A/N: I would have updated this 3 weeks ago, however all of my attempts to upload the new chapter failed silently regardless of what I did. I even tried to add a note to the previous chapter to let people know I was having issues, but that also failed.
Cloud Finds His Equipment
Five minutes.
That's all that Cloud asks for. Five minutes to clean up his mess, grab his equipment, and slip back, unnoticed, into the halls of the military facility. And then, if he's really lucky, maybe he'll manage to make it out of Junon before Shinra even realizes that he's gone.
"Tch. As if," Cloud grumbles, snatching the wallet from Two Guns's pocket before hefting the man over his shoulder. As if things would ever be that easy for him. Not when his name was cursed a thousand ways from Sunday.
No, he tells himself, his lips still pulled into a scowl as he presses Reno's keycard to the door and steps inside the room the Turks had been guarding – if he wanted to avoid fighting an entire army just to escape the city, then he'd have to work for it. Wishing on stars had never gotten him anywhere. If it had, then Zack and Aerith would still be alive.
His Zack and Aerith.
With that thought in mind, he hastens his pace, dumping the unconscious Two Guns into a corner of the room before returning to the hallway for Elena and the unknown swordsman. By the 30 second marker, he's 'scrubbed' the crime scene and given into the temptation to exact petty revenge, lifting the weapons off of the Turks' bodies and tossing them behind a row of filing cabinets on the opposite side of the room.
Cloud surveys the room – around him are filing cabinets lining the walls and a large vault door in the very back of the room. He breaks the lock off of one of the filing cabinets, but all he finds inside are classified documents. And since he's not here for information on the inner workings of the mako reactors, he drops the papers, slides the drawer shut, and goes to investigate the vault door instead.
Like the door he had just come through, the vault door has a pad to scan a keycard. But it also has a biometric scanner next to it. So as a last fuck you to Two Guns, Cloud drags the man's body over and uses his keycard and hand to unlock the door. When Cloud hears the click of the lock, he drops Two Guns back onto the floor and then spins the spoke handle to disengage the pins and open the door.
Inside the vault, he finds row after row of lockboxes – one or two of which he's sure must contain his swords and clothing. However, since none of them have a glass cover or helpful inventory sheet to tell him what lies within and since he's no longer out in the open, he decides to feed mana into his newly reacquired bracer and summon Shiva for a helping hand.
She doesn't do anything at first, though. She just hovers there, frost creeping across the floor as she looks from Cloud to the lockboxes and back to Cloud again.
What did you summon me for, little mortal? There are no enemies here, her gaze says.
Cloud sighs – right. After years of using natural materia and years more of no materia at all, he had forgotten that there was no mental connection when dealing with a manufactured summon.
He'd have to do this the hard way, then.
"See this?" he says, grabbing the padlock on the lockbox closest to him. "Can you freeze all of these locks for me?"
Shiva tilts her head to the side, her teal hair swaying behind her. She doesn't say anything – can't say anything – but the question 'Why?' is clear enough in her eyes.
"Shin—My enemies," he corrects himself, unsure if the word Shinra was equivalent to god in her programming. "They stole all of my equipment and locked it away in one of these boxes." Shiva blinks languidly at him, like an oversized blue-tinged cat, and after an awkwardly silent pause, Cloud continues his explanation. "…And since it would take forever to pick all of these locks myself, I need you to break them for me… Please," he tacks on as an afterthought, remembering Tifa's stern lectures about being nice.
She studies him for a moment more – thinking – and then finally nods her acquiescence. With a flourish, she transforms herself into a small crystal of ice and flits around the vault, encasing each lock in a miniature glacier.
In a matter of seconds, she's finished, returning to her corporeal form with a jaunty twist in the air. She lands next to Cloud and, smiling an approximation of the true Shiva's smile, blows a frozen kiss to the room.
The effect is immediate. In a series of cracks – not unlike the popping of popcorn – the locks break and fall, useless, to the floor.
"Huh," Cloud huffs a small impressed breath, and Shiva, satisfied that her work is complete, disappears in a flurry of 0's and 1's.
"Thanks," he calls after her before returning to the task at hand – grabbing his stuff and getting the hell outta Dodge.
It takes a few moments, but by the tenth lockbox – and roughly the two-minute mark – Cloud finally finds his swords, stacked neatly, his harness lying on top.
He reaches a hand forward, almost reverently, and pulls the harness from the box. The leather is still supple, still strong, and after a quick second ensuring it hadn't been tampered with, Cloud straps it to his back, the feel of it like a balm to his already-ravaged soul.
Surprisingly enough, his swords are similarly untouched – whether because Tseng was too lazy, too tired, or too cocky to attach a tracking device, Cloud doesn't really care. He slings the pieces back into their rightful place in his harness and continues on.
Since he's running on borrowed time, Cloud's plan is to find his clothes and change into them once he's escaped the military facility. And when he opens the door to the next lockbox – before he's hit the two-and-a-half-minute mark – he comes face-to-cotton with said clothes.
Finally.
He sighs, relieved, and for the first time since he had surrendered, starts to think that things might actually go his way for once…
…And that's his first mistake.
Because the moment his fingers graze the metal of the wolf on his pauldron, his world splits open in agony.
He keels forward, one hand clinging to the frame of the lockbox, his other grasping blindly for his head. His vision blurs, his skull throbs, a rage like no other pounding its way to life within him.
How dare he, it says, and Cloud knows he won't be getting those five minutes after all.
Sephiroth was here.
Rufus and Tseng Discuss Strategy
Rufus and Tseng are still in their apartment, outside the hall closet while they dress in the spare suits they keep there for just such an occasion (aka an emergency where they don't want to wake Aerith).
Rufus fastens his pants as Tseng tells him how Sephiroth and Cissnei had found Reno, Rude, Kunsel, Zack, and Kadaj unconscious in the prison block with the prisoner (and Kadaj's uniform) nowhere to be seen. Rufus raises an eyebrow and asks, "Kadaj?", as he shrugs into his dress shirt and starts to button it up.
Tseng tells him that Kadaj was likely involved with the prisoner's escape. Rufus scoffs and says, "Naturally." as he buttons the cuffs of his shirt.
Rufus toes into his shoes and then pulls a black necktie from the drawer in the closet. He unrolls it and slings it around his neck. "The others?" he asks, referring to Elena, Two Guns, and Katana.
Tseng stops dressing himself and steps forward to tie Rufus's tie for him, telling him that he's had no response from the others. And Rufus realizes that most likely means that all of the Turks in Junon, save Tseng, are out of commission.
Rufus: "The vault?"
Tseng: "Sephiroth is en route."
Rufus: "Good."
