidently prepared for a counter attack. He had every expectation that the Dragon Zombie was going to charge him, and when it did, he'd easily counter it. Simple as that.

While he prepared to counterattack, Cait Sith dashed towards him and hurled his entire body on top of Cid, causing them to crash hard onto the ground. Cait Sith diving on top of him was almost too much for him to handle and he was prepared to chew him out, but when the Dragon Zombie released its Shadow Flare he was quickly silenced. From all eight limbs a huge ball of dark energy, which crackled with lightning, flew out just over top of Cid and Cait Sith. The attack continued on for quite some time before striking the wall and, to their horror, the Shadow Flare created such a massive hole that the Mako around it became warped and was drawn into it like a black hole. Cid flashed a scowl to Cait Sith, but shrugged and lifted himself to his feet. When Cait Sith began to choke, however, he lost his composure completely.

"Distract the damn thing!" snarled Cid as he hoisted his weapon over his shoulder. If the stupid cat wanted in on the fight so badly, it was time that he proved he had the balls to do it. "You picked the fight, you finish it!" he snapped.

Before Cait Sith could even react, he watched as Cid vaulted high into the air and formed another gravity bubble around his spear, though this time it was twisted into the shape of a long lance - a piercing attack. Realizing his role, Cait Sith nodded and defiantly stepped in front of the Dragon Zombie, daring it to attack. The Dragon Zombie was more than happy to oblige and prepared a second Shadow Flare. As it charged it, however, it left its legs vulnerable. Cait Sith took the chance and shouted loud and proud, and the Dragon Zombie was knocked to its seat. The beast's eight limbs broke open from their formation, and the opening was taken when Cid punctured the Dragon Zombie through the head and deep into its skeletal body. With the Dragon Zombie incapacitated and mortally wounded, Cid quickly twirled his spear and pointed it forward, and as the demon began to collapse and die, the two of them hurried onward. They were soon met by Barret and Red XIII, and the four of them moved as quickly as they could to support Cloud and Tifa.

Scene Ten

While their four friends dealt with the fiends Sephiroth had sent to slow them down, Cloud and Tifa hurried from platform to platform towards what they hoped would be Sephiroth. Unfortunately, they skidded to a halt on a different kind of platform, broken up into quivering tiles that only barely remained stable enough to stand. The whole place looked like it would fall apart at any minute. "The end of the line... but where is he?!" Tifa growled. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching for their foe, but it was Cloud who foresaw the attack and threw her to the ground. His movement had just barely saved her from the lashing of a deformed tentacle that retreated just as quickly as it had come. While at first surprised, Tifa froze when she realized that only one final obstacle could be sent by Sephiroth as his final defense. There was only one creature that he'd trust to guard his inner sanctum. "Jenova..." she hissed. Of course; who else would Sephiroth provide as their final opponent?

As they rose to their feet two large tentacles, ending in vicious claws, flew up from beneath the platform and steadily dragged Jenova-Synthesis into view. It wasn't what they were expecting: it appeared to be a large, circular mass of flesh with two tentacles on either side. When the orb cracked and shattered to reveal a mass of fangs and talons circling the head of Jenova, and the tentacles multiplied, it became clearer: the central head had to be Jenova's true head, the one Sephiroth had dragged with him into the Lifestream five years prior.

"Stay behind me!" Cloud ordered, before rushing forward with his blade at his side.

"Cloud, don't!" Tifa shouted angrily.

This was no time for bravado; they needed to fight that thing together. Despite Tifa's protests Cloud lifted his sword and held it to his side, prepared for a series of consecutive attacks. He drew back and lashed at the fiend, slicing open one tentacle after another as he steadily approached Jenova's head. Each strike was decisive and swift, blade meeting flesh in a dance that cast aside the beast's blood with every stroke. Though he was able to cut through some of the tentacles, more continued to emerge from Jenova's inner core and soon wrapped him up tight. The Buster Sword dropped to the platform limply as Cloud struggled, but he was steadily drawn in towards the acidic, toothy maw that surrounded Jenova's head. It was literally going to devour him.

"Cloud! Hang on!" Tifa shrieked, prepared to assist him.

She found to her horror, however, that her foot had begun to inch away from Jenova, her own body unconsciously warning her to back off. Gnashing her teeth in fury, Tifa drew her leg back in place and hardened her arm, also infusing it with all the elemental power she could muster, and a glorious burst of multicolored energy coated her entire arm, setting it aflame with pulsing light. She was prepared to use everything she had to save him, even if it meant that she couldn't take on Sephiroth. Letting Cloud die was not an option. Still, even with her strongest attacks, she wouldn't be able to pierce Jenova's shell if it closed suddenly, and since it was Jenova itself the head was certain to be harder than mythril. There was no telling whether hardening would be able to break through that, even with both materia infused into her fist. As she stewed, her eyes slowly opened wide as a memory flooded her mind, one that she never knew that she'd had. Whether he knew it or not, she was listening that night by Zangan's campfire.

"But maybe... just maybe... you'll be pure enough to put it to good use. Someday, I want to teach it to you... When I can see your soul is clear enough to see through to the core..."

"The core..." Tifa muttered to herself. When nothing came she fought through her thoughts desperately for an answer but found none. There had to be an answer there, but what was it? "The core... Pure...? Pure?!" she croaked, the memory flooding back to the front of her head. There was one conversation that she'd had with Zangan where he mentioned purity... but that wasn't all he'd told her.

Her blows were as strong as she could muster. Every part of her body was dedicated to the battle, yet no matter how hard she tried, Tifa was unable to land a single hit on Zangan and dropped to her back, drenched in sweat. Her breathing was as hard as it had ever been, perhaps even deeper. "God damn it!" Tifa choked. Struggling against Zangan at his best was an insane task! There was no way she had a chance if he went all out! "You went too hard!" cursed Tifa. She somehow staggered to her feet, but then fell to her back in exhaustion. This was too much to take, and she had nothing more to give. Her breath came quickly and haggardly, though through grit teeth she stared up at her master with disdain. "There's no way I can beat you in an all-out fight, Master! What kind of lesson are you trying to teach me by trashing me?!" she snarled.

"Because you can do better," Zangan said flatly.

"Oh, is that right?! Fine!" Tifa snapped as she pulled together all the strength in her body. Somehow she managed to stand up straight, if only barely. Her breath haggard, she swayed drunkenly side to side as she stared at her master. The whole idea that she had a chance was outright stupid. Even so, if he thought she had it in her, she'd prove him right. "One day, I'm gonna be better than you are!" she snarled. Zangan's smirk ended abruptly when his hand went to his mouth and blood spurted from between his fingers. As he fell to one knee Tifa rushed to help, but Zangan waved her off with his blood-soaked palm. "M-Master?" breathed a horrified Tifa.

"What is heaven to you, Tifa?" asked Zangan, through haggard breath. A baffled Tifa was unable to answer, and as he rose to his feet Zangan took his bloody fingers, folded them into a fist, and pounded it against his chest. "It's the person who means most to you. To me, that's you!" he hacked. Despite the blood that dripped from his lips, they were turned up in a firm, yet warm smile. He still remembered his final fight with the Midgardsormr, and even if she wasn't ready yet, he knew she had it in her to outdo him. "A person's heaven is as pure as unsullied snow. I found my final heaven in you, girl. When you find yours, then you'll be ready to be better than I am," he said resolutely. And he meant every word of it.

