Final Fantasy VII: Shattered Memories
By Enrique Inocent

Author’s Note: The following story was written in 2001, long before the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, so there’s no continuity with Crisis Core or Before Crisis. This is a retelling of the flashbacks that occurred during Final Fantasy VII. I’ve woven the flashbacks together in a linear fashion (with some minor adjustments) in order to give a comprehensive history of Cloud Strife, our blond, spiky-haired protagonist. Some of you Final Fantasy fans might notice that the names of certain characters in this story are the same as those from previous Final Fantasy games. These are not the same characters. They just happen to have the same name, that’s all. Our story opens in Cloud’s hometown of Nibelheim, when he was six years old. Enjoy the story and thank you for reading.

PART 1

Chapter I
The morning sun shined softly through the window, landing gently on Cloud’s sleeping eyes. He squirmed in his tossed bed, immensely irritated by the sunlight. Grabbing the pillow from underneath his head, Cloud placed it over his face and pressed it as hard as possible to filter out the sunlight that seeped through his eyelids. He didn’t wish to get up. He had no motivation to do so.

There was a knock on the door, very soft, barely audible. Cloud buried his face deeper into the pillow, hoping against hope his mother would leave him alone. He knew it was his mother. Who else could it be? His father was dead and he had no brothers or sisters. It could only be his mother.

“Cloud, dear,” the mother’s sweet voice called out in a jaunty manner. She stepped into the cluttered room, and was irritated to see her son was still in bed. “Come on, Cloud, you big sleepyhead,” she trumpeted, “get your keister outta bed! It’s time to seize the day!”

Cloud remained motionless, pretending he was still asleep.

“I know you’re up, so stop playing possum,” she said, playfully nudging Cloud.

Her stubborn son didn’t move.

“Oh, so now you’re playing difficult, huh?” she said, tickling his neck.

Cloud resisted for all of two seconds before bursting into laughter. He rolled around in hysterics as his mother ran her fingers around his body. It was a warm-hearted scene that was abruptly cut short the instant Cloud yelled, “Leave me alone!”

Cloud’s mother was startled by his fierce outcry, and took a hurried step back, as if she feared her son might bite her. Cloud didn’t bite her, of course. He simply wrapped himself in his quilt blanket and exhaled an irritable grunt.

“What’s the matter, Cloud?” his mother asked, extremely perturbed.

Cloud responded by turning his back to her.

“Well, I just came up to tell you that your breakfast is ready,” his mother said, speaking in that mellow, compassionate tone she often used whenever Cloud was in one of his funks.

The mother made her way out the room. Before closing the door she whispered “I love” to her son.

Cloud, now wide awake and staring blankly at the ceiling, was weighed down by remorse. He didn’t mean to snap at his mother, and knew full well he overreacted to her teasing. She always teased him, but in the sweetest way possible. That was her way. Any other day and Cloud would have relished a tickle fight with his mother. Today, however, he was in no laughing mood.

Now, the reason Cloud was in a terrible funk this morning was because of something that happened the previous day involving Tifa and her friends. Tifa was Cloud’s next-door neighbor, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart. Cloud and Tifa weren’t friends, per say. They were more like acquaintances who greeted each other if they happened to cross paths. Tifa had no time for Cloud on account she was the most popular girl in Nibelheim, and he was a social outcast. Tifa ran with a tight-knit crew, a crew that didn’t hold Cloud in high regard. Not that he held them in any higher regard. In fact, Cloud thought Tifa’s friends were a bunch of immature idiots who played in dirt and laughed at the stupidest things. Tifa was way too smart for them, as far as Cloud was concerned.

