Chapter 36:
A/N: Rated M for language and violence.
The critical reviews on the last article really brought me down – because they were so spot on. I fucked up. Two months was not enough time to build a relationship for Tifa and Reno. This is the first piece of fiction I've written in nearly two decades, and I fucked it up. It didn't matter that Cloud had pulled away for months before, or that Reno was helpful and around; two months simply isn't enough time.
If I had to do it all over again I would make it much, much longer than two months, have Tifa go looking for Cloud more than her trip to the church, searching while in the helicopter and on the Highwind, and hoping to find him when she finally went to the Forgotten Capital. My plan was to deal with the issues that would keep her and Reno apart and I didn't do that well enough. I'm sorry.
This does not mean that I am abandoning this fic. I will keep pressing on. Maybe I'll go back and fix it when it's all over. Please do NOT go after the reviewers in the comments, I agree with what they said, and they were respectful in their comments. I've known for a while now that two months was too short a time for Cloud to be gone, but the story kept moving forward and I got trapped to that timeline. I know from personal experience you don't just move on from someone that quickly unless they do something unforgiveable (in which case you hate them but you still hurt for a while) or something monumental changes in your own life (this, uh, probably does not happen to most people).
For those that have read this story and walked away with this same feeling, I'm sorry. To those who still like this story, don't worry, it'll continue.
Chapter 36:
Yuffie's eyes flickered open blearily, her vision blurred as she struggled to figure out where she was. She scrunched her eyes closed as pain echoed in her head, a deafening scream seemingly stabbing her from within. She couldn't make out anything in front of her besides clusters of colors, her vision doubled, vague, undefined forms traveling toward each other but then sliding back apart. She tried to focus on the smudges she saw at some distance in front of her, beyond a field of light brown and bright green. Ahead of her were three forms she assumed were not part of the scenery – one navy blue and dark brown with a speck of white, another orange and red, and the third dark blue and black with some white.
She closed her eyes again, opening and then closing them again several more times until she could finally focus on her surroundings. She had been thrown from the pit where AVALANCHE was fighting Jenova and was now slumped against the back wall of the cavern above. Every bone in her body ached. Her legs stretched out in front of her as she hunched over, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her palms upturned on the rocky surface beneath her.
Across the pit illuminated by the Lifestream lay Cid, Nanaki, and Tseng. Yuffie let her head roll to the left, allowing her to see Cait Sith, Elena, and Barret. To her right, Reno and Vincent. Cloud, Tifa, and Rude were still down in the pit fighting Jenova. Yuffie could hear the creature's screeches, the sound of metal meeting flesh, and the cries and grunts of her friends – and Rude – as they labored on.
Everyone who had been thrown back above looked just as beaten as Yuffie; barely moving, crumpled in varying positions around the pit in the center. She couldn't even remember how they all got back up there, but she figured it was not voluntary.
Flashback…
Tifa helped Cloud back to his feet after the blinding headache took hold of him. Of the hundreds, possibly thousands of headaches he had over the past year, he could honestly say this was the worst. Now that he could see Jenova, the pain seemed to be worse. It felt as if Jenova's tentacles were inside his skull, the sharp fingers clawing at his brain and damaging his senses.
While AVALANCHE waited as their fearless leader recovered, the Turks' body language yet again showed annoyance. Reno and Rude had their arms crossed, Elena had shifted her weight to one leg, sticking her hip out, and Tseng prepared his weapon. The four Turks exchanged quiet nods before Tseng said simply, "Don't get killed." With that, he jumped down into the pit, followed quickly by his three underlings.
Cloud did a double take when he heard the grunts and saw the forms of his four former adversaries disappear into the space below. He wasn't used to people charging in before him. Typically, he rushed in, slashing wildly, cutting through minions or drawing the attention of the main foe, while everyone else followed to back him up. He briefly looked at Tifa, then the other members of AVALANCHE, before drawing his sword and leaping below.