"Pure... Heaven? The person that means the most to me... my Final Heaven..." Tifa muttered. No matter what she tried to think of, nothing came. Then the realization struck. "Wait a second, that technique?! The one he said I wasn't ready for?! The best one he had?!" she croaked.

From the deepest pits of her memory the image of a man who stood against the largest serpent in the world flashed through her eyes. Even if he didn't realize it at the time, she had watched him use that last technique, through her dimmed vision and vague consciousness. Now, as the memories flooded back, she slowly began to smile, wider and wider with each passing second. After she took in a deep, heaving breath she exhaled and Tifa's fist clenched tightly, one finger after another, but then they were stretched open by a baseball-sized orb of multicolored light. The heat was searing, but her fingers remained unscathed; everything, all of her power, was condensed into a single, tiny point of light, swirling inside the sphere. As the unbelievable energy surged and her whole body started to quake from the sheer amount of pressure that had been placed on it, Tifa looked forward at Cloud and narrowed her eyes. With a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and gave a warm smile as she watched him struggle with all his might.

"My Final Heaven... Master... This is it. I finally found him," she said smilingly. She had no doubts any longer. This was it: her graduation day. This was the moment where she would finally end her apprenticeship and step up to take Zangan's place as the strongest. "The person that means the most to me..." Tifa murmured, slowly sliding her feet into position to charge. Now, she had the means to save Cloud... and take the next step in developing her own, mighty strength.

With the glowing orb still pulsing in her hand Tifa charged forward and lashed out her leg with a vicious kick that severed the tentacles holding Cloud. She skidded on her heel and reared back and, with all her might, leapt deep inside of Jenova's shell. The core began to close around her, to Cloud's horror, but it never got a chance to fully shut. With a crazed smile, Tifa flashed a grin to Cloud and hoisted her right arm as far back as it could go. This was the first time she'd had the opportunity to use her own Final Heaven. Even if it was terrifying, the idea that she'd finally outdone Zangan etched a smile on her face. Her final heaven was worth risking her life for, and she intended to protect him.

"Hey, Cloud! It's been two thousand years, right?!" she yelled sharply, a smile on her face. Although it took a moment Cloud quickly realized what she was talking about, and the simple thought of addressing it once and for all sketched a wide smile on his own face. Jenova had poisoned the Planet for two millennia, sickened the world and contaminated its inhabitants. It had exterminated the Cetra and its sinister progeny now threatened to destroy the Planet itself. And now? "This is where it ends! It's time to give this bitch the thrashing she deserves!" Tifa shouted forcefully. Tifa took the orb, tightened her fingers, and slammed it straight into Jenova's head, causing the shell to open wide and for the orb to shatter to bits as it shrieked in pain.

As she pushed off against the head and added two footprints to Jenova's face, she skidded back and dragged Cloud along with her as a tiny crack formed on Jenova's face. One crack become two, two became three, and within seconds Jenova's entire face had begun to rupture. The cracks continued to cover its whole body and shell, light began to shine from them, and the entire body of Jenova became engulfed in a column of white light that seemed to envelop the three of them. All of the power released pulsed through the creature's foul body, the light of justice finally shattering the nightmare once and for all. The light removed Jenova, piece by piece, cell by cell, and with a brilliant flash Jenova - and only Jenova - vanished from the face of the earth. Nothing else was touched, neither Cloud nor Tifa; only the foul sickness that had infected the world for two thousand years was burned to ash. It was finally over.

Slowly, Cloud opened his eyes and watched Tifa extend her jet black fist to him with a smile. Returning the grin, when he tapped his knuckles to hers, a huge burst of steam struck him right in the face and knocked his head backwards. Tifa quickly caught him, however, and her apologetic frown proved that it hadn't been intentional. With a sheepish grin Tifa took Cloud's shoulders and fell into his embrace, and as the two of them dropped to the ground all four of their friends arrived, triumphant. The two of them managed to stagger to their feet and Cloud retrieved his sword, but Tifa couldn't feel anything in the atmosphere. That was the problem. Her eyes darted wildly around the chamber, bathed in beautiful green light, searching for a target and praying for a miracle, but she found nothing.

Something was wrong. They'd reached the end of the road, but Sephiroth was nowhere to be found. "What comes next?!" Tifa shouted frantically. She got her answer as the tiles that made up their platform rumbled and dropped far below, sending the lot of them plummeting into a dark, seemingly endless abyss. It was when they staggered to their feet and opened their eyes, however, that they saw a blinding light staring back at them. It was clearly Holy, contained by the nightmarish stone crafted by Sephiroth's vile fingers. Covered by thick black rock in the form of a hand, Cloud grit his teeth and prepared for his arrival.

Scene Eleven

The light flickered and steadily retreated within the obsidian rock containing it, leaving Cloud to examine where they were. It was a dull, lifeless cavern, ridged with platforms and covered in stalagmites; there was no sign of life other than the contained Holy. He had little time to think, however, when an unimaginable pressure forced him and the others to their knees. It felt like they were being held down by a steel beam, although steel wasn't heavy enough to describe its weight. While held down by the pressure, Cloud's vision was just high enough to see the image of a pair of black boots step out from Holy's light. His face slowly twisted into such a vicious scowl that he could feel his cheeks tighten and his teeth gnash as Sephiroth steadily appeared in full form. The demon smiled and flexed its fingers, then snapped them into a fist. The sheer force alone ripped shreds from Cloud's uniform and cracked his flesh bloody, as well as the others, but Sephiroth remained silent as a sinister grin formed on his face. He would continue to chip away at them until nothing remained but shreds of flesh.

This was it: the final moment, the fated hour, the instant where the fate of an entire world would be decided. And even then all that they could do was kneel before the monster, unable to move. Everything came down to defeating Sephiroth, and now they couldn't even move? It was wrong, too wrong. If they couldn't fight now, it would all be over. As the pressure intensified so did their hatred, their determination, and their resolve. Their spirits ebbed and flowed, all the emotion in their bodies surging higher and higher, and when Sephiroth opened his fingers again, before he could launch a second assault he stopped cold as Cloud slashed open a hole in his glove, leaving a thin streak of blood in its wake. To Sephiroth's amazement, all six members of AVALANCHE now stood before him, all of them armed and all of them ready to strike.

Cloud led the pack, his sword gripped tightly in front of him in both hands, although he could barely catch his breath out of sheer exhaustion. This was the final battle and they were going to win it. Although Sephiroth ought to have been intimidated, he wasn't. When Holy quickly faded out of sight his confidence became clear. He licked the blood clean from his hand and folded his arms over his chest, then began to glow a bright white color. With a hideous roar Sephiroth's body warped into a titanic abomination, a demon with huge fins as arms and Sephiroth's head at its center as its core, with a large, glowing yellow orb making up its lower torso. As the creature manifested, any and all confidence that they had quickly shriveled into next to nothing. That son of a bitch was big.

From inside the orb a single hand emerged, a gloved hand that seemed to beckon to the party. Somewhere inside that sphere the fiend himself awaited his two victims, the ones who he'd taken so much from and who now intended to take it all back. Cloud and Tifa exchanged a brief glance and turned to their friends. With four solemn smiles looking back at them the pair jumped inside the orb and began to vanish into thin air. Once they had, the monstrous Bizarro Sephiroth's eyes snapped open and its entire body began to move. Bizarro Sephiroth lifted one of its mighty fins, reared back, then swung it in an arc at the party. Luckily they ducked, because the shock wave that was created sliced apart a long line of stalagmites and dug into the craggy wall around the battlefield.

