"Nooo!!"
"Godammit, No!"
"Sephiroth, it wasn't your fault!" Aeris pleaded. "You didn't mean to do it!"
"But I still did it, didn't I??" Sephiroth howled. "That Meteor is in the sky because of me....."
Vincent shook his head in disapproval. "I have nothing to say."
"Sephiroth, calm down! You weren't thinking straight!" Aeris told him. "You couldn't have summoned that Meteor on your own free will, Jenova had control of you!"
"If that were the case, it would still be entirely my fault!"
"Why!?" Aeris howled. "How COULD it be your fault??"
"I wasn't strong enough to withstand her....." Sephiroth said quietly. "And that is a crime in itself......."
"But you tried to fight it, I know you did!" Aeris cried. "You fought it with everything you had! No one could have expected any more of you!"
"But 'everything' wasn't enough, was it?" Sephiroth said, shaking his head sadly. "And now because of me, Meteor is in the sky. It's all my fault...."
"No it's not!" Aeris cried. "It's not your fault at all!"
"I don't particularly care whose fault it is....." Vincent spoke up. "No matter what any of you say, that Meteor is up in the sky, and it's not going to go away."
"This much is true. We must devise a strategy to eradicate it." Red XIII chimed in. "Preferably before it makes impact with the planet."
"Holy....." Yuffie whispered, shaking her head sadly.
"Holy!?" Sephiroth looked up suddenly. "Of course, Holy!! Can't we just summon it??"
"I'm afraid we can't do that." Aeris sighed. "My White Materia is lost."
"But it's still somewhere on the planet, right??" Sephiroth said quickly. "I mean, if I find that thing, we can use it to stop Meteor, can't we??"
"Good luck finding it." Cloud scoffed. "It's somewhere at the bottom of the Forgotten City's lakes!"
"Well if it's anywhere, I'll find it." Sephiroth said determinedly. "I have to."
"But Holy didn't stop the first Meteor!" Cloud retorted. "The Lifestream did!"
"Well that's no good!!" Sephiroth looked devastated. "How else are we supposed to stop that thing!?"
"That's a very good question." Red XIII said quietly. "One we all wish we knew the answer to."
"Look at the size of that thing......." Sephiroth said, looking to the sky hopelessly. "We're done for....."
"Not even I can think of a way to stop this Meteor." Aeris whispered.
"Maybe I should just accept my fate......." Sephiroth sighed sadly. "No matter what I do, I'm always going to end up trying to destroy this planet.... even when I'm not trying to."
"That's not true!" Aeris yelped, putting a hand on his shoulder. But the man just jerked back from her angrily.
"Just leave me alone." he said coldly. "I need no consolation."
"But Sephiroth....." Aeris sighed. "You need us, we're your friends!"
"I'm not!" Cloud barked. "I hate the f*cking bastard!"
Sephiroth turned on him angrily. "I hate myself! See that thing in the sky, Strife? I caused that! Can you even comprehend what it's like to live with yourself after committing a crime like that!?"
"Yes I can!" Cloud retorted. "And because of you, I nearly killed Aeris!!"
"But you didn't actually complete your task, did you!?" Sephiroth yelled. "I made you do that!"
"And Jenova made you summon Meteor!" Aeris chimed in. "It's the same situation, Sephiroth! Can't you understand that?!"
"It's not the same situation at all!!!" Sephiroth hollered. "When I had Strife under my control, he was strong enough to withstand me! He didn't kill you!"
Aeris just sighed hopelessly.
"But me...... I wasn't strong enough to fight off Jenova....... and look what I've done." he turned his back on her and shook his head sadly. "No matter how much understanding I try to do, I still summoned Meteor."
"Listen to what Aeris is saying, Sephiroth. There's no way you could have done that of your own free will." Tifa joined in. "I know you!"
"Hmph, you think you know me??" Sephiroth swung around, leering at her. "I don't even know myself any more!"
"But you were whacked out of your head!" Tifa pleaded. "There's no way you could have summoned Meteor alone, there's just no way!"
"There is a way!!" Sephiroth yelled. "And that way found itself through me and into the sky!"
"Listen Sephiroth...." Red XIII said suddenly. "Do you actually remember summoning the Meteor??"
"No........"
"Then how could you have done it??" Red XIII said sternly.
"I didn't remember anything after 'evolving' into Safer-Sephiroth, did I?" Sephiroth shrugged. "Yet I still did that."
"Maybe summoning Meteor was the same." Red XIII suggested. "I remember Aeris and yourself explaining earlier that something inside your head tells you to 'boost up'. And then your instinct takes over...."
"Are you saying it's part of my instinct to summon Meteors and wreck planets?!"
"Well maybe it is." Red XIII answered uneasily. "In the past, you did Jenova's bidding. It's in Jenova's species to take over a planet, reduce it to nothing and move on....."
"If that's the case, I still stand ground on my argument!" Sephiroth yelled. "Your clause only backs it up!"
Red XIII smacked a paw against his forehead. "I've stuffed up, haven't I?"
"Yes you have." Aeris said sternly.
"Look, no matter how hard I try to redeem myself, I'm always going to end up trying to total this hunk of rock!"
"Sephiroth......"
"Don't 'Sephiroth' me, Chosen One!" the grey haired man hollered. "Why didn't you just leave me in my little world, where I couldn't destroy any more lives?! This whole damn planet would have been better off if I had never returned!!"
"You can say that again....." Cloud said under his breath. Tifa slapped him. Cloud just glared at her and looked away in a huff.
"Don't say that, Sephiroth!" Aeris cried. "Just remember that promise you made to turn your back on your old ways! What about redeeming yourself, and clearing your name?!"
"What about it?"
"You promised!!" Aeris cried. "You promised you'd fight for good purposes, care for the weak and injured, and look out for the inexperienced!!"
"Well I can't keep those promises, can I??" Sephiroth grunted, pointing to the Meteor in the heavens. "And THAT is the reason why."
"You make me sound like a complete cretin!" Aeris began to cry. "I thought I'd resurrected a wayward lamb who never had a chance to be anything else, a poor kind hearted soul whose life was wasted!"
"Well you were wrong." Sephiroth said coolly. "All you've done was resurrect a cold-hearted killer. And so another round of destruction shall be brought down on the planet."