As he had asked, Tifa stayed close, attacking the tentacles that tried to claw Cloud away from Jenova's center mass. She grabbed one that was raking its sharp talons along his back and pulled it hard before grasping it with her other hand and twisting until she heard a squishing tear. The end of the tentacle tore from its shaft, still squirming. Tifa snapped each of the fingers off and threw it behind her. She grabbed two more tentacles and stretched them to full length, jumping off the floating debris and twisting up to kick the body of Jenova before flipping over and ripping the tentacles from its body.
Cloud was slicing off tentacles left and right in order to get to the alien's head. Whenever he came close to the creature, a new tentacle seemed to appear and push him back several feet. He would slice it off and continue forward only to have two more tentacles grab him by each arm and fling him away. Angered, he got to his feet and charged toward Jenova's face, his sword ready to stab it through the head. As he approached close enough to stare into its eyes, he could see its pupils contract to a feline sliver, instantly causing blinding pain to shoot through Cloud's head. He fell to his knees again, thinking his head was about to explode, as two tentacles slowly slithered to either side of him before encircling each of his arms. Jenova tilted its head as if studying Cloud and lifted him off the ground. He was in too much pain to put up a fight, but he still struggled. The tentacles began to pull him closer to the creature and Cloud felt as though his blood was about to be ripped from his body.
Tifa noticed the current situation and rushed to his help, as did Barret, who was standing to Cloud's left. Barret opened fire on the tentacle holding Cloud's left arm, while Tifa dealt a series of devastating blows to the other one. Barret's bullets quickly ripped through the left tentacle and another one took its place. Another appendage snaked its way behind Barret and quickly wrapped around his waist, constricting until he gasped for air and stopped firing. When Tifa broke through the other tentacle, yet another grabbed her by the leg and slung her back into the Lifestream wall.
Meanwhile, Cloud was getting pulled closer to Jenova, the pain throughout his body becoming excruciating. He wondered how he hadn't been ripped limb from limb yet or shattered from the inside out. Cid and Nanaki came to his sides to replace Barret and Tifa, trying to rip through the tentacles that gripped Cloud. They succeeded simultaneously, and Cloud retreated a few feet to catch his breath. Jenova seemed focused on him. It must have sensed the cells in his body and been trying to get him to merge into it. He was going to have to change tactics if he was going to fight it and stay alive.
Before he could stand back up, the fiend was floating toward him, even as AVALANCHE and the Turks had continued attacking.
"Attack the tentacles!" Cloud yelled as the creature was upon him again.
He knew Tifa was no longer beside him, but he didn't have a second to look for her as the beast was desperately trying to get his cells reunited with its own. He switched up his sword pattern to shred the tentacles as they reached for him. Until those tentacles were destroyed, he wouldn't be able to get near its face.
Tifa's body hit the Lifestream waterfall as if she had fallen on her back into a body of water from a decent distance. Her limbs felt like they were on fire even though she was surrounded by cool, green liquid.
"You don't belong here," Tifa heard Aeris' voice.
Tifa opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by the Lifestream. She quickly closed her eyes again, not wanting to see the faces of those she had lost again. She heard the screams of the dead and tried to swim for air, not knowing which direction she needed to go.
Suddenly she felt something solid beneath her feet and she was able to stand. She opened her eyes, no longer feeling like she was wet or swimming. All around her, for as far as she could see, was white. No walls, no floor, nothing but white. She spun around as she sensed the presence of another person. When she stopped, she was face to face with her old friend. Aeris' lips curled into a smile, and her wide, emerald eyes brightened.
"Looks like you've been having fun," she said.
There was no judgment or malice in her voice, but it still cut to the heart of Tifa's guilt. She blushed, embarrassed that her best friend knew of her indiscretions. Of course Aeris knew, she was one with the planet. The silver lining was that Tifa now truly knew that Aeris was watching over her.
Tifa looked down at her feet and never-ending whiteness beneath her. How could Aeris seem so accepting, even knowing the feelings that were tugging at Tifa's heart this very moment. Aeris noticed her friend's distress and sighed audibly. Tifa looked up at her friend, who stood mere feet away with her arms outstretched, motioning for Tifa to embrace her in a hug. Tifa tried to force a smile and step toward her friend, extending her own arms.