While everyone was staggered by the power of the attack, Cid was the first to rise to his feet, his spear brandished. "Show some courage, you stupid bastards! Do you want to live forever?!" snapped Cid. When he turned back to face his foe, however, he wiped a river of sweat from his brow. Even if he talked a good game he was still petrified. The Dark Dragon hadn't been even remotely the size of this beast. Given that this was something Sephiroth himself was going to throw at them, that monster couldn't possibly compare to fighting Sephiroth's mutated, warped... abomination. Even so, they had a reason to fight, every last one of them. "Think about it! You ain't just fighting for your lives!" he shouted.

For all four of them the realization struck all at once. That was exactly right: Marlene, Cosmo Canyon, Shera... and everyone else in the world who was desperately praying for deliverance. Despite their fear, all four warriors quietly rose to their feet with a new fire burning in their eyes. This was not the time to back down. "Cid and Red XIII are the only ones mobile enough to fight that thing!" exclaimed Cait Sith. Fumbling about, he managed to lift his megaphone with what little strength he had left in his body. He was nearly spent, same as everyone else. "We need to take advantage of that and attack from as many angles as we can!" he spat.

Barely able to stand, Barret swayed unevenly, his mighty limbs shaking from both exertion and outright terror. "They can move? What do we do?!" shrieked Barret. When it quickly dawned on him that he and Cait Sith were bait, he spat out an expletive and lifted his Gun-arm into a ready position. He'd been through a lot of things during these last few weeks. Playing bait when you're standing against something like this really did take the cake. "You jackasses are going to be the death of me! Literally!" he snarled.

When Bizarro Sephiroth reared back its fin again and swung it at Barret, what at first was panic suddenly blossomed into ingenuity. He quickly lowered his weapon and fired an air bullet at the ground beneath him, propelling him high into the air and out of the line of fire, soon after landing on a faraway platform. As he did, Cait Sith swiftly ducked and avoided the monstrous shock wave. With Cid and Red XIII positioning themselves on top of platforms on either side and Barret preparing his own attack, a horrified Cait Sith realized that he was the final bait.

"Aw, geez! Just 'cause it's made of metal doesn't mean I don't like this thing!" moaned Cait Sith. He groaned and staggered, narrowly catching his megaphone before it fell. Like Barret he was nearly spent and completely terrified. Even so, whatever he had left to give he intended to give. The thought that his parents were depending on him filled Reeve with the resolve to continue fighting. He'd be damned if Sephiroth stole them from him, just when he'd finally found them again.

Rather than swing its fin again, to Cait Sith's confusion Bizarro Sephiroth suddenly came to an abrupt halt. The entire frame of the monster began to tremble, and from its mouth a huge blue orb was stretched out from the throat of Sephiroth's face and into its mouth. As lines of energy slowly gathered into the sphere, Cait Sith quickly realized his role. The mechanical cat took in a deep breath and whistled several times into his megaphone, and the resulting slices dispersed Bizarro Sephiroth's attack while slightly nicking its core with a few small scratches. The visage of Sephiroth, situated high atop the wicked beast, let out an unholy screech of pain and reeled, writhing around in agony.

This was their chance. Pushing his Void materia to its limit, Cid condensed as much force as he could into his hand and hurled it at the core with all his might. While Red XIII opened his mouth and prepared his Cosmo Memory blast, Barret had a sudden epiphany. Why not try firing both guns at once? He snapped open the hatches of his weapon and charged an air bullet, gathered an incredible amount of energy, and released a catastrophic blast of explosive energy at the core. All three attacks struck simultaneously; Cid's gravity imploded and ripped shreds from the core, Red XIII's blast tore open a massive hole, and Barret's improvised technique incinerated the core entirely. The beast let out an unholy shriek, one that nearly shattered their eardrums, before finally beginning to quake madly. Its body withered, turned a sickly shade of green, and dropped dead to the ground, inert.

"Did we do it?" choked Barret. Although he landed flat on his face, he managed to drag himself to a sitting position, though he did drop to his back shortly thereafter and hacked up a glob of blood, overworked and stressed to the max. He didn't have a damned thing left in him. As he struggled to breathe, he feebly lifted his head and stared at Bizarro Sephiroth's dead husk. "Did we win?!" he asked frantically. "Tell me we won..." Barret croaked weakly.

As he dragged himself to his feet, using his spear to prop himself up, Cid coughed out a bit of blood and began to stumble towards Bizarro Sephiroth's remains. "Damn, I hope so..." Cid moaned weakly. Cid slowly approached the corpse and poked the core with his spear, but nothing happened. He scowled and realized that the body itself was still blocking Holy, and that nothing they could do would be able to move it. That had to be done by other means. Cid narrowed his eyes and shouldered his spear, wearily plopped down on the ground, and punched it with his fist. Even after all they'd done, it wasn't their fight to finish. As he stared at Bizarro Sephiroth's dead carcass, he couldn't help but crack a bitter smile. "Give the bastard hell. He's your nightmare, anyway..." he muttered.

Scene Twelve

For the resting place of evil incarnate, it was oddly beautiful. The realm that Cloud and Tifa entered as they were consumed by Bizarro Sephiroth's orb was almost dreamlike. The ground seemed to be composed of airy white clouds, which also hung in the air like normal. There was a sort of multicolored fog that surrounded the realm, and multiple colors of light flashed on the ceiling as if they were dancing. If it really was heaven, had they died? Would they see Aerith here, or was everything some sort of sick mirage?

"He's coming," Tifa muttered under her breath, mostly to herself. She had to prepare for the worst, because there certainly wasn't going to be a best. This was it. Sephiroth would arrive soon, and the two of them had to fight with whatever meager stamina they had left. While they were wounded and winded, Sephiroth would be at the height of his incalculable power. In addition, they were in his domain now. If he had any traps or tricks, they were certainly going to fall into them. She stretched out her right arm and as she hardened it a deep obsidian sheen coated it as black as coal, and her left arm also moved into position. Cloud also prepared himself by lifting his left arm to his side, a grim smile on his face. He stared down at the ruby red orb on his gauntlet and tightened his fist as he prepared to unleash his Eidolon. It wasn't two on one. It was four on one.

What began as peaceful tranquility suddenly ceased when the clouds parted and a thick column of translucent light struck the earth. Cloud and Tifa turned their eyes to the sky, where a vaguely humanoid creature emerged from the clouds. While it resembled a man, or rather a holy seraphim, it was purely unholy. Its torso consisted of a series of fluttering white wings, a beautiful counterpart to the sinister frame of a shirtless Sephiroth that jutted from its wings. Just as muscular as the real Sephiroth, at first the body seemed to be nothing but a carbon copy of Sephiroth's actual body. It was only when a single black, raven-feathered wing burst from its shoulder that its true nature was revealed: a fallen angel, rejected by Heaven yet shunned by Hell. There was no place in existence that wanted to lay claim to this being. Rather, he intended to carve out the cosmos in his own image.