Tseng finishes up and runs a hand down Rufus's chest, acting like he's smoothing out any wrinkles there, but Rufus knows better. It's the only act of intimacy Tseng will allow himself right now, as if his touch was an invisible charm that would keep Rufus safe as he goes off to war.
Rufus slips his suit jacket on, buttons it up, and tells Tseng to stay behind and watch over Aerith – this is to 1) protect Aerith and 2) make sure Aerith doesn't go wandering out into the military facility with their prisoner at bay. "And if anybody tries to enter this apartment…" Rufus grabs his spare pistol and looks Tseng straight in the eye. "Shoot them."
Cloud and Sephiroth Fight
The scene starts with Sephiroth and Cloud already fighting. Cloud reminisces on how Sephiroth had told him to surrender, but all he had done was turn to the man – or at least in the direction he thought the man was in – his sword raised in front of him. Sephiroth had responded with a simple, "If you wish to do this the hard way, then so be it." before attacking.
Cloud is brought back to the present by an attack that gets entirely too close for his liking. He chides himself for getting distracted as Masamune cuts the helmet right off of his head.
The problem, though, is that he's still half-blinded by Sephiroth's anger. He can make out a distinct blob that is Sephiroth, but he's relying on instinct to keep up.
(Note: Sephiroth went to the prison block first. When he found Zack's unconscious body in one of the cells, he thought for a brief, agonizing moment that Zack was dead – that he had lost another soulmate. And even though Zack was actually alive, the possibility of almost having lost him coupled with Sephiroth's indignation at how Cloud had locked him and a uniform-less Kadaj up had turned into an ugly rage. And that's what Cloud is dealing with now.)
Cloud is surprised by the force of the emotion he's feeling through their link. It's never been quite this overwhelming before. Never been so raw and untempered. Sure, the Sephiroth he had known had loved toying with him. Loved to probe his defenses and try to turn him into a mindless puppet again, but along the way Cloud had learned how to resist him.
This, though? This was different.
Cloud wonders why. Was it because the Sephiroth he had known had wanted Cloud to see everything? To know that even with all of his senses, he was still powerless to resist or save the ones he cared for? Or perhaps this Sephiroth was just different? So even though he had the same makeup as the Sephiroth that Cloud had known, he was still different enough that their link wasn't the same? Or was Cloud the one who was different now? Had his makeup been altered when he was sent to this world such that he was now more vulnerable to the link he and Sephiroth shared?
Cloud's not entirely sure. He just knows that as the fight goes on, Sephiroth's anger shifts into something more like confusion (confusion that Cloud can keep up with him?). And then that confusion morphs into curiosity and intrigue. (Note: Since Cloud can't see that well right now, he's been paying close attention to the link he shares with Sephiroth so he can better predict where the man is going to attack next. And this is how he knows that Sephiroth's mood is changing.)
Their swords met with a loud clash, and with the change in Sephiroth's mood, Cloud's vision finally clears.
He falters; stands there, their swords locked together, as his brain tries to process what is actually in front of him. And he stays like that until Sephiroth tries to take advantage of his distraction. But Cloud's training kicks in and he immediately disengages and jumps back as far as he can from Sephiroth.
And then he just stares at the man.
Who is clad in a pair of Chocobo-print pajama bottoms…
…and nothing else.
"What the fuck are you wearing?"
Sephiroth doesn't answer his question (though Cloud does feel a twinge of… embarrassment (?) through their link). Instead, the man commends Cloud on how skilled he is and asks where he had learned to fight.
Cloud: "Like I'd tell you."
Sephiroth: "Hmm."
Sephiroth launches forward to attack again, which gives Cloud a new reason to chide himself – for focusing on how the man's braided hair sways behind him as he moves.
Their fight intensifies. Cloud tries to find a way to finish things quickly so he can escape, but Sephiroth meets him move for move. And because of their link, Cloud can tell how much Sephiroth is enjoying himself. Not in a "I want to watch you squirm" sort of way like Cloud was used to, but more of a "I've never felt this alive before." Which sort of freaks Cloud out – not only because he knows just how far Sephiroth will go with his obsessions, but also because Cloud almost likes it. Almost wants to be wanted like this.
And from here on out, Cloud feels like prey. Like Little Red Riding Hood about to be devoured by the Big Bad Wolf.
He grabs a handful of gems (or whatever is in these lockboxes), throws them in Sephiroth's face, and jumps back to put distance between them while he casts a spell. But Sephiroth is unfazed – he slices clean through the gems and as the halves clatter to the floor, he closes the distance between them once more.
Cloud curses and abandons his spell as he evades Sephiroth's attack. He can tell that this Sephiroth isn't exactly trying to kill him, but he doesn't like how close Masamune came to the pocket that Zackobo is still sleeping in.
This puts Cloud back on the defensive in their fight, trying his best to gain the upper hand while at the same time keeping Zackobo – and the lockbox that his clothes are in – out of Masamune's path. He wracks his brain, thinking of every trick he had learned from his friends, but it's difficult given the location that they're in.
And then he feels his pant pocket start to wriggle.
At first, he's concerned because he doesn't want Zackobo to return to normal size just as Sephiroth is slashing away with Masamune again. But then he remembers the pranks that Yuffie used to pull on them along with the silly little show that had been playing in the hospital. And he thinks – a little exasperated – that while slapstick wasn't really his thing, he guesses that that was how he was going to do things today.
He ducks behind a row of lockboxes to put more distance between him and Sephiroth, but Sephiroth slashes through them, steps nonchalantly over the debris, and continues their fight like it wasn't an obstacle to begin with.
Cloud continues blocking and evading – a little disturbed by the gleam in Sephiroth's eyes (if this was the other Sephiroth, he would call the gleam 'manic'. This Sephiroth, though, he can't think of any other word than 'excited').
And as the wriggling in his pocket grows more incessant, Cloud jumps back and throws a wadful of cash in Sephiroth's face to momentarily distract him. As expected, Sephiroth slashes straight through the bills, but as he does, Zackobo returns to his full size with a triumphant (more like indignant) "KWEH!"
Sephiroth freezes, stunned, Masamune still extended to his side, the halves of the bills Cloud had thrown fluttering around him.
Cloud doesn't waste the opportunity – he immediately casts a spell and watches as Sephiroth, Masamune, and the still-airborne money are encased in a giant iceberg courtesy of the Ice materia he had found in the Mythril Mines and reclaimed when he got his swords back.