She splashed out of the Lifestream and fell several feet to the rocky ground below. Her body no longer hurt, and she realized she wasn't in pain from the fall, having landed on something softer than rock. She scrambled to her feet to find Reno beneath her. Embarrassed, she stepped away from him, her back coming dangerously close to re-entering the Lifestream.
"What the?" she asked.
"Ow, babe," Reno said, rubbing his shoulder before he stood up. "Some thank you."
Tifa realized that Aeris had been instructing her to move forward and reach out for Reno, who was trying to get to her out of the Lifestream.
While Cloud had been struggling to avoid getting sucked into Jenova, Reno noticed Tifa get thrown back into the Lifestream. He glanced at Cloud to see that he was contending with Jenova and that AVALANCHE seemed to be helping him, so Reno sprinted toward Tifa to help her. She was too high up in the Lifestream for him to reach her to pull her out. He was mentally preparing himself to dive in to save her – trying to suppress his fears of what he would see while in there – when she suddenly burst out of the liquid and crashed onto him. It was as if she were shoved back toward Jenova.
Tifa looked toward Jenova to see her friends battling the tentacles that were trying to grab Cloud. She watched as one of the appendages Cloud sliced through flew behind him and fell to the ground, where it flopped around like a fish out of water for a moment before slithering back toward Jenova to be absorbed by the monster.
"Oh my God," she said when she realized what was happening. She thanked Reno quickly before taking off back toward her friends.
Reno stood back watching her run away, stunned that his chivalry hadn't seemed to register with her.
"Stop fighting the tentacles!" Tifa yelled as she returned to AVALANCHE. "Jenova's absorbing them back."
"The hell?" Barret asked as he continued blasting away at a pair of tentacles working their way toward Cloud.
"It's pointless," Tifa said. She was covered in a faint green slime, soaked with the Lifestream. "Its just merging with them. We're wasting our time."
"Then how the fuck are we supposed to fight this thing?" Cid asked, still stabbing at appendages with his spear.
"Magic?" Tifa suggested. "Try to get at the core, I guess."
Cloud shot her a glance and nodded quickly. He backed away from Jenova, dodging tentacles, and concentrated. The green glow of the LIfestream was replaced by a clouded purple sky as ancient runes dotted the area around Jenova. The floor beneath the creature turned black, speckled with stars. A strong gust of wind began blowing upward, and soon the fiend was surrounded in darkness. One by one, twelve giant knights appeared and struck Jenova before flying away into the ether.
When it was over, Jenova opened its mouth and let out an ear-shattering shriek so forceful the fighters around it were pushed back several feet.
Yuffie had started the fight by throwing her Conformer to sever a few tentacles. She repeated this several times but saw no point as there seemed to be too many of them. Besides, she was all too happy to switch to materia. She blasted Jenova with Meteor, Flare, and Firaga. She summoned Shiva and Bahamut. While she knew she was injuring the monster, it didn't seem to weaken. She downed an ether and kept up the magical barrage, trying to keep her friends cured as best she could.
Yuffie could tell someone on the other side of Jenova was also casting spells, though she couldn't see who. Elena was trying to keep her fellow Turks healed while bombarding Jenova with Blizzaga and Bio. She stood beside Tseng as he fired his gun at the creature's core. When Cloud called for everyone to attack the tentacles, the Turks begrudgingly obliged. Tseng changed his aim to the base of one of the appendages until he shot straight through it, dropping it from the body.
Rude had been attacking Jenova just as Tifa was, ripping off tentacles with his considerable strength and using them as leverage to launch himself at the monster's armored core. While he was working on dismembering two appendages, another quickly wrapped around his waist and slung him back into Reno and Tseng, dropping them all to the floor in a pile.
"Ugh, what the hell is that thing's problem?" Reno asked as he returned to his feet.
"Pretty sure it doesn't want to die," Tseng informed him before again shooting at the creature.
Reno snarled and turned to run back at the monster, cursing as he emptied his pistol into it and raised his mag rod to strike. He drove the EMR into the base of one tentacle as another slapped him across the face.
"You bitch!" He yelled as he twisted the mag rod into the beast's flesh, digging a hole in its skin and electrocuting the wound.