Needless to say, Cloud harbored a great deal of animosity toward Tifa’s friends, but in reality, this animosity was steeped very much in envy. Though Tifa didn’t know it, Cloud secretly admired her. Not just for her beauty (though there was no denying she was the prettiest girl in the village), but for her kindness. Whereas her friends mocked and laughed at him, she did no such thing, and would always step in if the mocking got too intense, but in all honesty, Cloud put himself in a position to be mocked, because he was forever following Tifa, like the doting admirer that he was. Sometimes he’d spy on her from afar, while other times he’d stand in plain sight, hoping she’d acknowledge him. Cloud always had these fanciful daydreams, where Tifa would walk up to him and ask to play, just the two of them, and then they’d prance off hand-in-hand while her idiot friends looked on enviously. This never happened, of course. It was always Cloud looking on enviously. The most that did happen was, Tifa would spot Cloud every now and then, and maybe smile or wave in his general direction. Simple gestures, yes, but they were powerful enough to make Cloud happy for the rest of the week.

As for the incident that occurred the previous day, first, it’s important to note the old water tower situated in the town square. Children were prohibited from climbing it, but Cloud, the social outcast that he was, flagrantly disregarded this prohibition. The water tower was his special place. He found comfort up there, alone, thinking his deep thoughts. It was the majestic landscape that brought him the most comfort. In a word, it was awe-inspiring. On a clear day he could see miles beyond the village, to the Nibel Grasslands, where flocks of wild chocobos could be seen roaming the countryside, and further still to Cosmo Canyon. Its crimson mountains provided a natural barrier from the outside world.
This was the scenery Cloud had his eyes fixed on that fateful day, when suddenly he heard the rustling of someone ascending the water tower. He was much too absorbed by the natural beauty of the world to care who it was. He figured it was either his mother or some other adult, coming up here to reprimand him for climbing the water tower, like usual.

“Wow, you can see Cosmo Canyon from here,” a familiar voice said.

It was Tifa. Cloud was agog, and for a moment he thought he was having another one of his fanciful daydreams. But no, he wasn’t daydreaming. Tifa really was there, sitting right next him—with her leg touching his! Cloud seriously thought he would faint. He summoned all his willpower just to control the trembling in his knees. Tifa had that effect on him.

The sun was obscured by pockets of fluffy white cumulous clouds. Radiant white light pierced through the clouds, and fell to earth like a torrential downpour, almost as if it was raining sunlight.

“The sky’s so pretty today,” Tifa said in a longing voice. There was a slight inflection in her tone that implied something was wrong. It was subtle but Cloud picked up on it immediately.

As ecstatic as he was to be sitting next to Tifa, their little legs dangling together twenty feet above the ground, Cloud was too nervous to speak. He was afraid he’d say something to drive her away. Still, he felt obligated to respond to her observation.

“Yeah,” he said simply.

Cloud’s one word phrase was punctuated by uncomfortable silence.

After a minute of sitting completely idle, Cloud took a glance at Tifa and saw that she had a sullen look on her face. This was an uncharacteristic look. Tifa was usually so optimistic, always smiling, always giggling. Not now, though. Her bright smile was gone, replaced with a dim grimace, and her eyes, two large pools of amber, had since dulled and were now two puddles of icky brown mud.

“Cloud,” Tifa squeaked, breaking the silence, “where do you think people go when they die?”

Cloud turned to Tifa, and said, “My mom told me dead people go to a place that’s just beyond Nibel Mountain. It’s this beautiful city in the sky, and when you die, all the people you loved, the ones who died before you, welcome you with a humungous party that lasts for days!”

“Really?” Tifa said, her dull eyes suddenly lighting up. “There is such a place?”

“That’s where my dad is,” Cloud replied somberly. “Well, at least, according to my mom.”

“Do you think people who aren’t dead can somehow get there?” Tifa asked in all seriousness.

Cloud shrugged. “If the city in the sky is just beyond Nibel Mountain, I don’t see why not.”

“You ever think of visiting your dad, you know, in the city in the sky?”

“I wanted to once, but my mom told me the journey’s way too dangerous for the living, so it’s best to never even think about going there. You might die yourself.”

“But it’s not impossible, is it? I mean, if you’re brave enough, and strong enough, you could probably get there and back, right?”