Both combatants lifted their left arms to their sides and clenched their fists shut sharply. From between each of their fingers colored light burst, red for Cloud and white for Tifa, then they hurled the orbs in their hands to the ground, where they shattered into dust. Red and blue runes quickly coated the ground and their two Eidolons rose up from their inter-dimensional slumber, all of them staring up at the fiend above them. This was the fated hour. It was time to end the nightmare that had started five years earlier in Nibelheim. As Sephiroth looked on in silence, all four combatants slowly took a single step towards him. When they did Sephiroth threw his hands into the air and spectral rays of energy burst from his fingertips, condensing into coiling red rings of searing heat that began to converge on Cloud and Tifa. As soon as the attack launched, Ifrit and Shiva quickly linked their hands together and they began to shimmer. Their light intensified until both of their bodies shattered to pieces and shot forward, each of their energies clashing with Sephiroth's rings and dispelling them as Cloud and Tifa both shot forward for their attacks. Ifrit and Shiva would guard their flanks, and they would deal with the demon itself.

From his left hand Sephiroth manifested a large, gleaming lance and thrust it at Cloud. Cloud deftly parried, sending the lance flying far into the distance, and slid behind Sephiroth with his sword extended, prepared to launch a leaping attack. Tifa curled her hands to her sides, cupped them, and gleaming aura shone from between her fingers. Now trembling with power, she reared back and flung her hands forward, causing the greatest burst of energy she'd ever produced to soar towards Sephiroth. Sephiroth stretched out his right hand and released a spiraling, black-and-white wave of energy that collided with Tifa's Aura Bolt, holding it off just long enough to fly out of the way. A sudden realization struck that Cloud now was above him with his sword drawn, so Sephiroth flicked his wrist and summoned his lance, parried Cloud's strike, and slapped him back with his black wing.

As Cloud skidded to a stop he stretched out his left arm and formed a maelstrom of fire and lightning between his fingers that he threw at his nemesis. While Sephiroth at first readied to counter, he had a faint realization that Tifa was behind him. The plan came together: Cloud would distract Sephiroth, and Tifa would blast him with her Aura Bolt while he was vulnerable, and if he dodged one the other would strike him. Now realizing he was cornered, Sephiroth quickly snapped his fingers and immediately the tranquil realm shattered into outer space. From either end two black holes emerged from his body that drew in both friends' attacks, nullifying them, then he reappeared in the same place he'd escaped from. Even now, in the final moment, they still couldn't touch him.

Her fist clenching tight, almost tight enough to draw blood, Tifa angrily grit her teeth and muttered an expletive. "That jackass has a counter for everything! God!" Tifa growled. As she lifted her right arm, she invoked her elemental energy and created a storm of energy that rivaled Cloud's earlier burst. "But this is gonna be it!" she snapped. She intended to pour every last ounce of energy she had into the next attack. Sephiroth smilingly stabbed his thumb behind him and vanished. It was when he was replaced by a roaring Supernova that worry turned into horror. The oncoming blast was directed straight at Tifa, and if it connected she'd be reduced to her most minuscule of molecules. "S-Son of a..." Tifa rasped, terror overtaking her. It really would be the end, and it would be one hell of a horrific way to go out. Cloud reached out to help her, but a shining orb of light formed between her fingers and she reared back to strike, her eyes strained and her teeth gritted. It didn't take long for him to recognize the technique. This was her final gamble.

"Dammit, you're being too rash!" snarled a frightened Cloud. He knew that another Final Heaven might be too much for her body to withstand. A quick glance from Tifa, however, sent him a message that he'd almost missed. She turned her weary eyes towards the oncoming attack, then tilted her head towards the sky. When he realized her plan, his scowl tightened, and he angrily infused as much energy as he could into his sword, causing a massive burst of multicolored light to erupt from the blade as if it had caught on fire. "You're going to regret this later, and you know it! And we are going to talk!" he snapped. Tifa merely replied with one of Aerith's trademark winks, and all Cloud could do was smile. "You're crazy... " Cloud chuckled. "You know that, right?" he asked, with a sly wink in return.

With the Supernova incoming, the two friends reared back and struck the titanic blast of energy with everything they had. All of their attacks - the Supernova, Tifa's Final Heaven, and Cloud's elemental infusion - struck simultaneously, forcing Cloud and Tifa back several meters. The sheer amount of force being produced between the three combatants was staggering, easily enough to obliterate an entire sector of Midgar at its deepest point. Everything came down to one strike, and with all the force in their bodies, they pushed against the comet and redirected it to the side, with the after effect being the decimation of several adjacent planets as the massive Supernova ripped open the cosmos and continued on into the next dimension. The omen of destruction would destroy half the solar system before it finally petered out, and even for several seconds afterwards the shining light of the Supernova remained visible.

Quaking like mad, Tifa dropped to her knees and coughed up blood, the force of a second Final Heaven having overwhelmed her. Even the first Final Heaven had pushed her to her limits. A second nearly ripped her muscles apart and cracked her bones open from the sheer amount of power she'd produced, the kind of after effect that even Zangan was unable to offset. Sephiroth smilingly summoned his lance and prepared to strike her, but it was when Tifa proudly produced her middle finger that he realized that there was someone above him. Before Sephiroth could even lift his head to react Cloud's left arm exploded into an intense whirlwind of energy, and he reared back and slammed it into Sephiroth's head with all the strength he had left. The blast cracked open Sephiroth's face and incinerated his black wing, and as the light continued to intensify it seemed to collapse upon itself and the last thing either of them saw was a spiraling void of black wind.

Scene Thirteen

That black void expanded in Cloud's eyes, and he found himself diving down into a deep tunnel of wind towards the bottom. He realized that this was the last gasp of the Black Materia's gravity magic when at the bottom Sephiroth appeared, and his boots slammed down onto the empty black void beneath. Somehow, even in this utter darkness, he had something to stand on. Although Cloud staggered, he refused to fall and stared back at his nemesis with an unflinching glare. To Cloud's surprise, Sephiroth clapped his hands together in applause and had a cocky grin on his face.

"Congratulations, Cloud... You've won," he said darkly. Even as he said it he knew he didn't mean it. Any chance he had to muck with Cloud's mind, however, was a chance he had to take. "My body was completely destroyed, and I no longer have the ability to restore it. Any chance I had of invoking Meteor with that body has long since passed," smiled Sephiroth. The lack of a body was a tiny setback, when you could replace it with one that destroyed you at your peak.

"You certainly don't seem to care much," Cloud snapped flatly.

Sephiroth's face warped into perhaps the most sinister look Cloud had ever seen him make when he ceased his applause. It was time to pull down the curtain and end his illusion of victory. "That's right, I don't care..." he snickered. He lifted his eyes to Cloud, revealing the green, cat-like eyes that reflected his darkened soul, a foul sneer etched on his face. It was the same malice that he'd shown five years prior, when he'd taken everything from Cloud the first time. "All I need to do is take yours," said Sephiroth coldly.

"Wait, what... What the-" Cloud choked. Much as he tried to think, nothing came.

"My will is absolute. I used it to subjugate my mother Jenova, and it's a fact that I can overwrite the will of the lesser beings that make up this world and make their bodies my own puppets..." smiled Sephiroth. He raised his left hand and clenched it, causing his massive sword to appear between his fingers. "All I need to do is obliterate their will and consume it. And that," he said flatly as he tapped his blade to his shoulder, "is one hundred percent fact."