Cloud hesitates for a second, but when Sephiroth doesn't so much as blink, Cloud sighs and lowers his sword. Zackobo chirrups questioningly at him, and Cloud says "Good job, boy" and puts his hands on his hips and lets himself catch his breath for a second. But it feels rather drafty all of a sudden, and Cloud looks down and realizes that the force of Zackobo returning to his normal size while still inside of his borrowed pant pocket had ripped the pant leg open from just below the waistband all the way down to his calve, a sizeable chunk missing where the pocket used to be. He looks up and sees that Zackobo is now wearing said pocket on his head like a rather pathetic-looking beret.
Cloud runs a hand down his face. "Right," he says and mentally tells himself that he's never doing that again.
He turns and backtracks to the lockbox he remembers his clothes being in, collects them, and bundles them up, deciding that he really will have to wait until he's far enough away from the military facility before changing back into them. He's wasted enough time as it is fighting Sephiroth. As undesirable as it is, he can deal with wandering around in damaged pants for a little bit longer.
However, when he turns back around, he realizes that leaving Zackobo unsupervised for even a second was a bad idea, cause the bird is now pecking curiously at the iceberg that Sephiroth is encased in.
"Zack, stop," he scolds and then tells the bird that they've got to go.
He guides Zackobo out of the vault and into the room with all the filing cabinets. He considers shutting and locking the vault door just out of spite, but decides that that will take too much time. So, he continues walking. But as they approach the door that'll lead them back out to the hallway, Cloud gets a bad feeling.
He stops and looks around the room, trying to determine if there's another way out (he knows that if Sephiroth was there, then Rufus and the others couldn't be that far behind). His eyes land on a small, rectangular vent cover in the corner of the room – one that is too small for them to fit through normally. He looks to Zackobo and then back to the vent cover, shrugs, and says, "Why not?"
Rufus Discovers Sephiroth's 'Fate'
Pan to Rufus and a handful of SOLDIERs and high-ranking troopers waiting in the hallway outside of the filing cabinet room. They can hear noises coming from inside from Cloud and Sephiroth's fight, but Rufus orders them to wait they unless they want to become personally acquainted with Masamune.
The sounds die down, and after a minute of silence, all they hear is the screech of metal and nothing else. So, Rufus orders them forward – two of the SOLDIERs enter first, swords drawn, followed by the troopers, Rufus, and then the rest of the SOLDIERs (the troopers fan out on the sides to protect the president).
The first room – the one with all the filing cabinets – is empty except for the unconscious bodies of Elena, Two Guns, and Katana. Rufus asks who there with him has a Healing materia and then orders them to see to the Turks and any of their injuries.
"Yes, sir!" echoes through the room as the men in question hasten to do as told.
But then a more frantic "Sir!" rings from further in the room, and Rufus strides forward to see what's wrong. What he finds is a destroyed vault with Sephiroth frozen in a giant slab of ice in the center.
And for one of the first times in his life, Rufus is stunned. He knew how dangerous their prisoner was and how devastated Sephiroth was over Cloud's death, but he had never imagined that Sephiroth could lose. He was Shinra's greatest creation after all.
Rufus, though, doesn't let his surprise slow him down – he had been raised better than that, after all. Instead, he orders more of his men to work at getting the General free – advising them 1) that Fire materia would help and 2) to be careful in case Sephiroth still thinks he's in a fight when he's freed from the ice.
Then Rufus looks around the vault. He finds nothing, though, and returns to the room with all of the filing cabinets. There's only one way out of the room and they had been guarding it the entire time. His eyes then land on a small vent in the corner of the room… and the cover that had been torn clean off of it.
He narrows his eyes and thinks back to the screeching noise they had heard before. He pulls out his phone and calls Cissnei – who is still in the prison block – to see if the others are finally awake. They are, so he orders her to find out if they're missing anything. He can hear Reno's muffled cursing over the line as Cissnei asks, and then Cissnei returns to the phone and lists everything that had been taken. (Note: Rufus knows that they had confiscated everything off of Cloud when they imprisoned him, and all he had on him was the Chocobo Lure and Ice materia aside from his weapons and clothes, so if Cloud had managed to escape without them seeing him, he must have picked something up from one of the others.)
One of the items Cissnei lists is a Transform materia, which confirms Rufus's suspicions.
Rufus either makes a soft noise or is silent for a beat longer than usual, so Cissnei knows that something's wrong. She asks what's wrong and Rufus informs her that their prisoner had used that Transform materia to shrink himself to fit inside of the vents and was now scurrying throughout the military facility like a mako-enhanced mouse.
Rufus tells her that if Reno and Rude can move, that they're not off the clock yet – and he starts handing out his orders:
1. Lock down the military facility
2. Mobilize the rest of the SOLDIERs/troopers in the building – he wants eyes on every exit from the building, including ventilation/trash chutes
3. Determine where the vent in that room actually leads to, so they have a better idea of where their prisoner may be exiting
4. Keep Kadaj locked up until Rufus gives the go-ahead to release him.
He then sends a quick message to Tseng – "He's in the ducts." And then sweeps out into the hallway with the rest of his remaining guard to start looking for Cloud.
Mini Cloud and Mini Zackobo Venture Further Into the Beast's Lair
Like Rufus surmised, Cloud mini'd Zackobo and himself, and now the two of them are traipsing through the air ducts. Cloud doesn't entirely know where's he's going (Zackobo even less so). However, he feels something that he can only describe as a tug leading him on. It doesn't feel like he's a puppet on a string like with Sephiroth. Instead, whatever it is feel safe, so he steers Zackobo on, following the pull. (Note: mini Cloud is riding mini Zackobo, with Cloud's bundle of clothes slung across Zackobo's back like a makeshift saddlebag)
Almost immediately, they come to a drop in the ductwork. They peer over the edge, and find that the drop isn't too significant, so Cloud presses his legs lightly into Zackobo's sides to signal him forward. Zackobo jumps off the edge, fluttering his wings to slow their descent, and then continues walking.
Now that he's no longer in Cloud's pocket, Zackobo is much more comfortable being miniature size, especially with Cloud miniature size with him. So much so that Cloud notes that the bird almost has a prance to his step, and not even the AC turning on and almost knocking them over bothers him. He continues to press forward, undeterred – exactly like a Zack.
They hit an intersection, and Cloud steers Zackobo to the right, still following the tether leading him on. After another 20 Chocobo steps or so, though, they come upon a dead end, the ductwork bending and stretching far above them. Zackobo stops and shifts his (and Cloud's) weight from one clawed foot to the other, unsure of what to do.
"Kweh?"
Cloud almost considers turning around and going back to that earlier intersection – they need to be going down not up. But something inside him tells him that this is the direction he wants to go.
So, he pats Zackobo on the side of his neck to reassure him and then casts Ice – this time to create a platform underneath them that slowly lifts them up through the vents.