"But that's not you!" Aeris yelled at him. "That was Jenova's doing!!!"
"There's no point in trying to contradict what I'm saying." Sephiroth said, shaking his head. "Because if you think about it, we're actually agreeing on the same issue here."
"Huh??"
"Alright, so Jenova made me summon the Meteor." the grey haired man shrugged. "And I did it. I Sephiroth, THE Sephiroth...... have summoned that eyesore in the heavens. Whether it was against my will or not."
"Sephiroth, you're being ridiculous." Red XIII spoke up suddenly. "Alright, so you wish to highlight that fact. You have summoned Meteor. But no one is blaming you for it - except yourself."
"I AM." Cloud barked. "I saw it with my own two eyes."
Sephiroth shot Cloud an annoyed glare. "Hmmph. I never thought I'd see the day when Strife agreed with me on something."
Cloud seemed a little taken aback with the comment. "Well I never thought I'd see the day you saw the error in your ways!" he snapped back after a quick moment.
"I already said I didn't wanna summon Meteor, but yet I did!!" the grey haired man yelled. "That's the part I just don't understand!!"
"I don't understand either." Cloud grunted. "I don't understand why you bothered with trying to atone for your past in the first place...."
Sephiroth snarled, and drew his sword. "Do you wanna make something of it?!"
"Is that a challenge?!" Cloud bared his teeth, grabbing his sword off it's place on his back, gripping the handle tight as he held it out in front of him. "Because I accept!!"
"Oh shut up, you two! Always at each other's throats, you are!" Aeris yelled, stepping in between them. "Now put your weapons away!"
Sephiroth and Cloud reluctantly did as they were told, never once taking eyes off their opponent as Masamune was clipped onto belt, and Ultima Weapon was snapped back into place, their eyes filled with anger as they glared at each other.
"This argument is getting old." Tifa said huffily. "Can't you just forgive him, Cloud?"
"No." Cloud hissed. "I cannot forgive what I cannot forget."
"Cloud......" Tifa warned.
"That's a surprise." Sephiroth said bitterly.
"Sephiroth...." Tifa said coolly, losing her patience. "And you too, Cloud. Stop arguing, the pair of you. We're getting sick of it!"
"Well he started it." Cloud murmured.
"SHUT UP!!"
Silence.
"That Meteor is gigantic......" Sephiroth whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. "When that thing hits, this planet is finished."
"So how is that any different to the last one?!" Cloud grunted. "We all thought that if that thing hit, there wouldn't be a planet left to stand on!"
"No, no, it wasn't like that at all." Sephiroth shrugged. "That first Meteor was just big enough to leave a huge wound in the planet, nothing more."
"So what's the deal with this one??"
"This one will not only injure the planet, it'll destroy it." Sephiroth said quietly. "It's too big. It'll knock the planet out of it's orbit and send it hurtling off into space. Not only that, every living thing will be destroyed."
"WHAT?! Is that true!?" Yuffie squeaked. "What'll happen to us after the Meteor hits!?" The man just turned his back on her.
"Sephiroth?!"
"There is no 'after the Meteor hits' Yuffie." Red XIII whispered. "It's either it or us - one of us will be obliterated."
"And without Holy......." Vincent trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.
An uneasy silence swept over the group.
Sephiroth began to walk away, his head hanging.
"Sephiroth?!" Cloud barked suddenly. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"
"Damn this situation...." the man cursed himself. "What the hell are we supposed to do!? I'm a complete failure!"
"You're not a failure." Aeris said softly as she walked over to him. "You did everything you could."
"But it wasn't enough, was it?!" Sephiroth hollered. "Damn this! Just leave me alone!"
"Sephiroth...." Aeris said quietly. "We want to help."
"I said leave me alone!!" Sephiroth yelled, jerking back from the Cetra girl. "There's nothing you can do!"
"We can be there for you, can't we?" Aeris whispered. "We can help you through this difficult time......"
"See that?!" Sephiroth yelled, pointing to the sky. "There is no possible way you can help me get through something like that!!"
"Sephiroth....."
The grey haired man fell to his knees and pounded the ground angrily. "I hate everything!!"
Aeris just shook her head sadly and began to walk over to him. Red XIII just put a paw up to stop her.
"Just leave him." he said quietly. "Let him vent out his frustration."
"F*CK you Jenova!!!" Sephiroth yelled angrily at the heavens. "And father! I hate you as well!! I hate you for everything you've ever done to me!!"
The group just watched uneasily as Sephiroth began to tear up the ground angrily, yelling obscenities at the Meteor high above him.
"He would put Cid to shame." Yuffie whispered.
Sephiroth slammed his fist down onto a nearby rock with all his might, shattering it to pieces. Feeling a shooting pain through his hand, he lifted it up and turned it over, only becoming more furious as he watched a viscous dark red fluid slowly dripping down from a small wound just below his little finger. He let out an enraged cry as he raised both fists to the sky.
"Damn everything!" he hollered. "I hate this f*cking planet!"
"He's delirious...." Tifa said, shaking her head.
"Sephiroth's always delirious, Teef." Cloud shrugged. "The guy's just unstable."
Tifa glared angrily at Cloud. "And how are you any different?!"
"Hey Tifa, what's wrong?" Cloud gave her a vexed look. "What's the matter?"
"What's the matter?!" Tifa scoffed. "You are, that's what!!"
"Me!?"
"..........had I not been altered with Jenova's cells, I would not be in this position!!" Sephiroth picked up a piece of rock and hurled it furiously in the direction of the Meteor, as if it would help somehow. "And I hate you too, father!!!"
"I cannot bear to watch him do this to himself any longer." Aeris sighed sadly. "Someone, get me a tranquilliser."
"What?" Red XIII looked up at her suddenly. "You're going to deny him the right to be angry?"
"No, it's not that." Aeris said, shaking her head. "But I think it would be best if we get him quiet before he accidentally hurts one of us, or himself even further."
Yuffie quickly scratched around on her belt. "Here you go!" she said, producing the small item. "I only hope there's enough there..."
"It'll do." Aeris nodded in approval. "Now someone hold him down while I administer it to him......"
"I'll hold him down for as long as you want." Cloud volunteered.
"You would!" Tifa hissed. The blonde haired man just looked at her, completely puzzled.