Cloud's hand immediately moved to his back, but when he clenched his fingers all he touched was air. He angrily tightened his fist, clenched it to his side, and glared maliciously at Sephiroth. "What happened to my weapon?" hissed Cloud.

"Your blade doesn't physically exist here. We're inside the very core of your consciousness, where willpower dictates combat power. There is no such thing as a sword here," Sephiroth said coldly, his smile widening. He was all-powerful here, and Cloud had nothing to hold on to, not the grip of a sword nor the slightest bit of hope. "Swords belong to warriors who have the right to wield them... which is why you just failed to draw that ridiculous sword of yours," he sneered.

"And you have yours for what reason?!" snarled Cloud.

"My very being is a weapon sharp enough to rend apart the Planet. With my superior willpower, manifesting this weapon is an effortless task," smiled Sephiroth. "Only sheer will can manifest a weapon here, and since mine is superior, your own sword will never touch your hand... Meaning, it's over..." he grinned. He slowly lifted his sword into position and prepared to strike, knowing that this would be the final move of the game. "I've won," Sephiroth gloated.

Cloud grit his teeth and muttered an expletive as he pondered Sephiroth's words. Without a sword, he couldn't defend himself. Even with a sword, Sephiroth was superior in both willpower and combat ability. He'd won once, but it had been a one-in-a-million twist of fate that had allowed him to even survive their encounter. Luck would be of no use in the final, ultimate battle. As despair began to overtake him and his teeth gnashed, twenty two words entered his mind with a flash of inspiration. As the words came, so did the realization that proved he had it in him, and the sight of her smile etched one on his own face as well. This wasn't where it ended.

"Memories... aren't made by one person..." muttered Cloud breathlessly. Slowly he staggered to his feet, his fist clenched, as he prepared to make the final move in the game he'd played with Sephiroth for half a decade. "They're meant to be shared. Because we knew the truth, we saw through Sephiroth's garbage. Together..." he said smilingly. She was still right there next to him, even if her body was absent. Sephiroth's confidence wavered slightly as Cloud held out his hand before him, fingers outstretched, and flashed a sinister smile of his own. "You can't narrow down willpower to a single person, you colossal fool," he grinned. "It comes from the culmination of pure potential, the end result of memories, dreams, and thoughts made manifest, and it comes from more than one person. You can't define willpower by comparing one person to the next. And it comes from something you'll never have," Cloud heaved haggardly.

"What are you spouting off about?!" snapped Sephiroth.

"It's called a soul, you God damned moron!" Cloud roared, with enough force that Sephiroth was nearly toppled from the sheer air pressure he exerted. From all around the dark void a stream of multicolored light burst from the ground, spiraled around the pair, and flew into Cloud's open hand. As the light condensed and coalesced into a tiny orb, Cloud's fingers folded slowly in on the sphere. When he clenched his fist a new sword appeared: thicker than the Buster Sword, ridged with silver and with a gleaming blue blade. Cloud smirked and shouldered the new weapon. This was what it would take to overcome the unstoppable: unity and friendship.

"A soul is more than the sum of its parts, and in my hand? It's the Ultimate Weapon," he smirked. He gripped onto his new blade with both hands and tightened his grip sharply, as tight as his fingers would allow. The Ultimate Weapon wasn't something he'd acquired himself; his friends, the world, and most of all the smile she gave him when she said those words forged its edge. Their power, their emotions, would shatter the nightmare once and for all and bring deliverance to the world. "All you're swinging around is an oversized toothpick. Let's see who's on top now, you lousy, no-good son of a bitch!" Cloud snarled fiercely as he grappled the Ultimate Weapon in both hands and brandished it before himself, a fiery aura surrounding his entire body that lit up the darkness of the chamber they were in and sent shock waves of energy out that nearly toppled his nemesis.

His teeth gritting, Sephiroth silently assumed a fighting stance, and Cloud did the same. The silence became deafening, heartbeats echoing in their ears, as time ticked by. This was what it would come down to: one strike, one kill. In an instant Sephiroth lunged and thrust his weapon at Cloud, but then he swung his sword and effortlessly shattered the Masamune's blade into shards of light. Sephiroth's eyes slowly widened in shock as the remnants of the sword fell limply to the floor. "Impossible..." hissed Sephiroth. It was absolutely inconceivable! How could a lowly failure even touch him? There was no logic to it. There was no substance to it. Every ounce of reason in all the universe howled out in a furious confusion. How?!

There would be no explanation, no clues. Only the hard facts. "There isn't a person alive that can kill you in a one-on-one fight! That's been clear from the start!" Cloud snapped with a cocky smile. "I won last time because of a silly fluke... But you aren't invincible when we fight you all together... as one," he said calmly, too calmly for Sephiroth to stomach. Cloud took in a deep, heaving breath to gather his thoughts before turning a sinister glare Sephiroth's way. This wasn't just his fight anymore. Cloud took his sword in both hands and vaulted high up above Sephiroth, who stared in mute amazement.

He suddenly saw something in his peripheral vision and turned to his right as Barret manifested with a scowl on his face. As Sephiroth began to tremble, he caught sight of something else and watched as Red XIII and Cid appeared alongside Barret, all of them quietly staring at Sephiroth. The look in their eyes was chilling, like they knew something he didn't. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a second form emerge and whirled around to see Cait Sith, Yuffie, and Vincent appear to his left. As Sephiroth continued to quake with anger, he turned and watched as Tifa appeared, confidently cracking her knuckles. Though he managed to gather himself together, Sephiroth watched as Tifa pointed behind him.

From behind Sephiroth a spectral form appeared, seemingly fizzling in and out of existence and slowly manifesting as a shimmering pink light before it turned into an image of Cloud; a fully armed Cloud. Sephiroth tightened his grip on his sword until the grip itself shattered to pieces. He stared breathlessly at the crumbling steel, and as the final shards disappeared he turned to Cloud with a malicious glare. The spectral image of Cloud triumphantly pointed back at Tifa, and when Sephiroth turned around he found, to his amazement, that Tifa had become a spectral version of Cloud as well with its sword raised over its shoulder. As the rest of Cloud's friends similarly warped into mirror images of Cloud and lifted their swords, Sephiroth tightened his teeth hard enough to make them ache.

"Eight?!" growled Sephiroth.

"Wrong answer!" Cloud, the true Cloud positioned high above Sephiroth, shouted. A smile crossed his face and finally Sephiroth understood. He may have killed her body, but killing her soul was something he could never accomplish. She was still right there with them. Cloud's smile widened, almost hard enough to hurt, as he stared down at his nemesis with both hatred and satisfaction in his eyes. It all came down to just a few simple words. "Eight? No. There are nine of us, you jackass!" he roared.

Each of the eight Clouds - all eight surrounding Sephiroth - lifted their swords and lunged forward at the fiend. The blades, empowered with all the will that humanity embodied, punctured Sephiroth's skin, tore through his flesh and bones, and slashed out while leaving only a thin line from their point of contact. All eight slashes ripped through Sephiroth with the intensity of an unstoppable hurricane, tearing his spectral body to shreds, and he only vaguely realized that there was still someone above him with a blade lifted high into the sky. Although he tried to get away, eight strikes from eight mighty blades had drained him of the power to do so, and as he fell to one knee and stared up in horror he realized what he'd wrought. The final Cloud - the real Cloud - lifted the Ultimate Weapon in both hands, reared back, and swung down with all his might.