Zackobo is surprisingly unperturbed by this ice elevator of theirs, and they continue through the ducts like this – sometimes going down, mostly going up – using ice platforms to rise higher and higher, until the safe feeling in Cloud's chest envelops him, snug and warm, as they approach an otherwise inconspicuous vent grate.
Home, it almost says.
Cloud swings off of Zackobo's back and walks up to the grate. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that it's not a normal slip- or screw-in cover, but rather a built-in panel that's probably meant to blend in with the wall.
Huh, fancy.
Must not be the barracks then since Shinra wouldn't have bothered with the added expense.
He can't see much of anything through the openings in the panel, though, because of how dark it is in the room beyond. So, he closes his eyes and listens.
There's no noise to indicate that anybody is nearby (save for Zackobo breathing down his neck). And Cloud draws one of the smaller swords from his harness and gently cuts a square out of the panel, grabbing the piece before it can fall, and lying it down quietly behind him in the ducts.
He then peers out of the gap in the panel, Zackobo poking his head out over his shoulder. It's hard to make things out with the lights off and with them being no larger than a mouse, but from the mahogany desk standing gargantuan in front of them, Cloud assumes that they're in an office or study of some kind. One that's been abandoned for the night if they're lucky.
He strides out into the room, Zackobo following closely behind him. He stops, looks around, and then breaks out into a jog to get around the desk to see if there's anything (or anyone) behind it.
He slows to a stop on the other side and is relieved to see that they really are alone.
"Kweh?" Zackobo warks in question.
Cloud turns back around and nods his head. "So far, so good."
Cloud un-mini's himself and scoops a still miniature Zackobo up. Zackobo squirms – "Wark!" – cause he doesn't want to go back in Cloud's pocket again, but Cloud had learned his lesson the hard way. He was still dealing with his earlier wardrobe malfunction, and he doesn't plan on making a repeat of that with his only remaining pocket, so he places Zackobo on his shoulder and asks, "That ok?"
Zackobo is uncomfortable with the situation, but not as wildly opposed to it as being in the dark of Cloud's pocket. Instead, the bird huddles down on Cloud's shoulder (he doesn't like being up that high) and huffs – "Kweh."
"Good boy," Cloud tells him and looks around the office again now that he's regular size. He's not entirely sure where he had landed himself, so he wants to see if he can figure that out before he exits the room.
There's a scroll on the desk – he picks it up and looks it over.
Father,
Life at the forge has taken an unexpected turn…
He scans it quickly. On the surface, it looks like an innocuous message, but given the location they were in and the upscale look of the room, he assumes it must be coded. And coded plus extravagance usually meant Rufus or the Turks.
He drops the scroll back onto the desk and continues to look around the room. He walks over to the bookcase and runs a finger across the books on the shelves – The Prince, The Art of War, The 48 Laws of Power. On the top shelf, he finds an overturned picture frame and picks it up.
He's not ready for what he finds.
Rufus.
Some other blond man.
And this world's Cloud – happy, smiling, perfectly unconcerned about being sandwiched in between the other two men.
"It might clear things up."
Cloud shakes his head and shoves aside the memory of his world's Rufus offering up a case file for him to look at, his eyes trying to convey more information than his mouth was.
Then juxtaposed over his image, he remembers this world's Rufus trying to get him to join Shinra.
He drops the picture frame back onto the bookshelf and turns on his heel – he hadn't accepted Rufus's hand then, and he certainly wasn't about to now. Whatever this was – whatever it was supposed to be – he doesn't want to know.
He crosses over to the door and exits quietly into the hallway of what must be Rufus's flat. In the distance, he can hear the soft sound of somebody speaking. He creeps silently through the apartment, and as he gets closer, he realizes the noise must be a radio or television with the volume turned down low.
"Despite several explosive setbacks, construction on the Wutai Mako Reactor nears completion 19 months after the end of the war."
He recognizes it as the broadcast playing in the slums earlier that night. But then a new voice starts speaking – a voice that was actually in the apartment – and Cloud hides himself further in the shadows.
"Yes, sir. I've got the schematics."
Tseng.
He overhears the man talking (to Rufus no doubt) about the layout of the ductwork in the building and how "he could be anywhere".
Cloud realizes they must already be looking for him, so it's definitely time to go. He peers through the crack in the door leading into the dining room. Tseng is sitting at the table, working away at a laptop, his PHS and a coffee mug next to him. Cloud backs away and silently crosses into the foyer, already planning on taking the auxiliary stairwell all the way down to the ground floor.
However, he's stopped in his tracks when he finally hears the rest of the broadcast that he had missed in the slums.
"Ten years later and tensions are on the rise again with Wutai, who blames Shinra Company for the deaths of their emperor… and their princess."
The news of Yuffie's death hits him hard. Harder than the news that he was supposed to be dead. He unintentionally makes a noise, one he doesn't realize he actually had made until Tseng is in the same room as him, gun drawn.
"Shit."
He dodges out of the way as Tseng fires, plucking a frightened Zackobo off of his shoulder and dropping him onto the mantelpiece to get him out of harm's way. Zackobo scurries behind a vase on the mantelpiece.
Tseng fires again, the bullet grazing Cloud's arm as he once again dodges. Cloud normally would draw his sword to defend himself, but he doesn't want to cause any of the bullets to accidentally ricochet into a still miniature Zackobo. So he keeps dodging until Tseng empties the magazine in his gun and switches to hand-to-hand combat.
The fight lasts longer than Cloud would have anticipated – Tseng far more prepared and skilled than any of his subordinates – but he's still no match for Cloud, and soon enough Cloud breaks through his guard, grabbing Tseng by the lapel of his suit jacket and headbutting him hard.
In hindsight, this probably wasn't what his mother had in mind all those years ago when she had told him to use his head rather than his fists to solve his problems, but whatever. Results were results.
He pauses for a moment to make sure Tseng really is unconscious and then turns back to the mantelpiece to collect Zackobo. However, before he can, he realizes he's not alone just yet.
He dodges the first attack, however when he turns around to face his attacker, he stops dead in his tracks at who he finds there.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
Pink robe over a floral nightgown.
"…Aerith."
In his shock, he doesn't even notice the staff until it connects with his face.
Thwack!
(Note: Aerith had already been winding up for her next swing when Cloud turned around. And because Cloud froze at the sight of her, he didn't notice the attack until it was entirely too late.)
"Ouch," he breathes, one hand rising to his face, though his eyes remain pinned on the woman in front of him.
Aerith.
Here.
Alive.
"Oh?" Aerith lowers her staff to the ground and leans on it. "You must be what Rufus was hiding from me then."