"Cloud, come over here and hold Sephiroth down for me." Aeris said suddenly, trying to quell the brewing argument. "Cloud.....?"
"Oh yeah....." Cloud said, focusing on the task once more. "Sorry."
Cloud quickly grabbed the yelling Sephiroth, and pinned him to the ground roughly.
"Hey!!" Sephiroth yelped. "What the hell are you doing, you bastard!? Let me go this instant!!"
Aeris just quietly rolled up his sleeve and gently slipped the needle into his arm. Within a few seconds, the grey haired man fell silent as the tranquilliser took effect. Cloud just let him go as he slumped to the ground.
"And so you silence him, just because his anger upsets you?" Red XIII asked, shaking his head in disapproval.
Aeris gave him a morbid look. "Believe me, I didn't want to do it......"
"I think it was a good idea." Cloud smiled faintly. "The planet is so much more peaceful without him."
"Well I hope I never get angry around any of you." Red XIII growled.
"Well let's go back to the Highwind." Yuffie said in an attempt to change the subject. "We all need a good night's sleep."
"Well which one of us is going tell Shera about what has happened to Cid?" Vincent asked. "Don't ask me to, I'm hopeless with bad news."
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, and I don't think I could break it to her gently enough either....."
"No one will be able to." Red XIII said to him. "No matter which one of us tells her, and no matter how we tell her, she's still going to break down in tears. People do that when grave news is brought to them about their mate."
------------------------------------------------------
When the group finally arrived back on the deck of the Highwind, it was as if no one was home. All the lights were off and all was silent, save for the crickets and other night creatures in the nearby fields.
"Where is everybody??" Cloud wondered, flicking on the lounge room light as he made his way into the living area of the Highwind, everybody else following his lead. He gently placed Cid on the couch and covered him with a blanket in an attempt to make him comfortable. Aeris let Sephiroth fall to the floor gently.
"Shera must be asleep." Red XIII noted.
"Everybody else is with us, Cloud." Vincent answered. "You, Cid, Sephiroth, the cat, Tifa, Aeris and Yuffie all went off for the Gold Saucer, and they're all here once more. Barret and myself entered the vicinity as soon as the two Weapons landed down in the field near this plane."
"Barret!?" Tifa said suddenly. "Where is he?!"
"Oh no, we must have forgotten all about him!" Yuffie yelped. "I feel terrible now!!"
"We can be forgiven, Yuffie!" Aeris told her. "Too much happened!"
"That's true...." Tifa said thoughtfully. "When Cloud went missing I had to go looking for him, and then the parade was on, and then the Weapons attacked..... and then poor Cid......"
"Huh??" Cloud looked at her suddenly. "You went looking for me??"
"Yes." Tifa said through her teeth.
"Now that nothing's happening, I guess one of us goes back into the Gold Saucer to find poor old Barret. I'd go, but I'll be needed here when Sephy wakes up." Aeris whispered, worried deeply about the sleeping man at her feet.
"Well, Shera will need a good friend." Red XIII said quietly. "Especially when she finds out about Cid."
"Shera....." Cloud said sadly. "Who's going to wake her up and tell her?"
"I'll do that." Tifa sighed. "No one else seems to want to volunteer."
Tifa left the room, leaving everyone feeling a little guilty.
"Well Cloud, that just leaves you, Vincent and Red." Yuffie smiled.
"Why does that only leave us??" Cloud grunted. "What about you??"
"I'm going to sleep." Yuffie yawned loudly. "See you tomorrow."
"Hmph, so much for feeling terrible about leaving Barret behind."
"Well that was then, this is now." Yuffie shrugged. "And right now, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."
"You think the rest of us don't??" Cloud growled. "What about the Gold Saucer?! We're going to need everybody we can get to look for Barret!"
"Well you can all do that stuff." Yuffie yawned. "I'm going to bed."
"I hate to admit this Yuffie, but what you're suggesting is rather selfish. Every one of us all want to go to sleep as much as you do." Red XIII told her. "But what would you say if you were the one out there instead of Barret, and we were all too tired to be bothered with looking for you?"
Yuffie looked like she was just about to cry.
"I'm sorry guys......"
"Hey, it's OK." Cloud said kindly. "Now, where would you suggest Barret is?"
"Well, don't bother going to the Squares that are closed." Yuffie said quietly. "The only ones that would be open this time of the night are the Station Square, and..... ummm...."
"Just find out what's open when we get there." Vincent grunted.
"But what about all those Sephiroth fans?" Red XIII said. "How many hundreds were there? Wouldn't they be clogging up the Ropeway?"
"Didn't think of that one." Cloud said, shaking his head. "Hmmm... why don't w....."
His thoughts were interrupted as a very upset Shera burst into the room and made a beeline for Cid, a flustered Tifa close behind her.
"Cid?!" Shera cried out, shaking the man desperately.
"I said he was alright!!" Tifa pleaded, as she sat down beside her. "Please, calm down!"
"What if he goes into shock?!" Shera yelled. "He could die!!"
"Somehow, I doubt that." Cloud answered. "Cid's a fighter."
Shera promptly broke down crying. "He said it was only going to be a harmless parade!!" she wailed. "He said he would look after himself!!"
Tifa tried to comfort her. "He so was so intent on looking after us that he completely forgot about himself......"
"That's..... just like Cid....." Shera cried.
"It is??" Yuffie said, screwing her face up.
"Yuffie!" Red XIII snapped.
Tifa waited a few moments to let Shera get herself together.
"What do you propose we do with him?" Tifa asked her quietly.
Shera sniffled quietly. "Well what's wrong......?"
"He got his leg pinned under nearly half a ton of cement as it fell down in close proximity to our observation point at the parade." Vincent explained. "Had he not been there, Yuffie would most probably have been killed."
"His leg's been crushed." Cloud told her. "There's no blood or anything, but it's twisted in a way that no leg should ever be twisted."
Shera lifted up the blanket and a look at Cid's leg. She had to look away quickly.
"That's really nasty......" Shera said, her voice breaking up.
"I know." Cloud nodded.
"We need to get him out of here."
"But can't you just patch him up at the infirmary like you did to Sephy when he got bit by the Ruby Weapon??" Aeris asked.