One final strike cut a thin line through Sephiroth's body, just the same as he'd done to a dragon five years earlier. Slowly a pin prick slid down the line and, when it struck the ground, a maelstrom of fire, lightning, and pure energy erupted from the epicenter of the slash. Sephiroth's body had been cut straight down the middle. Tiny pin pricks of light poked out from all corners of his body and his bloodshot eyes slammed shut as the entire realm seemed to quake from the awesome energies being released. For all his power, and for all his malice, it was the spirit of humanity and its solemn prayers that had triumphed against Sephiroth's destructive prowess. But, there was another factor. In that one final moment, as he slowly opened his eyes, Sephiroth vaguely saw someone smiling down at him... someone with sweet, gentle eyes, eyes that he'd shut only a short time before. The last thing he heard before everything went dark and both bloodshot eyeballs rolled up to the back of his head was a quiet, cheerful giggle...

Scene Fourteen

"Ugh... God damn it!" Cloud croaked. Cloud's sword dug itself into the ground as its master dropped to his knees, drenched in sweat and totally exhausted. Through all the stress, he vaguely realized that the sword he'd used to defeat Sephiroth with had been replaced with his own Buster Sword. After swallowing hard he staggered to his feet and returned it to its sheath, then fell flat on his back with a loud thud. Even so, he wore a smile of the kind he never thought he'd make again, the same smile Aerith had given in her final moments: a triumphant one. "Ha... Ha ha... Ha! I can't believe it! I did... No, we did it!" he hacked. He shut his eyes briefly, but a dim light slowly opened them and he watched as he was enveloped in a brilliant, green light. As the tendrils of light lifted his body upwards, he watched as a gentle hand emerged from the darkness, and he reached out for it. "Is that you, Aerith...?" Cloud murmured. Had she truly returned, or was this an all-too-pleasant illusion? As his fingers stretched out, all the emotion in his body began to peak.

Cloud...

"Oh, Aerith..." Cloud whispered, all five of his fingers extending in preparation to hold her hand one final time. Had the time come where he could make that lost promise right again? To touch her hand, feel her fingers, and tell her how he felt about her?

"Cloud!"

The hand was quickly covered in a familiar glove once he'd caught it, and Cloud immediately realized that he was holding on to Tifa's hand. Her gentle fingers, finally relieved of their pain, tightened around his and the two locked eyes for a tender moment. The ground on which Tifa stood had begun to cave in, so Cloud grabbed her by the waist and jumped as high as he could, ending with Cloud supporting the two of them with a single hand. Although he struggled to keep the two of them from dropping into the bubbling pool of Mako below, Cloud still managed to crack a slight smile when he looked deep into Tifa's eyes.

"Are you ready?" Cloud asked softly. The tenderness his fingers held as they clutched tight to Tifa's body, warm as Aerith's smiles, spread with the wide grin that crossed his face like an earthquake had ripped it open.

"Wait, what... Ready for what?" Tifa gasped. Cloud's smile widened, almost wide enough to make his face hurt. It had been a long, difficult journey. It all came down to this. With hope on the horizon, only a single word seemed appropriate to prove that it was almost over.

"Are you ready for deliverance?" he asked softly, almost sheepishly. As the smile on Cloud's face infectiously crossed her own, Tifa tightened her grip as Cloud dragged the both of them up onto solid ground. The two friends stumbled onto their backs once they'd dragged themselves to the top, two thin smiles joined together by the four staring back at them from above. All six of them had made it through!

"Thank God... We all made it!" laughed Tifa. She put her face in her hand and tried to restrain her laughter, but failed. They'd braved the fires of hell and danced with the devil himself, and in the end, they'd come out on top. Sephiroth, the final and ultimate threat, was now six thousand feet under the ground, and good riddance to the son of a bitch. "We did it, guys! We won!" she cheered.

"A pyrrhic victory, perhaps..." Red XIII muttered. Tifa turned her eyes to her furry red friend and immediately realized what he was about to say, and her eyes immediately snapped open as her sweat glands kicked into overdrive. Of course. Holy had to go somewhere, and they happened to be smack dab in the middle of that somewhere. "We're at Ground Zero... Holy will be moving soon..." he said sadly. Red XIII's eyes turned to Tifa, weary and defeated. "And we'll be swallowed by it," groaned Red XIII weakly.

Slowly, reluctantly, Cid put a cigarette to his lips and snapped open his lighter. He took in a deep drag, exhaled, and flicked the cigarette into the green abyss below. "The fat lady just sang... and then the old bag cussed us out..." he muttered. Much as he wanted to light up again, what was the point? "Lady Luck... don't fail me now..." moaned Cid glumly. The rumbling continued to intensify from below as Holy began to activate. It was the rumbling from above that caught the party's attention. With an intensity even greater than that which came from below, the team turned their eyes upwards and watched as a ladder lowered down from above, from the Highwind. It had braved the Mako storms and descended as deep as it could go, and now hovered just within reach of the party. While everyone else celebrated, Cid stared at the image of Lady Luck on the side of the airship and grit his teeth.

"You God damned idiots! I already told you before: Break this ship, and I'll break your backs along with it!" he snarled.

Scene Fifteen

While assembling on the bridge with the rest of the party, Cid took special care to curse out every single crew member for putting the airship in danger. When Tifa flexed her knuckles a couple of times, however, that anger quickly faded into self-survival and the pilot immediately clammed up. Everyone else was just happy to be alive. Cloud and the others ambled onto the bridge with all the strength they had left. It was almost over, for better or for worse.

"Everyone accounted for?!" Cid shouted harshly. With several nods in reply, he pushed a few buttons and jerked a lever, causing the Highwind to lift off sharply. Although they made good speed, by the time they'd come within eyesight of the crater's exit they could feel the rumbling from below and watched as light zipped up from every corner of the crater beneath. "You break it, you buy it!" he screeched as he frantically input every command he could think of. "If this breaks, you all owe me at least nine digits, you idiots! Don't you dare-" Cid's foul language was cut short when the full force of Holy struck the airship from below, rocketing it up through a devastating column of divine energy. The Highwind steadily began to break apart, pieces of shrapnel dropping into the crater and into oblivion, so as the party reeled and held on as best they could, Cid eyed the lever he hoped he'd never have to pull. There would be no turning back once he pulled it, but with a manic grin he reached out for it.

"Airship's out... Jet plane's in!" he hacked.

With a desperate tug, Cid's lever disengaged the whole structure of the airship, sending chunks of it plummeting below. On the flip side, what remained folded into a much sleeker, jet-propelled shell with wings loaded with booster engines. The new airship broke free from Holy and cut a sharp corner in the sky, and the Highwind soared past the crater and towards Midgar. Midgar was in crisis, however. With Meteor almost ready to impact, whirlwinds of flame formed all across the city, slashing at large swaths of it with unimaginable force. As Meteor came closer, the higher up portions of the city had already begun to crack and disassemble themselves. The blood red glow that had filled the skies now hung within meters of Midgar, all its might and devastation prepared to rip open the whole world beneath it.