"I… Aerith." He has so much he wants to say – I'm sorry. I miss you. Thank you. But none of it makes it past his lips.
She smiles at him. "Aren't you going to tell me your name?"
"Cloud," he says without a second though, unable to deny her anything.
But as the initial shock starts to wear off, he remembers where he is…
…and that he's supposed to be dead.
Aerith's still smiling at him, though – softly, sadly. And he realizes that she must have known his counterpart too. "You're not going to accuse me of being a clone, too?"
"Well, are you?" she teases him – something that flusters Cloud. It had been so long, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be teased by her.
"Yes… No… Ugh, does it matter?"
Her eyes soften and she steps up to him. "You know what I think?" She lays a hand on his cheek (Cloud tenses, afraid that he'd hurt her again). "Clone or not, you're not evil."
It's funny how words can hurt more than anything else that Cloud had experienced in the past couple of days – he remembers having almost killed Aerith, and yet she was saying he wasn't evil?
She must see the conflict in his eyes, because she looks pointedly at Tseng lying unconscious on the floor and says, "Would an evil person have spared the life of the man who tried to kill him?"
He pulls her hand away from his face and still tries to deny it, but she counters with – "Would an evil person argue about it?"
"Aerith."
"Cloudy."
Cloud sighs. "…I never could win against you."
Aerith claps her hands, delighted. "You do learn!" And then she tells him that he could teach Zack a thing or two.
But the mention of Zack's name has Zackobo peeking out from the vase he had been hiding behind – "Kweh?"
Aerith is immediately smitten with the mini Zackobo and starts to make friends with him. (Luckily Zackobo was still hiding when Aerith whacked Cloud upside the head… otherwise he wouldn't be too happy with her right now.)
Aerith asks Cloud what Zackobo's name is, and because Cloud still can't lie to her, he tells her "Zack."
She's surprised at the response and asks, "Zack?"
Embarrassed, Cloud explains that Zackobo "looked like a Zack" to him.
Aerith looks back at the bird who is getting cozy in her palm and responds that Zack is a good name for him and scratches his little head with her finger.
She then asks Cloud why he had mini'd Zackobo and Cloud scowls and says that it's all Rufus's fault.
Aerith raises an eyebrow, her eyes twinkling, and asks if his… particular choice in wardrobe was Rufus's fault too, looking pointedly at his missing pocket and ruined seam.
Cloud stammers, so thrown off by Aerith's teasing (and existence) that he answers, without thinking, that no, it was actually Sephiroth's fault. But then he realizes, entirely too late, from the amused look on her face how that can be taken. "Not like that!"
Aerith laughs and lifts her free hand to her face, the sleeve of her robe sliding down her arm. "You should see the look on your face."
She passes Zackobo back to Cloud, and as he's getting the bird settled on his shoulder, she tugs her sleeve back up. But not before Cloud sees the word "Tifa" in faded letters on her wrist.
He's curious about that, but before he can decide if there's an appropriate way to phrase his questions, he hears a commotion outside of the apartment. And he remembers that Tseng had been on the phone with Rufus earlier, so the commotion was probably the cavalry arriving.
Which meant one thing – he's gotta go.
Now.
But he can't leave Aerith here all by herself, so he grabs her by the hand and pulls her further into the apartment. "C'mon," he says and drags them into the study and locks the door.
Aerith asks him what he's doing and Cloud says that they need to get out of there cause trouble was on its way. But Aerith tilts her head and asks, "Wouldn't they say that you're trouble?"
Cloud wrinkles his nose and says a little petulantly that "Rufus started it."
Aerith laughs at him and says that that sounds like what 'he' would have said, though she doesn't clarify who 'he' is. Cloud is confused and a little uncomfortable with her laughing at him, but before he can say anything about it, Aerith tells him that it's ok, she's fine.
Cloud: "But Shinra…"
Aerith: "Nobody's going to hurt me."
Cloud: *scoffs* "Tell that to Hojo."
Aerith doesn't react to the name, aside from telling Cloud that he (Cloud) is sweet, but she's happy/safe here.
Cloud feels like he'd been hit again. He remembers his Aerith and wonders if she would have been happy – if she would have been safe – if she had stayed. If he hadn't whisked her away from Midgar.
Cloud drops Aerith's hand and starts to curl in on himself mentally. "Right," he says, taking a step away from her. "Sorry."
But Aerith takes his hand back in hers before he can retreat. "You know, you could just talk to them."
Cloud rolls his eyes. "They threw me in jail just because I looked like somebody they knew. They'll never believe a word I say."
Aerith smiles sadly at him, but she doesn't disagree. "So, you're just going to run?"
"…What would you have me do?"
Cloud doesn't get an answer, though. There's shouting in the foyer and he knows he really has to go.
"Promise me one thing," Aerith says and squeezes his hand. "Be careful."
Cloud pauses. Stares at her like he might memorize her face, and then nods his head. "Yeah, you too." He squeezes her hands back, drops them, and then crosses over to the windows. He stops again, turns back one last time and tells her, "It was good seeing you."
And as he breaks the window and starts to scale his way down the building, he hears a soft "Yeah, you too." from behind him.
Rufus Arrives Back at his Apartment
Rufus, Cissnei, and a newly awakened (though bruised) Reno and Rude rush back to Rufus's apartment. Tseng had cut his phone call with Rufus short with a simple "call you back", which was a sign that something was up. Even more so when Tseng never did call back.
Reno and Rude enter the apartment first and rush to Tseng's side. "Boss!"
Rufus on the other hand freezes just past the doorway and stands there until Reno says, "He's breathing!"
He's relieved that Tseng is ok, but then remembers that Aerith had been in the apartment too. He pushes past the others, disregarding their complaints about his safety, and heads straight for the bedroom.
Aerith isn't there.
He hurries back into the hallway, Cissnei already by his side again. "Aerith!" he yells, preparing himself to turn over the entire apartment in his search for her.
But then the study door clicks open and Aerith pokes her head out. "Oh! There you are!"
Rufus stares at her like she's a vision for a second and then steps forward, pressing her into the door frame. "Aerith," he breathes, his hand resting across her neck and collarbone.
To Cissnei behind them, it might look like he's asserting control. He's not. He's checking for her pulse.
Aerith lays her hand atop his and squeezes. "I'm here," she reassures.
Rufus leans into her, relishing in her warmth and the feeling of her chest rising into his own with her every breath. But then he remembers that Cissnei is still there, and pulls back. "What were you doing in my study?" he asks her and takes a look around the room.
And that's when his eyes land on the broken window and the shards of glass all over the floor.
Aerith laughs at the look on his face and asks, "Is this how you were expecting the night to go?"