With everyone else giving the creature all they had, it didn't have time to notice any specific pain. Its tentacles just kept flinging fighters away as they attacked regardless of who was doing the most damage at any one moment.
Vincent, like Tseng, was emptying the Death Penalty into Jenova before reloading and firing again. A tentacle reached out to smack his weapon away while another one swiped him through the air to land on his backside several feet away. While no one would ever dare laugh at Vincent Valentine, his loss of balance, combined with the hits he had taken thus far, caused him to start feeling rage. He knew immediately what was happening as his body began to swell and fill with heat. The fire he felt inside manifested itself all around him, signaling to his AVALANCHE friends what was about to come.
In an instant, Vincent seemed to vanish as Chaos stretched out, extending its wings and roaring to warn all in its path. It flew into the air above Jenova and leaned back as if taking a deep breath before releasing a powerful cry that sliced several tentacles from the monster's body in horrifying fashion. The demon then flew directly at Jenova, clawing at its core and ripping out appendages as the monster tried in vain to pull Chaos away. For a moment when Vincent returned to normal it looked like Chaos had done some major damage to Jenova. A large section of its body had become devoid of tentacles, and a bloody wound covered the area. Vincent, who never quite knew the extent of his actions as Chaos, looked pleased with himself as he stepped back to reload his gun. But when he looked back up to start shooting, the wound appeared to have disappeared and several tentacles had already grown back. Vincent said nothing, but Nanaki had been fighting next to him at the time and noticed the drastic and quick regrowth.
"That's… not good," Nanaki said.
He would have tried to bounce theories off of Vincent as they fought alongside each other, but it was at that moment that Tifa was thrown into the Lifestream and Cloud was being pulled toward Jenova, so Nanaki had to step in to free the blond swordsman.
Yuffie saw Tifa flying through the air and started toward her, but quickly noticed that Reno was already sprinting in that direction. Just as she passed around to the front of Jenova, she heard Barret scream in pain after being squeezed by one of the tentacles. Yuffie snapped around quickly to cast a cure spell on him, and by the time she was again heading toward Tifa, Reno already had her.
Cait Sith was trying to alternate between curative spells and physical attacks, but as the battle wore on, he switched to trying to help the party recover. By the time Cloud cast Knights of the Round on Jenova, Cait Sith was feeling depleted and woozy. He looked around at his colleagues, who were starting to tire as well. He didn't have enough strength to cure everyone and was turning to Yuffie to ask for an ether when Jenova stopped moving.
Cid stopped attacking for a moment to look over at Cloud, who was also frozen with anticipation. The blond swordsman recovered quickly and ran toward Jenova as it floated almost motionlessly with its eyes closed, its tentacles pulled back and no longer attacking. As Cloud was about to bring his mighty sword down across the monster's head, the entire party heard the familiar ear-piercing screech of Ultima. The entire area was bathed in a warm green light, which quickly heated up to an intense burning followed by a tremendous blast that threw every Turk and member of AVALANCHE up and back out of the pit, scattering them around the upper cavern like rag dolls.
Rude opened his eyes to find his sunglasses had fallen. He was in so much pain he couldn't even move his arms or hands to look for them and instead let his head fall to the left to find Tifa next to him, lying on her side and not moving. Rude stared at her for a moment, partly due to the fact that moving would have been incredibly painful, but mostly to make sure he could see her breathing. Fearful, he strained to reach into his pocket, wincing as he did so, and dug out a potion. He was too weak to get to her, so he had to use it on himself so he could get to her and give her one of his few remaining bottles.
When he felt slightly better, he let himself fall to his side and crawled on his elbows over to where she lay, hearing the distinctive sound of breaking sunglasses beneath him as he did so. He reached for his last potion and gently pushed Tifa onto her back so he could pour the potion into her mouth. She coughed as the liquid hit her throat and gasped, sitting up and clutching her chest. She looked down to see Rude lying next to her, the bottle still pressed between his fingers.