“I don’t know. I guess so. Why do you ask?”

Tifa confessed to Cloud that her mother was deathly ill. “I overheard the doctor tell my dad she might die.” Tifa sniffled a few time, then coughed up tears. “I don’t want Mommy to die! I love her so much!”

Tifa pressed a cheek on Cloud’s shoulder and wept ever so gently. A surge of emotion compelled Cloud to put an arm around her. Tifa’s body trembled just as uncontrollably as his knees, but the trembling in both his knees and her body subsided the longer he held her.

“Hey, what’s this?” a voice hollered from down below. “Look, Tifa’s got a boyfriend!”

The rowdy comedian was Tifa’s friend, Locke. He was accompanied by three other kids. They all pointed up and laughed at the sad couple sitting on the edge of the water tower.

“Tifa’s got a boyfriend! Tifa’s got a boyfriend!” her friends sang in a most obnoxious way.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Tifa shrieked at the top of her lungs.

And with that, she violently pulled away from Cloud, practically knocking him off the water tower. She descended the ladder in a complete hissy fit, stomping her feet every step of the way.

Locke and the three other kids waited for Tifa at the foot of the ladder, but just as soon as she touched ground, she stormed right passed them without a word.

“Wait, Tifa,” Locke cried, grabbing her elbow, “don’t be mad! We were just messing with ya! We know Cloud ain’t your boyfriend! I mean, c’mon, look at him!”

Everyone’s attention turned to the lone figure sitting atop the water tower.

“Who in their right mind would date a scrub like that?” Locke continued. “Seriously, look at him, up there, by himself, all scrawny and underfed. What does he do up there, anyway? Is he building a nest or what?”

Locke guffawed uproariously, as did the three other kids. Tifa inadvertently let slip a laugh, but immediately caught herself. She was trying to maintain a stern composure.

“C’mon, forgive me!” Locke pleaded. He bent down on both knees. “Lookit me, I’m begging ya! I’m begging ya! Please, your majesty, forgive this lowly pheasant!”

And, yes, Locke meant to say “pheasant,” because he was silly like that. He then proceeded to kiss Tifa’s hands, or more accurately, slobbered all over them like a dog.

“Okay, okay, I forgive you,” Tifa giggled, thoroughly amused by his silliness. “Just stop drooling all over me. It’s gross.”

Tifa’s friends emitted a raucous cheer, and then went on their merry way. Just as they were trotting off, Cloud overheard one of the kid’s say, “Now that you mention it, Cloud is always by himself. Doesn’t he have any friends?”

To which another kid replied, “Of course not. Nobody wants to play with him. He’s so weak that he can’t even wrestle without getting hurt.”

Another kid added, “He’s also kind of a weirdo.”

They all cackled in agreement. Tifa didn’t bother to defend him.

Cloud was too embarrassed to come down after that. He stayed atop the water tower until the streets were clear of Tifa and all her friends, which was some time around dusk. He then scampered home and cried himself to sleep.

And that just about brings us up to date.

Cloud, having stared blankly at the ceiling long enough, kicked off the covers and rolled out of bed. Having had time to reflect on yesterday’s unpleasantness, he concluded it was best not to dwell on it. No sense in letting what happened yesterday dictate what happened today. Like his mother so often told him: Seize the day! And seize it he would.

Cloud went downstairs to eat his breakfast. He was famished. Last night’s crying fit took a lot of him. While making his way to the kitchen, he noticed his mother was nowhere to be found. Her whereabouts were the least of his concerns, because the savory aroma of hot syrup, crispy bacon and mouth-watering eggs had his undivided attention. Cloud spared no time digging into the plate of food his mother had left for him on the kitchen table. Halfway through chowing down on his stack of pancakes, Cloud heard the front door open and close. His mother stepped into the kitchen shortly thereafter, wearing a coat and carrying a bag of groceries.