It was unbelievable, horrifying. As she felt the sheer heat and pressure lick at her skin, Tifa drunkenly approached the windows of the bridge, her eyes wide. "Oh, my God!" Tifa choked. She dropped to her knees, trembling like a leaf, as she watched the horror unfold. Not only was Midgar in danger, but Yuffie and Vincent were as well, since they were still at Ground Zero. "We beat him! Why isn't that enough?!" she rasped. "Someone... anyone... please... We've come too far for everything to end like this..." whimpered Tifa, her fists tightening hard enough for blood to drip from between her fingers. This couldn't be it...

In the unfolding chaos, Cait Sith stepped up and began to tremble. "We evacuated everyone to the slums... and Yuffie and Vincent have done their best to tend to the wounded... but if this goes on any longer, none of that will matter!" Reeve shouted over the overwhelming din. "Everything's going to go down in just a few more minutes!" he quaked, difficult to even hear his own voice.

"Damnation..." Cloud growled.

He grit his teeth and lowered his eyes to the white light surging from behind, rushing towards Midgar with all due speed. Holy finally struck Meteor and a white-and-blue light collided with red and broke open the horizon into a cascade of colors. Unfortunately, Meteor had come too close already. All Holy was doing was increasing the damage to Midgar, perhaps even accelerating its destruction. Tifa's horror reached its critical point and she let out a shriek, but stopped suddenly when she felt Cloud's gentle hand touch her shoulder. As she looked at him, stupefied, he managed to muster a faint smile. It wasn't over yet.

"You want to know what I told Sephiroth when I killed him?" Cloud asked. Though Tifa stared at him in mute confusion, his smile widened and a strange sense of relief crossed his face. He'd said it to Sephiroth. Now, it was time to prove to Tifa that they still weren't alone. "I told that son of a bitch that there are nine of us!" he shouted proudly, his fists tightening and his smile widening as if he'd been cracked open like an earthquake.

"Wait... What... You mean-" rasped Tifa. Her eyes slowly widened as the realization struck her, and her own smile began to grow. Tears began to swell up in her eyes, uncontrollably moistening her face as they dripped down from her face. "It's her... Isn't it?" she gasped. As her smile widened, she brushed away her tears and put her hand to her mouth to stifle her shock. This was it. This was the chance they'd been praying for! "She never left us! Oh, God!" Tifa choked.

Even as Holy and Meteor collided, a clash of blood red and crystal clear white, a soft green light coated the windows of the airship. Tifa stumbled to her feet and dashed to the windows, finding something that changed her tears from horror into tears of joy. Through all the chaos and pain, she managed to embrace Cloud with all the strength she had left, and watched with him as green energy surged from every corner of the Planet towards Midgar. As the green, soothing light of the Lifestream burst from below the ground across Gaia - Corel, Mideel, Junon, all of them and more - the tendrils formed of the very life of the world itself zoomed towards Midgar as if they were being charged through a master circuit board. From beneath Holy, the green light softly carried its white counterpart higher and higher, escalating further and further, until both green and white began to envelop Meteor completely.

The mighty, red rocks that Meteor had drawn in had once been gathered by gravitational magic strong enough to warp space itself. Those same red rocks slowly lifted and began to crack, breaking apart and dissolving high into the atmosphere. Both white and green encircled the red harbinger and coiled around it like a hand grasping a large sphere, steadily lifted it up, and rock by rock the fist clenched down hard. Each finger tightened around the gravitational core that created Meteor, slowly crushing it from without, until finally the two lights shot the gravity core high into the air, where it trembled for a moment then broke apart, sending shooting stars streaking to all corners of the world. As the star of death dissolved and a beautiful, starry night was invoked, Cloud and Tifa solemnly embraced each other, tight as they could, and the others looked on in wonder as destruction bowed to deliverance, and Sephiroth's power finally and utterly vanished.

That had been it, the end of it all. Finally, truly, the end of what had begun when Sephiroth drove his sword into her stomach. "We really did have one more friend..." Tifa choked as she fought back her tears and clutched Cloud even tighter, even laughing a little. Even if they'd fought the battle, she'd won the war. "And she really didn't ever leave us..." she murmured. While she finally succumbed to her joy and hugged Cloud so tight as to almost cut off his circulation, Cloud silently stared at the shooting stars in the sky and smiled.

A smile for her.

Final Fantasy VII, A Novelization: The Jenova War

Part Three: Destruction or Deliverance

COMPLETE!

Author's Notes

Thank God that's over! The first chapter was written on May 12, 2022... and on April 4, 2023... The piece is done! I've got to thank everyone who's stuck around through all this nonsense, with all my heart. I'm sure I've had a lot of people leave, and I can't blame them a single bit, but to the people who stuck it out... It's been a pleasure writing for all of you, and hopefully Chapter 51 finished FFVII on a high note. I'm hoping that my writing has been improving throughout the fic, and even more importantly I hope my next works are at least as good... preferably better, but I'll take what I can get.

Side note: If I overdid the Sephiroth fight and made it too apocalyptic? You know what I'm gonna say, right? 'Cause I don't think I have to after you've heard it as often as you have. Right then. Lots of notes to cover... In no particular order...

Chapter 50 Guest Reviewer:

Much of what I used to write this fic was from a Youtube walkthrough, actually. I organized my notes to keep track of what point in the walkthrough I was in, and went from there. But I'd rather try and add in some of my own material - such as the chapter where Aerith strands everyone - and without some sort of foreknowledge I can't really adequately do so. Don't get me wrong, though: if I do novelize DoC it'll be using an online video. It'll just be harder for me to BS my way through, and from what I understand DoC isn't as open world as FFVII is, so it leaves less wiggle room for me. But if I do novelize it... Yeah, it'll be using a Youtube video. Crisis Core is the same thing... I have zero intention of doing Advent Children right now. If that changes, you'll see it appear on my docket, but don't expect it.

Also notice the term overwhelming. If just two or three people want me to do it, great, but unless I get at least four or more people that want it I don't think I would consider it. I want to write open world fics, and if I do novelize Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core, I'd rather do so because people want it rather than me flailing around in the darkness against my own desires. I don't like the idea of novelizing something I don't have much experience with. If I do, it'll take some convincing, and I doubt you guys would want it that badly. But if you do, you do, I guess. Anything of the sort will come after FFV and FFIX, however. FFV has already been posted and the first world is finished, and I've started work on FFIX. Like FFVII that'll essentially be improvised chapter by chapter, so even I don't know how it'll unfold. Pretty much anything I write is like that: my planning abilities are slim, so I just use my old role playing instincts and write off the cuff.

(Very) Minor Notes:

Couple quick references. Cid's gravity bubble comes from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit in One Piece, which essentially creates a compressed earthquake. And Sephiroth's spear is inspired by Seymour's lance during his battle with the party at Gagazet in FFX. The path that Cloud, Barret, and Red XIII took down through the crater was actually inspired by the idea that the path in the game looked sort of almost living, so I took things to their ultimate extent and made the road part of Jenova. And the whole shooting star thing at the end was totally improvised, and wasn't in the original notes. I considered not adding this, but whatever... it's all on the table now.

Bahamut:

I probably overloaded the system with this one, even more than usual. But I thought for a while and I couldn't justify fighting Ultimate WEAPON from the deck of the airship, so the party couldn't defeat it that way. And the damned thing needed to be taken out somehow. Cid never had a reason to arm the Highwind with a super-weapon, so that was out too. Using Bahamut as a Deus ex Machina was all I could come up with. Making him into a sarcastic asshole was just a last minute decision, however, though I found it very satisfying to make him act like a jerk. I love him telling Yuffie off... One final hurrah for Yuffie's mania. "THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU EVEN SHOW UP?!" was, in my mind, probably as close to a One Piece comedy scene as I'll ever come up with, complete with empty white eyes and a wide open mouth. It was probably better in my head, though, like usual...