She looked around to see just about everyone she knew lying limply on the hard, rocky surface. Below, Jenova seemed to be unscathed, despite everything they had done so far. She reached into her own pocket to retrieve an ether, which she promptly consumed. No longer feeling dizzy, she placed a hand on Rude's shoulder and concentrated. Soon they were both engulfed with multi-colored sparkling lights dancing all around them, lifting their energy and healing their wounds.
With herself healed and Rude repaid for his kindness, Tifa looked over her shoulder to see Cloud lying a few feet away, leaning against the back wall of the cavern. He wasn't moving, but his eyes were scrunched tight and Tifa knew instantly he was in the midst of another headache and was suffering through it without being able to move – not that anything he did helped.
She scrambled over to him and cast Curaga on him. It wouldn't help his head pain, but at least he'd be able to move his limbs. Tifa cuddled against him for support until he recovered.
"I'm okay," he said when the pain stopped, searching their surroundings to determine where he was. "We have to get back in there."
"But nothing's working, Cloud," Tifa informed him. "Jenova seems fine, but look around, everyone's struggling."
"I know, but… we have to keep trying."
Cloud stood up and offered a hand to Tifa. He gave her a sorrowful look through heavy-lidded eyes. Tifa tilted her head and attempted to smile, though her eyes still conveyed the sadness of someone who knew the future didn't look bright.
Without another word, Cloud leapt down into the pit again, sword angled directly at Jenova's head. The creature easily swatted him away as Tifa joined him down below. Again Jenova reached for Cloud. Tifa spun around to bring the full force of her heel into one of the tentacles encircling Cloud's arm, breaking clear through it. The other appendage gripped his arm tighter, wrenching him forward. Before Tifa could get to it, Rude dropped down from above, landing on the tentacle at its weakest point and ripping it from Cloud.
"Thanks," the blond responded before continuing his onslaught.
Present moment…
Yuffie felt as though she could pass out again but used what little will she had left to concentrate on her armor. Within seconds, small green sparkles, like tiny fireworks, appeared and quickly disappeared all around her. The weak cure spell didn't help much, but it was enough to give her the strength to stagger to her feet, using the cavern wall for support.
She reached into her satchel to retrieve an ether. Feeling a bit stronger, she fished out her only megaelixir. She'd never seen it used on a group as large as what was left, but she saw it as their only hope right now. She uncorked the bottle and threw it high into the air. The result was… not what she wanted. Instead of healing everyone fully, it only worked at half strength.
She looked around to see everyone left up above slowly start to wake up and realize the trouble they were all in. The megaelixir hadn't done enough to get them back into fighting condition, and it was her only one. She had a few more ethers left, but if she started to fully heal everyone around the pit, she would surely run out. But if she didn't help heal, everyone would be useless. She reached into her satchel to grab another ether, ready to down the battle and do everything in her power to get everyone else back in the game, when she heard a familiar voice echo off the cavern walls.
"Maybe this will help." It was Aeris' soft, sweet voice.
Yuffie looked around as if she would see her dearly departed friend in the cave with them, but all she saw were her friends – and the Turks, which she didn't hate any more but certainly wasn't ready to put in the same category as she would put AVALANCHE. To her, it seemed everyone had heard Aeris' voice, as they all seemed to be looking around for something. As they looked high and low for the source of melodic voice, a gust of wind encircled the cavern counterclockwise, bathing the party in a warm green glow as white healing light lifted their spirits and mended their wounds.
Yuffie closed her eyes and let her lips part with a soft breath as she felt her energy return. She, along with the others around her, were able to rise to their feet. The members of AVALANCHE understood immediately what had happened, but Reno and Elena were a little confused. The two looked at each other with questioning expressions and then turned to Tseng, who had a smile on his face.
"Aeris," he said, almost under his breath.
Elena and Reno again looked shocked, but Elena's confusion quickly turned to a snarl. It had taken her two years to get Tseng over that Ancient girl, but he finally was. Now she feared all those old feeling would come back and she would be left out in the cold.
Reno visibly shook from the spooky feeling that the ghost girl had just touched everyone. No thank you.