Cloud Finally Gets Away
Cloud lands quietly on his feet at the bottom of the military facility. He turns around and looks up at the little pinprick that is the broken window at the top of the building. "Goodbye, Aerith," he mumbles – even though he knows she can't hear him – and then slips into the shadows.
He makes it down a street or two before Zackobo starts squirming on his shoulder. He realizes that the Mini spell is about to wear off, and ducks down an alleyway. He looks around to make sure nobody else is there, and then lays Zackobo on the ground and takes a step back. With a soft pop, Zackobo returns to his normal size, no worse for the wear, though he does look at Cloud suspiciously like he expects Cloud to Mini him again.
It would certainly make things easier, but Cloud decides not to because he doesn't want Zackobo to suffer any potential side effects from being Mini'd three times in such a short period of time. Instead, he signals Zackobo to be quiet – just like they had practiced before the Mythril Mines – and then they set off.
They hurry through the dark streets of Junon, Cloud stopping them at every bend to verify that the coast is clear before beckoning Zackobo onwards. He briefly considers going to the harbor, finding a merchant ship, and hiding out in the cargo hold until they make it to Costa del Sol – or really any place that isn't Junon or Midgar – but he quickly realizes that that is a bad idea. Rufus wouldn't be stupid enough to let any ships out of the harbor now. And if the place wasn't already crawling with troopers/SOLDIERs looking for him, it soon would be.
Likewise, trying to escape Junon on foot was inadvisable – with all of Shinra on his tail, it wouldn't take them long to find him.
No, what he needs is a way to completely drop off of their radar.
So, when they reach the divide between upper and lower Junon, Cloud steers them down the path he knows will lead them to the underwater reactor… and a submarine or two if they're lucky.
The elevator ride beneath Junon is a little uncomfortable considering standard size elevators were not made with a full-grown Chocobo in mind – Zackobo is hunched over and Cloud is pressed up against the control panel. The discomfort is short-lived, thankfully, and soon enough, they're stepping out into an underground corridor. One that Cloud knows connects to a separate submarine dock and the reactor tunnel, if this world is anything like his own.
They encounter a couple patrolling troopers first – no doubt tasked with making sure regular civilians don't make it down this far – but Cloud knocks them out before they can finish saying, "Cloud?"
He could have used magic to deal with them and he'll admit that he misses the convenience of it. However, he knows now that the use of materia drains the planet's life energy, so he wants to limit his use of it as much as possible.
He and Zackobo check the spare submarine dock, but it's empty. So they continue on. As they get closer to the reactor, though, the alarms start to blare, the robotic sentries lining the corridor come alive, and the blast doors start to slowly lower.
"Dammit," Cloud growls and casts a quick Barrier on both Zackobo and himself (so much for not using materia). "C'mon, bud!" he yells, and he and Zackobo make a run for it.
The sentries shoot at them, but the Barrier protects them, and they make it through the final blast door before it fully closes. There are still machines on the other side of the door, though, but Cloud carves a path through them easily enough.
I hate Shinra, Cloud thinks to himself as they step over the broken remnants of the Sweeper Cloud had cut in half.
But Shinra's mechanical guardians hadn't been a threat to Cloud in years, and soon they reach the service elevator that will take them deeper below the city. One that is thankfully large enough to fit him and Zackobo comfortably.
When they come upon the underwater tunnel that connects directly to the reactor, they find a lone trooper, pacing up and down and talking to himself. "You're late – one time – and they lock you out!"
The man spins on his heel and starts to pace up the tunnel again, but freezes in his tracks when his eyes land on Cloud.
Here we go again, Cloud thinks to himself, but is pleasantly surprised when the trooper salutes him (a little sloppily) and shouts, "Sir! I was just – uh – just patrolling the tunnel, sir!"
Huh. Must be fresh meat.
Well, Cloud wasn't one to discourage him. "Keep up the good work," he tells the guy and continues forward.
"Y-Yes, sir!" the trooper stammers, as if not quite believing his lie had actually worked, and then continues his 'patrol'.
But as he gets closer, the trooper stops again. "Uh, sir… What's with the Chocobo? And what happened to your pants?"
"That's classified, Private."
The trooper stutters out his apology, but at this point Cloud is close enough to knock him out. And once the guy drops to the floor, Cloud takes another look at his borrowed pants and sighs. Perhaps it was time he changed after all – even if the alarms earlier were because Shinra knew he was down here rather than them just locking down the entire city, it would still take them no small amount of time to raise those blast doors again.
So he changes back into his own clothes, leaving Kadaj's slightly damaged uniform lying on the floor of the tunnel. And when he finishes, he turns around to find that Zackobo had taken to distracting himself with the fish swimming above them in the clear underwater tunnel that they're in. As the fish go by, Zackobo jumps up, fluttering his wings as if he was trying to catch himself a snack.
"C'mon, bud. I'll get you a snack once we're outta here."
When Zackobo sees Cloud walking off towards the reactor, he gives up his attempt at fishing and trots off after Cloud with a disappointed huff.
The reactor door is locked, just like the trooper had been complaining about, but it's no problem for Cloud. He gestures for Zackobo to wait behind him, connects the main two blades of Tsurugi together, and then carves the door in half.
They enter the reactor and take another elevator down – one that, like the service elevator, is large enough for the two of them to fit in comfortably. While the elevator moves, Cloud prepares himself mentally for anything that might happen. Zackobo, on the other hand, is far more intrigued with the tubes that line the walls, watching fascinated at how the water inside bubbles as the elevator takes them further and further down.
They exit onto a catwalk, one that overlooks the reactor's submarine dock. Cloud is relieved to find two submarines docked there – a red and a blue/grey one. He's less enthused about the troopers that guard the docks, but he figures if he play his cards right, they won't prove to be that much of a problem.
Cloud and Zackobo hide in the shadows until Cloud's certain that the troopers below aren't paying attention. And then he gestures for Zackobo to hunch down as they creep across the catwalk.
They take the long way around to the docks (normally, Cloud would have just vaulted over the catwalk's railing). The further they go, the more troopers they encounter, but Cloud tries to take them out as stealthily as possible since he's getting tired of the confusion and pain on the faces of the troopers who recognize him. When they finally reach the docks, the troopers there are spread out enough that Cloud allows himself to use materia one more time – casting Sleep on all of them at once. (He could have knocked them out instead, but he didn't want to run the risk of them sailing the subs away before he could commandeer one.)
Luckily, none of the troopers have protection against Sleep and they all fall as one to the floor.