"No, this is much worse." Shera shook her head. "I'm just a mere GP, and a scratchy one at that. all I'm capable of doing is patching up small injuries, treating complaints and administering prescriptions. What Cid needs is expert medical attention......"
"Do you mean something like a hospital??" Yuffie wondered.
"Yes." Shera nodded. "But the only ones I knew of were all in Midgar......"
"Oh."
"There's a little Clinic in Mideel!" Tifa said suddenly. "They were really good. They looked after Cloud really well when he had Mako Poisoning....."
"Then it's settled." Shera said with determination. "We must go there."
"Wait a minute....." Red XIII interrupted. "Wasn't Mideel practically destroyed when the main stream of the Lifestream erupted?"
"You're right." Tifa said sadly, slumping to the floor. "Well that's no good......."
"Let's go there anyway." Shera said. "If there was a Clinic there in the past, they might be able to direct us to others......"
"But what if there are no others?" Yuffie asked.
"Don't even think about the 'what ifs'!" Shera yelped. "Just get out onto the deck and fly this plane to Mideel!"
"But Shera, none of us know how to fly the Highwind!" Yuffie cried. "That's Cid's area of expertise!!"
"I know how to start it, and that's about it." Shera shrugged. "All we need now is someone ho can steer....."
"I can drive a motorcycle." Cloud mused. "Does that count?"
"A motorcycle has handles on it, just like the Highwind." Shera said thoughtfully. "It'll have to do."
"Wha....?"
"Come on Cloud." Shera said, dragging him by the arm to the door leading to the deck. Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie and Red XIII followed.
"What about Barret back at the Gold Saucer!?" Cloud yelped.
"He can wait." Shera answered. "This is an emergency."
"But I don't know how to fly a plane!!"
"Sorry Cloud, but you're our best candidate." Shera told him apologetically, while fiddling with the switches on the control panel. She smiled smugly as the plane's engines roared into life.
"I'm sure Cid would have a field day if I smashed his Highwind....." Cloud said, swallowing hard.
"Then just don't smash it. " Shera shrugged.
"You really expect me to fly this thing, don't you?"
"Yes." Shera nodded, shoving him behind the control panel. "Now stop your complaining and fly the plane."
Cloud nervously took hold of the controls. The plane jerked into the air with a sudden violent jolt.
"Whoa!!" Yuffie yelled, grabbing onto the railing for support. Tifa was flung off the deck, and bashed through the door leading to the live-in area.
"Where are we going!?" Cloud yelled, suddenly jerking the plane hard-right as it soared dangerously close to a mountain.
"Mideel!" Shera yelled. "And step on it!!"
Cloud turned the steering wheel hard right.
"Whoa! Mountains dead ahead!!!" Cloud howled. "How to you make this thing go up?!"
"Pull back on the------" Shera screamed.
But her cries were suddenly drowned out by an ear piercing squeal sound as the underside of the plane scraped across the mountains surrounding Mt. Nibel. The plane's engines shut down suddenly, and the plane plummeted fast into the forest in the Nibel Area. There was a shocking bump as the plane crashed to the ground.
"Everybody's OK?" Cloud asked, looking around.
"A little shaken up....." Yuffie said weakly, holding her stomach. "But otherwise fine.... I think...."
"Well, I won't say that that was the most elegant landing I've ever seen." Shera said, dusting herself off. "But don't worry too much. Cid's done worse."
"Is it broken?" Cloud wondered.
"No no, it'll take off fine again. It's maybe a little scuffed on the underside though." Shera shook her head. "The plane automatically shuts down like this when something hits it rather violently. It's a safety mechanism Cid and I installed in it a few months ago....."
"Safety?" Cloud scoffed. "A plane shutting itself off in mid-air is considered safe?!"
"Would you rather the plane explode in a giant fireball?"
"Point taken." Cloud sighed.
"Okay next time you fly this thing, remember that turning left makes the plane go left, right goes right, pulling the wheel back makes the plane go up, and pushing forwards makes the plane go down. Got that?" "I think so." Cloud nodded.
"Good enough. We'll just get this thing back into the air again and we'll be back on course." Shera said, starting the plane up once more. Once again, the plane rose to the sky and Cloud took the controls. He cautiously flew the plane over North Corel.
"Dammit, where's Vincent?!" Cloud yelled suddenly. "Get him to come up here!!"
"What's wrong!?" Vincent said loudly, looking up from his place on the deck.
"Come up here and take the controls!" Cloud yelled.
"What......?!" Vincent said, horrified. "I can't fly a plane!"
"Then just fake it!" Cloud said loudly as the raven haired man walked up to the controls. " You heard what Shera said, just turn the handle left to go left, right to go right, pull it back to ascend, and push it forward to descend! Got that!?"
"Well not rea...."
"No time to respond!" Cloud said, pushing Vincent in front of the control panel. He ran over to the storage area, and pulled out a parachute.
"Where are you going, Cloud?" Red XIII wondered.
"What!?" Vincent yelled, turning around for a brief moment as Cloud quickly strapped the parachute to his back. "Where the hell do you think you're off to?!"
"Gotta jump out while the Gold Saucer's still below us! I'm gonna get Barret!" Cloud told them. "I can't leave my friends behind, you know!"
"Understood." Red XIII nodded. "We shall proceed to Mideel without you."
"Right then." Cloud yelled. "Come back and get us when Cid's taken care of. See you all then!!"
Vincent opened his mouth to protest, but Cloud had already leaped off the plane.
"Idiot....." Vincent said angrily to himself. "Now.... how does one fly this thing again?"
Red XIII chuckled nervously. "A rather bad time to be saying that, don't you think?"
------------------------------------------------------
"Damn.... whenever I get like this, I start to think. My mind wanders, and sometimes I can't stop it......."
"Alone with my thoughts....... Hmm. This can never be a good thing, Sephiroth."
"Hmm......."
-
"Sephiroth....."
-
-
"People identify me by this. They tag this to me, my whole self, the being that is me....."
"But if it isn't a name, then what is it?"
"Just a mere word."
"But it's the very word that denotes my destiny. Describe my existence in one word, and that is what you come up with........"
"That word......."
-
"The word my father called me his whole life........ and mine....."
-
-
"Sephiroth......"
-
-
"But....."
-
-
".......what does it mean?"