“Where’d you go, Ma?” Cloud asked, chewing on a huge chunk of pancake.

“Just went to get a few things from the Item Shop,” she replied.

The mother set the groceries down on the cutting board, and then sat across from her son at the kitchen table. She couldn’t help but smile as Cloud hungrily ate his breakfast, his baby teeth clenching hard with every bite. It reminded her of a puppy chewing on hard kibble.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” she asked her son.

Cloud shrugged. “I don’t know. I was thinking maybe I’d go over to Tifa’s to see what she’s up to.”

His mother’s face turned grim. “Um, Cloud, maybe it would be best if you didn’t visit Tifa today.”

“What?! Why not?!”

The mother was reluctant to say, but after a bit of wheedling from her son, she came out and told him the dreadful news: Tifa’s mother was dead.

“Mrs. Lockhart died last night,” she said solemnly. “It was pneumonia, I think. That’s what the girls in the Item Shop were saying.”

“But what about Tifa?” Cloud asked, more concerned about Tifa’s wellbeing than anyone else’s.

Cloud’s mother didn’t appreciate his callous attitude. “I imagine Tifa’s heartbroken,” she replied sternly, “which is why I don’t want you going over there today. Maybe tomorrow you can see Tifa. Right now she needs time to grieve. Give the poor girl her space, okay?”

Cloud promised to heed his mother’s words, but already he was devising a plan to sneak out. It was a very simple plan: He’d leave the house when his mother wasn’t looking and then creep next-door to spy on Tifa.

And that’s exactly what he did.

Chapter II
The skies were hoary gray that morning.

A cold, unforgiving wind blew through the deserted streets of Nibelheim.

Cloud kept his distance from Tifa’s house, a quaint little two-story cottage that resembled a gingerbread house, complete with gumdrop doorknobs. Cloud had intended to pay Tifa a visit, and do all he could to comfort her in this, her hour of need. However, as was so often the case, he quickly lost his nerve, and beat a hasty retreat the instant he saw someone at Tifa’s bedroom window. Cloud knew the person peeking from behind the curtains wasn’t Tifa. It was a boy, most likely that jerk Locke. Cloud was angry and disappointed, mostly with himself.

“Hey, it’s Cloud,” Locke said, peering out the window. “And he ran away. Wonder what’s his problem?”

“He’s a weirdo,” Relm snarked, “that’s his problem.”

Relm, a rather snooty little girl, was one of Tifa’s closest friends. She, Locke and two other friends, Sabin and Edgar, had arrived that gloomy morning in order to provide Tifa with emotional support.

Tifa was suffering from crippling bereavement. She sat curled in the corner of the room, gently rocking back and forth in almost a catatonic state. Edgar and Sabin, twin brothers, sat on her left and right side, respectively. The brothers tried their best to cheer her up, spewing trite platitudes about how everything was going to be okay in the long run. Tifa's eyes leaked like a running faucet. They were a deep scarlet from having cried so much. Her puffy cheeks were just as tender.

“I have to see Mom,” Tifa said in a barely discernible whisper.

The brothers scarcely heard her.

“What was that?” Sabin asked.

She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes. “I have to see Mom,” she repeated, this time with utmost conviction.

“What are you talking about?” Edgar asked.

Tifa rose to her feet. Standing tall and proud, she spoke to her friends about a city in the sky. “It’s where people go when they die, and it’s just beyond Nibel Mountain. I’m going there right now to see my mother!”

“Who told you about this city in the sky?” Locke asked.

“Cloud did,” Tifa answered.

“Don’t listen to Cloud,” Relm exclaimed, “that kid’s a weirdo!”

“No, he’s not!” Tifa defended. “He’s the only person who’s ever been a hundred percent honest with me!”

Tifa’s friends tried reasoning with her, saying there was no such thing as a city in the sky, and Nibel Mountain was impossible to traverse without the proper climbing gear. Veteran mountainmen had been known to slip, fall, break bones, and plummet to their death on account of the jagged, uneven terrain. If Nibel Mountain could chew up and spit out grown men, what were the chances that a grade-schooler as petite as Tifa would reach the summit in one piece?