Cloud steps forward, fully intending to take the blue/grey submarine since it would blend in with the water better, but Zackobo veers off and starts walking towards the red sub. Cloud calls after him and tells him that no, the red sub is too flashy and that they're taking the blue one instead. He keeps walking and Zackobo, on some level, must understand that Cloud's response was "no, we're not taking the nice red submarine", because he starts to whine – "Kweehhhhhh…"
Cloud sighs and tells Zackobo that they don't have time for this, but Zackobo doesn't budge. So, Cloud tries bribery instead, telling Zackobo that he promises he'll buy him a whole bucket of Gysahl Greens, but still Zackobo doesn't move. Cloud walks over to Zackobo and tries to push him away from the red submarine, but this just causes the bird to whine even louder. So Cloud finally gives in – "Fine, fine. Have it your way. But if Shinra finds us, it's your fault."
Zackobo warks excitedly as Cloud finally starts walking towards the red sub and trots after him happily. Cloud sighs again and tells him, "You really are a Zack."
A World Away, Tifa and the Others Search for Cloud
Come morning, Tifa, the kids, and most of Avalanche are gathered in the church, getting ready to search the ruins of Midgar for Cloud. Reeve is running late because of WRO business, so while the others wait, Barret is outside doing a little preemptive searching himself and Yuffie is in the attic doing stupid shit with the kids (aka distracting them so they (and she) don't get too anxious about Cloud's absence).
"When did you last see him?" Vincent asks Tifa, the man leaning against one of the columns in the church, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Two days ago. He said he needed more healing water and would be back for dinner."
Cid, never one to worry about tact, chews on the toothpick in his mouth for a moment and then says, "Ya sure the kid didn't just run away? Wouldn't be the first time."
Tifa had considered the same possibility, but Cloud wouldn't have left his motorcycle behind. Before she can say that, though, another voice answers for her. "Not this time," Barret says, entering the church and waving a handful of papers in the air. "Found these in the kid's bike."
"Gimme those." Cid grabs the papers out of Barret's hand. "Blah blah blah. Edge District Court. In the matter of the petition of Cloud Strife for—" Cid's toothpick falls out of his mouth and onto the floor— "…Shit."
Nanaki's ears perk up, Vincent pushes himself off of the column he had been leaning against, but Tifa reaches Cid first. "What? What is it?" She asks, looking over the man's shoulder. And her heart does a little skip in her chest at what she reads. "Oh… Oh my."
Nanaki, being too short to read over Cid's shoulder, asks what's going on and Tifa, still a little awestruck herself, reads for them. "In the matter of the petition of Cloud Strife for the adoption of a minor child."
Yuffie hears the commotion and jumps down from the attic to see what's going on. Tifa tries to hide the adoption papers from her because she would just make a scene and Tifa doesn't want Marlene and Denzel (especially Denzel) finding out when they still had no idea where Cloud was. But Yuffie isn't a master thief for nothing and easily plucks the papers out of their hands.
She reads over the coversheet, dancing out of Tifa's reach, but freezes in place when she too realizes what the papers mean. "Adoption?!" she yells, just as Marlene and Denzel – who had to take the long way around – rush into the main sanctum, out of breath.
"Did you—Did you find something?" Denzel asks, eyes shining with hope.
Tifa and Yuffie look at each other, both unsure of what to say. But it's Vincent who tells the boy the truth. "Cloud was going to adopt you."
Denzel, of course, is surprised and doesn't exactly believe it at first. And he's still in shock when Yuffie hands him the adoption papers. "But… But then where did he go?"
Tifa kneels down and tells him that that's what they're going to find out.
However, at this point, Rufus and his Turks (Reno, Rude, Tseng, and Elena) walk in. Barret and Cid are not happy with this and the rest of Avalanche are equally uncomfortable, but Rufus says that they had heard that Cloud was missing and they came to offer their support. (Rufus and Reeve had had a 'business' meeting scheduled (WRO-funding related), but Reeve canceled because of Cloud's disappearance.)
Tifa pointedly does not look at Rude because she doesn't want the others to find out that the two of them had been having an on and off fling for the past few months. She can feel his eyes on her, though, and knows that her face is turning red.
Thankfully, Barret and Cid are far too focused on Rufus and the rest of his posse. One of them – Barret, probably – argues that Rufus is just upset that he can't use Cloud anymore.
Rufus, however, casually responds, "Believe what you will, Mr. Wallace, but I'm merely concerned for my brother's safety."
His news shocks them more than the adoption papers had. "Brother?" Tifa repeats.
Rufus's eyes land on her, the man looking like he's enjoying the confusion he's caused. "Yes, Ms. Lockhart – brothers. Can you not see the family resemblance?"
Barret accuses him of lying, but Rufus asks if he would lie about this. Then he tells them that after Advent Day, he and his Turks had found the case file that Hojo had kept on Cloud, including the blood tests he had run on Cloud when he still had Cloud in his… clutches.
Cid scoffs and asks if he only cares about Cloud because they're related.
Before Rufus can answer, though, Reeve enters the church. "Sorry I'm late." He looks around at everybody there and is probably about to ask what's wrong, but then a new voice speaks up, ringing in Tifa's ears.
Good. You are all here.
And as Tifa's world turns black, she tries futilely to reach for Marlene and Denzel.
Tifa and the Others Find Out What Happened to Cloud
Tifa wakes slowly, unsure of where she is or how she got there. Everything around her is white and empty – no hint of civilization anywhere. But then her eyes land on the others and she remembers where they had been and how she had been trying to protect the kids.
She pushes herself up and hurries over to their side, relieved to see that Marlene and Denzel are waking up, too.
Barret joins them, fussing over Marlene first before turning to Denzel and Tifa to make sure that they're ok. A hand lands on his shoulder, and he looks up to find Reeve standing over him. He apologizes to Reeve for not checking on him, but Reeve just smiles and says that he wouldn't ever dream of coming before Marlene.
The conversation seems strange to Tifa – she knows that Barret and Reeve had been working together more, but she hadn't realized that they had gotten this close.
She's curious to know how close they actually are, however she notices that the others are all starting to wake up too and knows that now's not the time for it. Not to mention that the moment they're all somewhat steady on their feet, the strange voice from before rings through her head again.
You are all awake. Good.
Tifa and the others get ready to fight (Tifa notices that the Turks do as well, the four of them protecting Rufus like normal, though she does catch Rude looking over her way, as if making note of her location). What they find, though, is something straight out of Marlene's fairy tales.
A woman, clad in red and orange leaves, her skin mako green, flowers growing from where her feet touch the white expanse.
"Who in tarnation are you?" Cid asks, clearly toning down the foul language for the kids' sake.
The woman in front of them, not so much.
'That green bitch', the woman quotes, her lips not moving.