------------------------------------------------------
"Cloud did WHAT?!"
Shera cowered slightly. "I wasn't there....."
Yuffie pretended to be asleep. Red XIII sat quietly on the floor and just watched. They both knew perfectly well that it was best to stay out of Tifa's way when she was upset, as this was clearly the case now.
"Who allowed him to go running off like that?!" Tifa demanded. "And why did he run off anyway?!"
"I can answer that." Vincent spoke. "Cloud jumped off the side of the plane to go see what has happened to Barret."
"He jumped off the side of the plane?!" Tifa yelped, horrified.
"He had a parachute." Vincent said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think Cloud would be so stupid as to jump off a plane several hundred feet in the air without one and expect to survive."
"I knew that!!" Tifa barked. "But I just wish Cloud would have told us first before doing something so stupid as that!! He's trying to avoid his responsibilities, I know he is!!"
"He did tell us." Red XIII spoke up. "He gave us adequate warning."
"He is not shirking his duties either." Vincent explained. "He ordered me to fly this plane, then gave me simple instructions on how to do so. As for being responsible, I think he has not failed us."
"What!?" Tifa growled. "Are you insane?? Of course he's failed us! He's run out on us for goodnessakes!!"
"I don't think so." Vincent said calmly. "He has his priorities set right. He didn't protest when Shera told him to fly this plane to Mideel so Cid can receive medical attention."
"Yes." Red XIII nodded in agreement. "And as soon as he became available to retrieve one of his friends, he went off to do so. Cloud is truly a noble leader."
"He's a doofus!" Tifa yelled. "He makes me so angry I could just kill him!!"
"If you did that, I would be very upset." Red XIII smiled. "What is more, I don't think you have the heart to, Tifa."
"You're right." Tifa nodded slowly. "But.... he still makes me angry....."
"I hate to interrupt this conversation." Vincent exclaimed. "But where is Mideel?"
"Due south of Kalm." Tifa answered plainly.
"Would you like to navigate?" Vincent said, looking at her for a brief moment. "It would be greatly appreciated."
"No way....." Tifa said, shaking her head. "Not after what happened last time."
"But you were quite good at it when you tried." Red XIII tried to encourage her.
"No I wasn't!" Tifa retorted. "Cid said I sucked at it! He said I was useless and that I should never navigate his plane ever again!!"
"Sometimes, Cid just gets very frustrated or excited and quite forgets himself." Shera said suddenly. "He'll say a lot of things he really doesn't mean, sweetie...."
"That's what Cloud said." Tifa whispered.
Shera nodded. "Cloud knows him well."
"Shall we fly to Mideel and see what we can do about Cid?" Vincent asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Shera nodded. "I only hope there's a clinic there... or I hope someone can direct us to one."
"Very well." Vincent nodded. "Tifa, come up here and navigate."
Tifa nodded, and did as she was told. "If the people in Mideel can't direct us to a clinic, we'll scour the globe for one....."
"Your mean well, I know, Tifa......" Shera said, tearfully. "But I'm afraid poor old Cid doesn't have that much time....."
"Just hope." Tifa said sadly. "Hope."
"All you need is hope....." Red XIII whispered. "Hope is all you need."
------------------------------------------------
"My Speed Square is nothing more than trash no thanks to you and your cult!!"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise!" Reeve yelled. "Just front up the money for the damage bill!"
"All the money was handled by my associate. And seeing as though he split, I no can do."
"Barret?" Reeve said coolly. "Take him out."
"Wit' pleasure." Barret chuckled.
"Hey, let's talk this over!" the man yelled fearfully as Barret aimed his gun at his throat. "Let's be reasonable here!"
Reeve was upset - and with good reason too. After all, thanks to the most recent Weapon attack, the Speed Square was nothing more than a mess of twisted and charred metal. Now Reeve was blaming the newest leader of the cult who held the parade in the Speed Square - a young blonde man in a Shinra jacket with piercing red eyes.
"The only one being reasonable here is me." Reeve said calmly. "I'm not out for blood, there is no point in that. But I am upset. Why? Because you, your and your stupid parade are entirely responsible for the destruction of the Speed Square."
"How so?!" the red-eyed man yelped. "We didn't know those monolith creatures were going to attack your theme park!!"
"Weapon attack'd the park??" Barret yelped.
"I appealed to Cloud and the others to check out the nature of this man's parade." Reeve explained to Barret. "Unfortunately, three Weapons showed up and just about annihilated the venue where the parade was held. Now, thanks to them, my Speed Square is a total mess."
"But Weapon will flatten anything if given the chance!" the red-eyed man said defensively. "Your parade must have attracted them." Reeve said angrily. "I don't know much about Weapon, but I do know this - something always provokes it to attack. It never does it on it's own. And the 'Sephiroth' theme of your parade must have had something to do with it."
"What!?" the red-eyed man choked. "That's ridiculous!"
"Maybe so, but Weapon is a wild and unpredictable creature." Reeve only shrugged. "And because I assume your parade was a 'bait' for them, I hold you responsible for what happened. I expect full payment for the repairs, and the estimated amount we would have made from the attraction had it not been destroyed."
"This is stupid!" the man yelped, backing towards the door. "You'll get nothing from me!"
"On a more personal note, you promised to repair my Cait Sith." Reeve said quietly. "You said you would be able to locate the required components....."
"Oh yeah, about that....." the red eyed man smiled nervously. "We haven't fixed it yet..." "What?!"
"We've already taken the Cait Sith from the casino, and found everything!!" The man yelped quickly. "Everything, but one item. And without it, he's still broken......"
"What's wrong with him?" Reeve wondered.
"He doesn't turn on." the red eyed man chuckled nervously. "I don't understand it - everything inside him is just fine now. He shouldn't need any more repairs for the rest of his life, but....."
"But?" Reeve said impatiently. "If you can fix him up effective immediately, I'll waive the damage bill..... all I really want is my friend back."
The red-eyed man just nodded. "He needs to be booted up with some disk or something."
"What!?" Reeve said happily, quickly diving into his drawer. He produced a pair of gold CD-ROMs, one labelled 'Cait', the other labelled 'Sith'.
"Is that all he needs? Just these two boot disks?" Reeve said quickly.
"Yeah......" the man nodded. "I think that would do it."