“I don’t care!” was Tifa’s response to this burning question.

There was no convincing her otherwise. She was going to the city in the sky regardless of the risk to her life.

“I have to see my mom,” Tifa cried desperately, “even if it’s only for a minute! I have to tell her I love her! I didn’t get a chance to tell her before she died! It’s not fair! I have to make it right! I have to!”

“Okay, fine,” Locke said, feeling routed, “but you ain’t going alone. I’m coming with you.”

“Me too,” Edgar quickly added.

Relm and Sabin seconded the motion.

“Thanks, everybody,” Tifa said, genuinely moved.

After a lengthy group hug, Tifa and her intrepid crew set out for Nibel Mountain, which lied on the outskirts of town.

Meanwhile, Cloud, sad and alone (like always), walked the deserted streets of Nibelheim with no aim or purpose. His rudderless jaunt brought him to the wrought iron gates of Shinra Mansion. The mansion was owned and operated by the Shinra Electric Power Company, the world’s leading supplier of Mako energy, a natural resource that powered just about every contraption on the planet. Shinra was a multinational conglomerate corporation that also dealt in communications, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering, and space exploration. Moreover, it had an expansive military force. Shinra’s military was the biggest, strongest and most advanced in the whole world. It provided them significant capabilities in both defense and power projection. This military might, combined with their monopoly of Mako energy, effectively gave Shinra a measure of control over the global population.

Some years ago Mako energy was discovered in the peaks of Nibel Mountain. Shinra built the mansion in Nibelheim to house executives overseeing the mining operation. Cloud’s father was a miner for Shinra. He and a dozen other miners died when their tunnel caved in. The investigation to determine what caused the mine collapse was still ongoing.

It was while standing in front of the wrought iron gates of Shinra Mansion that Cloud spotted Tifa and her friends. They were ambling up the dirt road that led into Nibel Mountain. Overwhelmed by curiosity, Cloud followed them, keeping out of sight by ducking behind boulders and hiding under shrubbery.

By early afternoon the weather had become treacherous. Pitch black clouds blanketed the entire sky, giving the impression night had already fallen. From within the boiling black clouds came the crack of thunder and the spark of lightening. Each crack and spark was louder and more ferocious than the last. The ominous weather instilled fear into the hearts of the children ascending Nibel Mountain. That fear was most palatable to Relm, who retreated after giving Tifa a half-hearted apology. Relm passed Cloud on her way back to the village. They locked eyes but said nothing to each other. The cataclysmic sound of thunder spooked Relm. She jumped, shrieked, and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Cloud sallied forth.

The dirt road wasn’t all that precarious at first, but after a time, it disappeared and was replaced by a beaten trail. The children were now climbing more than they were walking. Huge rocks jutted out of the mountainside like craggy prongs. These rocks were completely unstable. Nibel Mountain was as brittle as dry clay. There was no telling when the ground would give way. This was a barren and inhospitable environment, to be sure. The cold rain pouring down from the pitch black sky made it all the more inhospitable.

Cloud was undeterred. Neither torrential rain nor towering mountains would keep him from watching over Tifa. He felt it was his duty, and his duty alone, to protect her. He’d even go so far as to journey into the depths of the underworld just to prove his devotion. When Edgar, Sabin and Locke abandoned Tifa one by one, Cloud grew evermore concerned for her safety. Climbing Nibel Mountain was dangerous enough in good weather, but doing it alone in the rain was practically suicide. Cloud quickened his pace, hoping to catch up with Tifa before something awful happened to her.