Cid, who was across the pit from Yuffie, had an unobstructed view of the entrance to the cavern. Monsters continued to trail in from beyond, walking into the pit and falling down to Jenova, where they were absorbed into the mass. He knew this had been happening while they were down there fighting, but it hadn't dawned on him until now that even 12 of the world's best fighters might not be able to compete with the cell regeneration taking place at a steady pace. Cid's eyes widened with the realization, and he called out.
"We have to stop the fuckin' monsters!" He yelled, quickly walking around the pit – Venus Gospel drawn – toward the entrance. He stabbed the next beast that entered, a crawler, and readied himself to strike any more that came into the cavern. "They're healing the Goddamned monster," he added.
"The Turks will handle it," Tseng spoke up. As he did so, however, he caught out of the corner of his eye Reno jumping down into the pit. Tseng looked back at Cid. "Um, the Turks will help. Elena can heal."
"Alright," Cid said with a nod of his head. "Nanaki, you stay up here with me, the rest of you get down there and help Cloud!"
The other members of AVALANCHE nodded in agreement and hopped into the pit to help a rejuvenated Cloud, Tifa, and Rude.
Cid did his best to simply keep the monsters back by threatening them with his spear. It made a couple monsters take a step back, but whatever Jenova was using to draw them in at this point made their instincts fail. They were soon walking straight into Cid's spear, pushing him back, in an effort to get to the pit. Cid and Nanaki viciously attacked those that tried to squeeze through the entrance, while Tseng dealt final blows to those that made it past and handled any stragglers. Elena concentrated solely on keeping everyone healed, figuring it was best right now to save her strength and let the others do the actual fighting.
Back down in the pit, Cloud caught a glimpse of Jenova's changed expression. For an instant, the alien looked ever so nervous when it realized it was no longer absorbing reinforcements. Its widened eyes quickly narrowed at Cloud and the fiend hissed, sending fetid spittle onto his face. Cloud gagged and stepped back, the spit burning his skin. He looked around at his friends, all doing everything they could to take down this monster that was proving to be a far more difficult foe than even Sephiroth. Cloud was now convinced that Sephiroth really wasn't fighting at his full strength when they faced each other in this very place two years ago. Perhaps, though, Jenova cells could only go so far.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl in the instant Cloud looked around at everyone fighting on behalf of the planet – and to help him. He had been silently praying this entire time that destroying Jenova this time would end the planet's suffering and his own. He didn't want to have those cells in him anymore; he didn't want the headaches, or the pain, or the fear that made him feel guilty or like he needed to be away from everyone, especially since the person who was hurt most by everything he was going through was Tifa. He didn't want to let her down again.
Barret was firing endlessly at Jenova's core, his good arm folded under his gun arm to provide a stable base to aim. He was standing further back than most of his comrades, but Jenova's tentacles would still reach out to slap him back further. Each time he would get up and continue toward the monster, never wavering and never showing weakness.
Yuffie was alternating between throwing her Conformer and healing her friends. She had perfected an art where she would throw her weapon and cast a spell while waiting for the shuriken to return. Even with her boundless energy, this battle was weighing on her. She was spending so much time caring for other people that she let her own well-being slide. She was tiring, but it wasn't until she couldn't physically get back up that she would cast a Cure spell on herself.
She had really grown up since she fought with AVALANCHE two years ago. Back then, she was selfish and greedy, more concerned with herself and how much materia she could collect than with the party's mission.
Cait Sith was standing perfectly still, at first seeming like he had broken down. After a moment, the little cat grinned and the image of the woman painted on the side of the Highwind appeared out of thin air just above him. Everyone around Jenova was suddenly, briefly engulfed in a transparent heart. Cait Sith returned to casting high-level spells on Jenova, never missing.
Vincent, like Barret, was firing his weapon at Jenova – at least until his magazine was empty. He'd reload and fire again, throwing a potion or ether to anyone who needed one in between.
Rude was flying through the air, kicking and punching Jenova and doing his best to avoid the tentacles. He, too, was tiring again as the party was reduced to limited healing items. Rude tried his best to keep the tentacles away from Tifa and Reno while not ripping them off or spending too much time on them. It was difficult, but he was managing, even if it didn't look like Jenova was weakening.