"Well bring Cait Sith here and I'll boot him up in a matter of seconds." Reeve smiled. "If he works just fine, I'll forget all about what happened at the Speed Square."
"Thankyou Mr. Reeve sir." the red-eyed man smiled wickedly. "But somehow, I don't think that will be happening."
"....What?"
The red-eyed man leaped over and snatched the CDs from Reeve's grasp.
"Hey!!" Reeve yelped. "Give those back!!"
"You are a brilliant man, Reeve. The brainpower it would have taken to create such a thing as Cait Sith is just extraordinary." the man laughed, twirling the CDs on his index finger. "Your 'Cait Sith' was built particularly well.... as a matter of fact, he was one of the most advanced mechanisms ever developed by Shinra!!"
"Why are you doing this?!" Reeve howled, subtly pushing the security button on the underside of his desk. "What could you possibly want with Cait Sith?!"
"Shinra put up the money for its development. Therefore, it is the property of Shinra Inc." the man explained. "And seeing as though I own Shinra for now, Cait Sith is mine!"
Just then, a dozen security guards burst into the room and surrounded the man, guns raised and aimed at his head.
"Hand them over." Reeve demanded. "Give the disks back, and I might forget about what you just tried to do. And by the way, you can forget all about what I just said about not paying the damage bill to my Speed Square."
"I foresaw this." the man chuckled quietly. "You are powerless to stop me as I walk out of the room and off to safety."
"Wanna make a bet?!" Reeve snapped. "Look at your situation. A dozen men with rifles aimed at your head, all ready to fire!? When they shoot, you're going to need more than just a few paracetamol tablets to cure THAT headache!! You've grossly overestimated yourself, boy."
"Aaah yes. Good thinking, Reeve." the man smiled. "I always knew that's what you were best at. But alas, your men can do nothing to stop me."
"And why not??"
"Because of this." the man held up the two CD-ROMs. "We wouldn't want these to get damaged now, would we?"
Reeve growled angrily.
"That's right, Reeve...." the man laughed. "Now tell your men to drop their weapons before I have to break these."
Reeve sighed deeply. "Men, do what he says."
"That's right Reeve, we're almost there." the red-eyed man nodded in approval. "Now, just get your flunkies to leave, and we can finalise this."
"How can I be assured that you will even hand the disks back if my men leave?" Reeve said, shaking his head sadly.
"You can't." the red-eyed man laughed. "Because I'm going to take these with me and go back to my work. One day, I shall learn how you programmed something so complex and I will use your programming skills to make a fleet of my own independent thinking robots....."
"To do that, you will have to turn Cait Sith on!" Reeve yelled.
"And how is that a problem....?"
"I.....I promised him..... that I would be the first person he would see when he was reactivated......"
Just then, Cloud burst into the room.
"Hey there Reeve!!" he said happily. "Is Barre......." the blonde man stopped dead in his tracks.
"YOU." Cloud snarled, facing the man in the Shinra jacket.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you!" Cloud yelled, barging past all the security men, tackling the red-eyed man to the ground. The CDs fell from his hands and rolled silently across the floor. "I'll kill you!!"
"Hello Cloud." Reeve smiled suddenly, as one of the security man returned his precious CDs to him. "You couldn't have come in at a better time."
"I didn't foresee this......" the red-eyed man sighed. "Drat."
"Drat is right, you bastard!" Cloud growled. "Now what are we gonna do with him?"
"Slap handcuffs on him and make sure he doesn't get away." Reeve answered. "We'll deal with him later."
The red-eyed man growled angrily in protest as the security guards cuffed his hands behind his back and led him from the room.
"Yo, Cloud." Barret grunted. "What are ya' doin' here? Where's th' rest of da' group?"
"They've taken Cid to hospital, I think....." Cloud said thoughtfully.
"What th' hell happened to him?!"
"It's a long story." Cloud answered. "It'll take a while to explain......."
"So if th' group went to take Cid to da hopsicle, why'd you come here wit'out dem?" "Because I couldn't just leave you here." Cloud shrugged. "I couldn't leave a friend behind."
"........thanks buddy."
Cloud smiled faintly. "It's OK."
"I'm in th' dark about what's happened here." Barret grumbled. "Are ya gonna explain it to me?"
"Is that a request?" Cloud mused. "Or a demand?"
"Jus' explain it to me." Barret told him.
"Before I do, Barret...." Cloud said thoughtfully. "I want to know what happened to you during the parade."
"Oh, I wuz looking fer you guys." Barret explained. "Then this Reeve dude told me to come in his office here, cuz' it weren't safe out there."
"Oh." Cloud nodded.
"Yes." Reeve nodded. "Seeing as though everybody was walking around in the same attire as that Sephiroth feller, somebody like Barret would have stood out like a sore thumb." "Well thanks, Reeve." Cloud smiled. "You really bend over backwards to be nice to us, don't you?"
"It's the least I can do....." Reeve said quietly. "You've all done more for m..... Cait Sith and I than you'll ever know."
"Grrrrr! The suspense is killin' me!" Barret growled. "Tell me what happened during th' parade b'fore I hafta blow your head away!!"
"Yes Cloud, what did happen during that parade??" Reeve wondered. "Please, sit down and tell us over a cup of coffee."
"Ugh, I don't like coffee." Cloud said, screwing his face up. "I'm a tea drinker."
"Hmm, whatever's your poison." Reeve smiled. "Tea it is then. Now come on, you're holding out on us. Tell us what happened....."
"Oh, alright." Cloud nodded. "Well, I don't know too much, but I'll try explaining it as best I can......"
-----------------------------------------------------
"A final evolution."
-
-
"Jenova said 'You will reach your Final Evolution'. So it must be true."
"You can try hiding it from me all you want, Chosen One. But now I know such a thing exists....."
"I wonder about it......."
"Is it like Safer-Sephiroth?"
"Why is it something I don't wanna hear about?"
"So many unanswered questions. Somehow, I think they will be answered in due time....."
-
-
"But for now, they trouble me............"
---------------------------------------------------------
The Highwind and it's crew had finally made their way over the Southern Continent. Their destination - Mideel. A quiet little out of the way town by nature, and the only city on the entire of the Southern Continent.
"We're pretty much over Mideel now." Shera told Vincent. "Start bringing the Highwind down slowly....."