Cid pales; Barret says something that sounds like "Language!" and covers Marlene's ears; and Tifa, remembering exactly who had said that phrase, tells the woman, "Cid was just joking!"
Yes. My champion said as much.
Rufus, intrigued, asks if the woman is Gaia. She doesn't acknowledge his words nor does she deny them. Instead, she steps forward, more flowers growing from where her feet touch.
We must speak. I cannot hold you here indefinitely.
Tifa thinks back to the woman's words about her 'champion' and realizes that there really is only one person who could know Cid and be Gaia's champion too. "Are you talking about Cloud?"
He bade me deliver a message. That he loves you all and did not wish to leave you.
She then tells them what happened to Cloud. How Sephiroth was gathering the will to return again. How he would have used his link to Cloud to tug himself from the Lifestream. How every time Sephiroth returned, a part of the planet – a part of her – died. And eventually, she and everything on the planet would cease to be. As long as the link between Cloud and Sephiroth remained, the planet would die.
Reno, surprisingly, is the first one to recover from the shock and the first one to take offense. "You sayin' you killed him, yo?!"
My champion's death would not have severed his link to the Son of the Calamity. No. He was removed from this plane entirely.
Cid: "Removed from this plane?!"
Vincent: "…Dimension travel?"
Elena: "Won't Sephiroth just follow him?"
Gaia tells them that Sephiroth can't follow him. That he does not have the strength – nor the means – without Cloud still on this plane with him.
The others ask about Sephiroth returning without Cloud there to stop him. And like with Cloud, she tells them that without the link, Sephiroth no longer has the means to return. He also has lost his will to return – without Cloud there to meet him, returning is meaningless.
Cid says he can't believe that Sephiroth just 'bent over and took it'. Gaia, though, tells them that Sephiroth made his displeasure known, but ultimately, the bars of his prison were stronger. He quickly realized that he would never escape – that Cloud was gone forever – and he gave up his struggles.
Reno laughs about Sephiroth throwing a temper tantrum, but Tifa cuts in and asks about Cloud, saying that he's all alone. Gaia tells them that the champion is strong. However, Tifa argues that he's stronger with his friends, and insists that they be allowed to go to this new dimension with him.
Gaia tells them that unfortunately it isn't that easy. That as long as their counterparts still existed in this other dimension (aka, were alive), then they couldn't be sent over since two of the same person could not coexist on the planet at the same time.
Tifa, heartbroken, asks if that was it then. If Cloud really was all alone.
Barret tries to cheer her up by saying, "How much trouble could Cloud have gotten up to in 2 days anyway?" but immediately grimaces cause he knows exactly how much trouble Cloud can get into.
Yuffie: "Oh, god."
Cid: "10,000 gil says he has all of Shinra on his ass by now."
Tifa doesn't have time to stress over Cid's joke, though, because Gaia walks directly up to her. She says that Tifa is the only one who no longer exists on that plane and is therefore the only one she could send. And she extends her hand to Tifa and asks if she's willing to sacrifice everything she knows for her champion.
Tifa looks around at the others, undecided. She wants to go after Cloud cause she doesn't want to leave him alone without a friend, but she can't leave Marlene and Denzel.
And that's when Denzel finally breaks. He runs forward and beats his little fists against Gaia's side, yelling at her to give them Cloud back. That it wasn't fair that she had taken another dad from him.
Tifa pulls him back and holds him to her, afraid of what Gaia might do. The woman had been polite enough, if a little detached, but she was still a god, wasn't she?
Gaia, though, just kneels down in front of Denzel.
You love him.
It's not a question. It's a statement. Fact.
Denzel scrubs at the tears in his eyes and glares back at Gaia.
Gaia regards him for a moment more and then says that his essence differed from that of his counterpart's (because of the hardships he had experienced that other!Denzel had not). She tells him that since he's young and still malleable that perhaps she could alter his essence enough that he and his counterpart could co-exist on the same plane.
Tifa and Denzel don't want to leave their friends – Denzel especially doesn't want to leave Marlene. But Marlene tells Denzel that he needs to go look after Cloud, and the rest of Avalanche tell Tifa that Marlene would be fine with them and that she should go help Cloud because they all know how much trouble he gets into.
Rufus: "For once I agree with you – Cloud is not known for his people skills."
Barret & Cid: "Shut up."
Tifa looks around at the others again, her eyes landing on Rude last. He nods back at her, as if to say that he always knew that he came second to Cloud. And while she had told him she wasn't looking for a serious relationship, she feels bad for leaving him in the lurch like this. And she hopes that he can read the apology in her eyes. She hadn't meant to hurt him.
Tifa and Denzel say their goodbyes, and then Tifa, holding tight to Denzel, reaches out and clasps hands with Gaia.
Her world fades to black again.
A/N:
- For those unfamiliar with the idiom, 'Get the hell out of Dodge' means to leave a difficult or dangerous environment/situation as quickly as possible. Dodge is a reference to Dodge City, Kansas which was notorious for gunfights, gambling, etc in the 19th century.
- The ice platforms that Cloud used to navigate the air ducts were inspired by the Cryonis ability in Zelda Breath of the Wild.
- In the first chapter, Gaia tells Cloud that 'The cancer must be cut out at the source', to which Cloud responds that he's never been called cancer before. In this chapter, I was planning to have Gaia say instead that 'the cancer could not be removed so I removed that which fed it' implying that Seph was actually the cancer. And when questioned by Avalanche about it, she would have mentioned that her champion (Cloud) did not relish being called cancer himself. However I couldn't find a good place to put it in my notes, so I just reduced it to this footnote.
- Apparently, if you fail the submarine mini-game in the OG FF7, you use a torpedo to get back to the surface, Priscilla's dolphin smacks you with its tail to revive you, and then if you return to Junon and take the elevator back underneath the city (the one that has a woman operating the controls), then you can 'talk' to the dog guarding the path to the spare submarine dock and get the red submarine.
- It's explained somewhere (I think in the On the Way to a Smile novella, but don't quote me on that) that the use of materia drains the planet's life energy. And because of this, Cloud and the rest of Avalanche stop using materia. Cloud convinces everybody to give him their materia and he has it all stored in a chest in Aerith's church in the Advent Children movie... Which is unfortunate since Loz finds the chest and steals it (though I guess the chest was the reason he didn't kill Tifa, so there's that).
- Also, the idea I'm playing with is that since it's been several years since Cloud's used materia, it's no longer second nature to him. He's still extremely powerful with it, but he's no longer as fast nor does he even think to use it right away. So, while he might have been able to cast a spell on Seph without assistance at the beginning of their fight, once Seph started enjoying himself and started to truly get serious, the only real way for Cloud to cast anything was to distract Seph first.