Reno would stab Jenova's core with his EMR and hold it as long as he could until the beast would swat him away with an appendage. As he was flung back, he'd fire his weapon, then repeat the process. He was keeping close to Tifa to ensure she wouldn't accidentally be targeted by the monster or thrown into the LIfestream again. He knew she was focusing on helping Cloud, but the blond was focusing on Jenova.
Finally, Cloud looked to his right at Tifa, who had stayed by his side this entire fight. He watched as she attacked the tentacles that tried to wrap around him on her way to smashing the alien's body. Watching her fight had always been mesmerizing to him. She might as well have been a ballerina floating through the air, but she had the force of a truck. And through it all, she was as gentle and caring a person as Cloud had ever met.
A simple smile graced his lips when he looked at her, knowing how hard she was fighting for him. His smile quickly turned to a frown when he came to the conclusion that they were really not getting anywhere with this creature, and their strength and supplies were running low.
Cloud looked straight forward at Jenova's head, which the alien had been vehemently protecting this entire time. Cloud had not been able to get a single hit on its face, and he realized that was the only answer.
"Tifa…" he said, knowing that she would protest to what he was going to say.
"Yeah?" she asked, glancing over at him quickly but returning to the fight.
"Stop," Cloud responded solemnly.
Tifa stepped back from Jenova and looked at him with wide, questioning eyes.
"What?" she asked. "Why?"
Cloud gave her a sorrowful look and turned to Barret on his left.
"Barret, stand down," he told his friend.
"Huh?" Barret asked, ignoring Cloud's request and continuing to fire.
"Barret, stop. There's nothing more you can do."
Tifa and Barret continued to stare at Cloud before Tifa realized what he was saying.
"Cloud, no!" she pleaded.
"It's the only way," the swordsman responded.
He let his arms drop to his sides, still gripping the handle of his sword as it dragged on the ground. Cloud took a deep breath and locked eyes with Jenova as the beast sent several tentacles to encircle Cloud's waist.
Tifa instinctively lunged toward Cloud, extending her hand in a futile attempt to hold him back from getting sucked into Jenova. She felt an arm around her waist, pulling her back. She struggled against the force, kicking and flailing her arms to free herself.
Reno tightened his grip on her and brought his other arm around her chest to restrain her arms. Tifa continued to scream obscenities at him to let her go and kick his shins as he dragged her back away from what was about to happen. He knew she was angry with him, but he also knew she needed to be held back to let Cloud do what he was going to do. Reno hated Cloud at that moment more than he ever had before. Sacrificing himself? Really?
Reno knew it was a disgusting thought, but he hated that Cloud's sacrifice would mean Tifa would love him forever, and the Turk would never be able to compare. Part of him wanted to let Tifa go to see if she would stop Cloud, but it was also the first time he was able to hold her since the blond pansy came back.
Barret watched in horror as Jenova slowly pulled Cloud toward it. The other members of AVALANCHE – and Rude – had slowly taken notice that some had stopped fighting and walked around the creature to see what was going on. They could still hear the sounds of those fighting above the pit, but the scene down below felt heavy with silence.
Cloud struggled as the creature bound his arms with additional tentacles. As he neared its body, he could feel his insides being pulled. The Jenova cells were being drawn out and he screamed as his blood again felt like it was about to be ripped from within him. He let the pain fill him with rage and kept Tifa in his heart. He was doing this to save her and everyone else on the planet. He couldn't fail.
Those watching could see the beginning of Cloud's merge with Jenova. Specks of flesh and blood were being torn from Cloud and sucked into the monster. Within seconds, he would be gone forever. Tifa knew what his plan was but couldn't understand how it would work. Would he be able to destroy Jenova after merging with it? She couldn't imagine a scenario where he would come back to her. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she watched him start to disappear into the alien.
Cloud was at the point where he could feel Jenova's hot breath on his face when his rage and adrenaline finally boiled over. As the creature continued to pull him toward it, he let out a low, menacing growl. His arms began to shake within the tentacles, causing the fiend to pause in confusion for a moment. Cloud was then able to burst his arms free of the confines and bring his sword up in front of him, pointing it directly at Jenova's face.