"I'm trying." Vincent scowled. "Just be quiet, I'll work this out on my own."
Red XIII stepped up to the controls and looked around. "Cid can land this plane calmly. Surely all we need to do is work out how to do that."
"Well I wish someone would explain how sometime." Vincent grumbled, raising an eyebrow. "Cid was the one who knew how to fly the plane, so of course he knew how to land it."
Red XIII's only eye fell on a small red button marked 'descend'. He brushed his paw over it lightly. Suddenly, the giant fan engines began to slow down, and the plane plunged to the ground below. It landed on the grass with a dull thump.
"Do you think that worked?" Red XIII smiled.
"Oh be quiet." Vincent grumbled, folding his arms.
"OK...." Shera said quickly. "I'll go get Cid and we'll be on our way."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Red XIII said, shaking his head. "What if we were to take him with us only to find that Mideel doesn't have a clinic?"
"Well what if there is!?" Shera said, quite flustered. "We need to get him off this hunk of junk and into a hospital! He needs expert care!"
"I understand that, Shera." Red XIII said thoughtfully. "But I think we should leave Cid on the plane until it is confirmed that we can get him some medical attention. There's no point in moving him if we don't have to."
"I think you should shut up!" Shera retorted.
Red XIII scowled, and slumped down on the ground, giving Shera an angry look. "I....I'm sorry.... I don't know what came over me....." Shera said, immediately apologetic. "Honestly.... I'm as bad as Cid sometimes........"
"It's alright." Red XIII said quietly. "We often say things we regret......"
"Well who's going to carry Cid?" Tifa wondered. "Red?"
"I will not carry him unless I know I am taking him into the sanctuary of a hospital." Red XIII said plainly. "It would be better for all of us."
"Well don't ask me to." Vincent responded. "This body isn't very strong. Carrying a full grown man would only put a tremendous amount of strain on it."
"That Sephiroth kid is pretty strong, isn't he?" Shera said thoughtfully. "Why don't we wake him up?"
"No, don't do that!" Tifa howled. "Seph's totally flaked out! We can't expect him to carry Cid, not in his condition right now!"
"His condition??"
"He's only like, been wired up with a few hundred tranquillisers." Yuffie answered.
"Only one." Red XIII corrected her.
"Well that's no good. Where's that Aeris girl?" Shera said, looking around. "With myself, Tifa, Yuffie and her, we could carry Cid off easily."
"The last time I saw Aeris was when she was with that unsociable man in your lounge room, waiting for him to wake up again." Vincent said, deep in thought. "And she is most probably with him as we speak."
"Go get her." Shera said, nodding in Tifa's direction. "We're going to need her."
"Oh, forget Aeris." Tifa said bitterly. "I'll carry Cid all by myself."
"Are you sure that's wi...."
"I'm strong!" Tifa defended. "Or have you forgotten that?!"
"Alright, alright.... suit yourself. Go inside and get Cid." Red XIII said calmly. "At least inform Aeris that we're leaving."
"Fine." Tifa said angrily, and walked off.
Tifa stormed down into the live-in area of the plane, and stood in front of Aeris who was sitting on the floor, just watching over the sleeping Sephiroth.
"Hey Aeris." Tifa said, with scorn in her voice.
"Look, I'm very sorry, Tifa." Aeris sighed tiredly. "For everything. I'm very unhappy with the way things are turning out at the moment......"
"Yeah, me too." Tifa scoffed. "By the way, we're taking Cid to the hospital now. You can stay here and upset Sephiroth so much that he'll run away from you, just like you did to Cloud......"
"I didn't mean to!" Aeris cried, tears welling up in her eyes. "I just the truth hadn't hurt him so much......"
"The 'truth'??" Tifa said, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about??"
"Just go and take Cid to the hospital." Aeris cried softly. "We'll resolve this matter later."
Tifa walked over to the couch, picked up Cid as gently as she could and began to head out the door. Before leaving, she gave Aeris a pained look.
"Look Aeris, I'm really sorry....."
"No no Tifa. You have every right to be angry." Aeris smiled weakly. "I'm the one who should be apologising."
--------------------------------------------------
"So why'd the Aeris thing happen anyways??"
Cloud scratched his head uneasily. "I.... I guess..... I.... umm..... I dunno."
"I don't think we should be prying into Cloud's personal life." Reeve said, smiling faintly as Cloud gave him a grateful look. "Just tell us what happened after she upset you, Cloud."
"Um..... I ran off to be alone." Cloud said, taking a sip from his cup of tea before placing it on the coffee table. "I ran off, not caring where I went and ended up at the Event Square."
"The Event Square?"
"Uh-huh. I sat up the back in one of the chairs, and cri..... uh, what I did was not important." Cloud said, clearing his throat loudly. "Anyway, after a while, a small group of men wearing black capes marched in. One of em' was that blonde man in the other room."
"That sh*t?!" Barret grunted. "So wh't happened!?"
"I'm getting to that." Cloud said, slightly annoyed. "The black caped men came in and started talking about their plans......."
"They were planning for the parade?" Reeve asked.
Cloud shrugged. "I couldn't make much of it out."
"So what happened next?" Reeve asked. "Please Cloud, continue."
Cloud nodded. "Alright. So anyway, they were planning something, saying that they didn't have anyone to execute for the end of their show. That's when I sneezed."
"Bad."
"Yeah, real bad." Cloud nodded. "That man, the one in the other room, he stood up and laughed at me and called me a 'traitor to the empire'. He said that I may as well be the one to be executed because I intruded on their plans. So they grabbed me, took away my Ultima Weapon, tied me up and chucked me on their float. And then later, Tifa came and untied me. Jenova was there, the Weapons were there, Sephiroth summoned a Meteor, Cid got crunched under a massive chunk of cement....."
"Wait a damn minute!" Barret yelped. "When did Jenova and the Weapons show up!? Why'd you jump to that wit'out mentioning the bits in between??"
"You'll have to ask the rest of the group about what happened." Cloud answered. "The black-caped morons threw a sheet over me after tying me up and shoving me onto their float, so I didn't see much until Tifa came along."
"Well damn!" Barret yelled, slamming his fist on the table, upsetting Cloud's cup of tea on the floor. "I missed th' action again! We hafta get back and talk to th' other guys, I wanna know what happened!"