Dialogue and Style:

You'll most likely notice that my style's changed radically from when I first started. Basically, Midgar is its own standalone piece in terms of actual writing style. From there I got progressively more and more descriptive, but there were a couple of intermediate writing styles as well. At one point I made it so that every paragraph started with dialogue and had a certain minimum length. Then I transitioned into what ended up coming out for Part Three. I think it was for the better, but it also might have plateaued around Chapter 37 or so...

Action, Reaction, and Inaction:

I'm sure it's a lot better inside my head, but I hope I portrayed action scenes well enough. Every movement, every swing, every step, etc. For example, when Rufus draws his shotgun, he flicks his wrist and brings it up from his coat, cocks it, and aims it. That was one of my favorite mental images from the whole fic, actually. Just... Swoosh, Click.

Monster Battling, Mid-Bosses and Bosses:

Ultimate WEAPON, Dark Dragon, Iron Giant, Grand Chimera, Dragon Zombie, Jenova-Synthesis, Bizarro Sephiroth, Safer Sephiroth, and the finale with Sephiroth. That's nine, like I was aiming for, just like I said last chapter. I've always enjoyed writing action pieces - that was one of my favorite parts of role-playing on sites like Bleach Forums - so I wanted to go all out to make the final chapter over the top. Maybe I did too much? But I had a killer time choreographing everything. Same with every enemy encounter, Mid-Boss, and Boss from the start to the finish. I put everything I had into everything from the Guard Scorpion to Sephiroth. I'll leave it up to you to determine whether I messed up or not.

Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa:

I'm hoping I did the love triangle some kind of justice. I didn't want to basically say: "They both have the hots for him, but it never really gets addressed." Like I said in Chapter 38, I'm a pretty big Cloud/Tifa shipper, but I also wanted to give Aerith her moments in the relationship between the three of them. Hopefully I balanced out both of their relationships not just with Cloud, but each other. Portraying the angle as both of them being both friends and rivals, for example. In future works like Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, Cloud and Tifa are still close friends, but romance isn't really in the cards for them. If it was, Tifa would have a ring on her finger in Advent Children... so they're still just friends. Or maybe not...? Future works won't be canon, so...

Everyone's in the Spotlight:

One of the biggest aims I had when writing this was to personalize every character from my own angle, and flesh them out into not only characters but something approaching a 3-D individual and not a sprite on a map. AVALANCHE, the Turks, the player party - I wanted to give everyone some time in the spotlight. From Jessie to Rude to Tifa, etc. I've tried to give each of them their own unique personalities and give them opportunities to shine. In particular, I really like Jessie's last scene in Chapter 8... I rewrote it for the epilogue, actually.

Where Did THAT Go?:

There was a recurring joke with Tifa that went the way of the dodo around Chapter 30... I wasn't sure if it was stretching the content rules or not, so I dropped it. If I recall the last time it showed up was the final scene in Bound for Midgar. There were a couple of similar instances during the first segment where I similarly inferred some nasty words that could have bumped up the age rating to M... Same with "What the flying-"... I'm relatively certain everyone here's able to deal with these words, but I wanted to make sure the T rating was still valid. Consider it OCD blended with paranoia... I do have OCD and I act paranoid most of the time, so... Yeah, there you go.

Tifa, Yuffie and Aerith:

These three I hijacked considerably. Somewhere along the way Aerith became a naughty trickster, Tifa turned from assertive and spirited to... forceful... and Yuffie ended up as pure slapstick. If I offended anyone with these portrayals I apologize, but I did want to create my own characters to a certain degree. To be honest for all of them but Yuffie it was just an impulse when I started writing them. When Aerith's plan popped up at Wall Market I sort of seized it and ran with it. I never intended for it to extend as far as it did. Tifa started getting brutal when she roughed up Coates, and that wasn't my original intention, but it sort of grew on me. Since I first started writing those two I've been preparing myself for OOC comments... but I enjoyed writing it, so I'll accept all the flak you have to give me.

And Yuffie was just my own personal design, more or less. From the first time I started writing her I wanted to make her my own and mess with her as much as I wanted to, which was quite a lot, as you've seen me demonstrate. Whether I went too far I can't say, but these three were probably my favorite characters to write. Especially Yuffie. In future works I'll try to balance it out more and make Tifa less bloodthirsty and violent, and naturally Aerith's more or less out of the picture... except Yuffie, I love writing her as she is. That ain't going nowhere. And I already have a few ideas on how to use her mania. In a future work she might have a bigger role than usual, maybe even acquire something special...

Canon? What Canon?:

I think I gave up the right to call any of this canon a long time ago. But I have tried to follow the Expanded Universe's timeline and stories as best I could. Sakaki from Barret's flashback is one such character, and while it would have been cool to have Yuffie and Vincent take on the big baddies, it would contradict Dirge of Cerberus and its opening scenes. And then we have Materia Fusion/Infusion/Evolution, Barret's custom Gun-arm, Spiral Spheres and all the other crazy garbage I've thrown at you, to boot! But I wanted to write my own interpretation of the story, not just write a transcript. I don't regret any of the mechanics I introduced... 'cause I thought they were cool. That's the sum of it: I liked it, so I wrote it. It all comes down to that one little sentence.

Tifa/Zangan/Bugenhagen:

I must admit, this plot line was totally improvised, and I had no idea it was going to pop up period. But when I wrote my side piece Bound for Midgar, I was so taken by the idea of keeping Zangan's promise that I decided to throw it in. Problem being: it popped up a lot more than I thought it would. Anyone who hasn't read it and has been confused with Tifa and Bugenhagen this entire time, uh... Sorry. My bad. I know not many people read it, but I like it as a bridge piece between different story arcs - Gold Saucer to Cosmo Canyon. I encourage anyone interested in the dynamic give it a shot, even if it's not my best piece. Giving Zangan his time in the sun seemed worth it, make him more than just "wise old martial arts master." Otherwise just assume that there's been interaction between the three of them, at some point in the relatively distant past. The scene with Final Heaven, however, is probably pretty confusing without reading Bound For Midgar...

The End... Or Is It?

We've come to the end of the main fic itself, but the story isn't over quite yet. The next five chapters serve as an epilogue to the members of AVALANCHE as they enter the new age of Gaia where Mako is discouraged and Shinra dismantled. I've included everyone in the party... except Vincent. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything other than him just talking to Lucrecia, so it'll just be the other characters. Please don't hate me for that, I know there's a lot more to hate me for anyway.

Next up on the schedule is going to be a novelization of FFV, and after that I'm planning on tackling IX next, both of which are already in the works. If you guys really want Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core I'll do my best to oblige, but that'll come after FFV and FFIX are finished and posted, and I doubt I'll get that kind of response either way. I already have some ideas of what I'll be doing later, including Chrono Cross, FFVIII, and a novelization of the Golden Sun series if I decide to torture myself. Also plausible are Breath of Fire III and IV, as well as a remake of Chrono Trigger. It all depends on how I feel and whether I think I can pull it off sufficiently well. If I can't come up with something that I consider quality I won't post it.