"So do I...." Reeve sighed, trying to clean up the mess Barret had made. "But I think patience is the key."
"So what do we do now that I've come for Barret, and found him?" Cloud wondered. "Do we call our friends and ask them to come pick us up?"
"No, I've got a better idea." Reeve smiled. "I'll fly you there."
"Huh.......??"
"Dio has a light plane." Reeve smiled widely. "We dubbed it the 'Tornado'."
"The Tornado??" Cloud said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's looks like a helicopter, and a plane at the same time. It has two wings, but each one has rotary blades on them, hence the name 'Tornado'." Reeve explained. "Dio said I could only use it for emergencies. I guess this counts as one."
"Maybe....." Cloud shrugged.
"Oh, let's just say it was so I can use the damn thing." Reeve said quickly. "So where are your friends?"
"They were headed for Mideel last time I heard." Cloud said, thinking. "But I'd really have to PHS them to confirm where they are."
"Alright, you do that."
"Hey Reeve man, what are we gonna do wit' that Shinra SOB in th' other room?" Barret asked. "Do we kill him, or what?"
"I'd forgotten all about him." Reeve said, lowering his eyes. "No Barret, don't kill him. He has my Cait Sith, remember? He said he'd taken it from the Casino Square and fixed it already. Despite all that he's done, I'm still grateful to him that Cait Sith will be with us again."
"You really like that traitorous bastard, don't yer?" Barret grunted.
"Barret, Cait Sith isn't a bastard." Cloud told him. "And he's not a traitor either. Sure, he was once, but he changed, remember?"
"Hmph." Barret grunted. "Yeh, but the way Reeve talks about him, it's like he's his father or somethin'....."
Reeve smiled weakly. "I guess you could say that......."
"Come on then. Let's go find the others." Cloud said quickly. "Reeve, you wanna come along for the ride?"
"How forgetful are you?" Reeve said, a smirk on his face. "I said I would take you there in Dio's light plane."
"I.... I knew that." Cloud said, going a little red in the face. "Now let's get out of here."
"Right." Reeve nodded. "Just go in the other room and get the Shinra bastard and we'll be on our way............"
--------------------------------------------------------
Red XIII lay on the carpeted floor of the hospital, his chin resting on his paws, his nose wrinkled slightly at the powerful medicinal smell in the air. Tifa yawned loudly as she flipped through a hospital magazine. It was the only thing she could do to keep herself awake. Vincent just stood there, leaned up against the wall, arms folded, looking removed as usual, while Yuffie had long since nodded off on the floor, right next to Red XIII. Her head was resting on her shoulder and her arms were hugging Red XIII's paw for security.
"I wonder how Cid's doing....." Tifa sighed.
"Hopefully, better than Yuffie down here." Red XIII whispered.
"Huh?" Tifa looked downward at Red XIII.
"Yuffie must have been tired." Tifa yawned. "Normally, she'd complain about having to sleep on the floor or something. Gosh, you would have at least thought that being worried about Cid would have stopped her from wanting to sleep!"
"Don't be so quick to get upset with Yuffie's selfishness." Red XIII told her. "She's only young. She still has a lot to learn."
"She's only young?" Tifa shook her head. "I'm 23, only 4 years older than her. That's not really young, you know. "
"Don't say that." Red XIII said, scowling slightly. "You humans are young for your entire lives. You're pretty lucky if you manage to live to be 30 in my kind's years."
"Oh Red......." Tifa sighed sadly.
"Just remember this, Tifa. Yuffie's younger than all of us." Red XIII paused briefly as Yuffie snuggled into him in her sleep. "She's only 19 years of age.... barely out of her human cubhood. Don't forget that she needs more sleep than you do."
"Red, that's 'childhood'." Tifa chuckled.
"Oh be quiet." Red XIII smiled. "You're barely out of your cubhood yourself. If you take your age in my kind's years, you're only 7 and a half years old. So get back into line, young one."
"Oh yeah?" Tifa mused. "Am I really going to let a rebellious 16 year older boss me around??"
Red XIII smiled widely. His smile quickly faded as Shera walked out into the waiting room slowly. The look on her face told him instantly that the news she was about to give them was definitely not good.
Tifa sprang to her feet. "What's the word, Shera?"
"The doctors all said he was lucky to survive." Shera whispered. "He's expected to recover......"
"Oh that's wonderful!" Tifa said, breaking out into a huge smile. But Shera's expression remained unchanged.
"Now I have a feeling that something is amiss here." Red XIII whispered. "What's the real story?"
"They don't know what's wrong with his leg. I mean, they do, but.... they don't know whether his leg's broken or not. There's too much swelling to get a decent X-ray......." Shera cried softly.
"How is that a problem?" Red XIII wondered.
"He has to remain here until further notice." Shera sighed morbidly. "And Cid's not the sort of person who can just sit there and take what life gives him......."
-----------------------------------------------------
"Sephiroth...... Final Evolution. These are just two of the things that bug me, not knowing what either of them are."
"But more importantly........."
"Who am I? Who am I now?"
"Who am I?"
"Am I really all that which others tell of?"
"Or am I only what I know of myself?"
"Who am I? This or the other?"
"Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?"
"Am I both at once?"
"Maybe a hypocrite before others......"
"And before myself, a man who does not know...."
"I am a man who does not know what he is."
"Or is something within me stirring.....?"
"Perhaps celebrating over victory already achieved?"
"Is it only a matter of time before it takes me over?"
"Who am I?!"
"If you were to ask me who I was,"
"I would tell you I was the Great Sephiroth."
"But am I really that?"
"Do I even know myself any more?"
"I once thought I did, but now I'm not so sure........."
"They mock me, these lonely questions of mine."
"Whoever I am......"
-
-
-
-
"Is maybe yet to be discovered....."
"Who said that....??"
-
-
-
"Who is this?"
-
"Are you a friend or an enemy?!"
-
-
"Certainly NOT an enemy, and definitely more than a friend......"
"...........Aeris?"
"Incorrect."
-
-
"Well, if you're not Aeris, then who are you?"
-
-
"Who are you?! Answer me!!!"
"You shall not be told. It is I who shall ask the questions of you."
-
-
-
"Are you still there?"
-
-
-
"Damn. Don't go........."