The rain was bitterly cold, and the thunder and lightening merciless. Cloud had enormous difficulty grasping the slippery rocks, and fell farther back as Tifa pushed onward without a hint of slowing down. Cloud lost sight of her just as she reached the top of a small summit. Battling the elements and his own wavering vitality, Cloud doubled his speed and reached the summit just in time to witness a lightening bolt strike the cliff above them. Rubble fell down on Tifa. In dodging the rubble, she tripped, fell, and slipped over the edge. Her high-pitched shriek was drowned out by echoing thunder.

Cloud scrambled up the side of the mountain and ran to where he last saw Tifa. To his relief, she was alright, relatively speaking. Tifa had her back pinned against the mountain. The tiny ledge she stood on was crumbling beneath her feet.

“Tifa!” Cloud yelled, trying to get her attention.

Tifa looked up with quivering eyes.

“Cloud?!” she cried in amazement. “Please, you gotta help me!”

Cloud grabbed her hand just as the tiny ledge disintegrated. Tifa dropped and Cloud with her. Thinking fast, Cloud tangled his left foot in the roots of a nearby shrub, halting any further descent. From his new vantage point, Cloud saw the impending fall wasn’t a vertical drop, but a rock-strewn incline, perhaps sixty degrees. Vertical or not, the possibilities of surviving such a fall was most certainly in doubt.

“Cloud, please, pull me up!” Tifa cried.

Icy rain pounded against Cloud’s weakened body like a thousand needles. He had all the passion in the world to save Tifa, but unfortunately, his power didn’t match that passion. Cloud was drained. He’d expended so much energy climbing the mountain that he simply couldn’t muster the strength to pull her up.

“I, I can’t!” Cloud yelled through clenched teeth.

“No, you can!” Tifa yelled back. “I believe in you! You can do it!”

Her words, though meant to be encouraging, filled Cloud with a great deal of shame, because he knew he didn’t have the strength to save her. He was much too weak, and what little strength he did have was quickly fading. Cloud was in agonizing physical pain. The muscles in his arms and legs were so strained that it felt like his limbs could tear off any second now. Making matters worse, the roots he had tangled his foot in were giving way. It became painfully clear there was no way both of them were getting out of this predicament unscathed. His only options were to either let go and save his own life or hold on and share her fate. But for Cloud, there was really only one option.

In what he figured would be his last words to Tifa, he said, “I’ll never let you go, Tifa! Never!”

The world seemed to go in slow motion as they tumbled down the mountain, their little arms and legs flailing in the cold wind. Lightening flashed across the sky, igniting the heavens with a brilliant white flare. The light was blinding, but it only lasted for a split second. After that it was total darkness

Chapter III
Silence. Dead, dead silence. This was the first thought that came to Cloud’s mind as his eyes fluttered open. He could hear absolutely nothing. It was raining, but even the rain made no sound. He wondered if he was still alive or if now he was a tortured soul cursed to haunt these lonely mountains forever. The pain wringing his torn and tattered body was a sure sign he wasn’t dead, or at least, not completely. Cloud, lying on his belly, shifted his head so as to better assess his surroundings. The world around him was bombed out and depleted. If Cloud didn’t know any better, he’d wager he was on the surface on the moon. Never before had he seen land so desolate and bereft of life.

A thick fog enveloped the area, making it impossible to see anything beyond twenty feet. Tifa was within this twenty-foot radius. She was lying on her back, floating in what appeared to be a reservoir of mud. Cloud tried calling out to her, but the most he could manage was an unintelligible wheeze. His chest was sore. It hurt to breathe.

Cloud rolled on his back and sat up. He took stock of his injuries. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, he was in relatively good shape. The only serious wound was to his left knee, which was skinned pretty badly. Tifa was worse off. Her pale white face was covered in dirt and blood. A terrible gash on her forehead bled profusely. She looked dead.

“Oh god, no, Tifa!” a man’s voice shouted hysterically.

Two figures broke through the veil of fog. One of the figures was Tifa’s father. The other was Strago, the old man who owned the Item Shop. The father went straight to his fallen daughter, while Strago sauntered ever so leisurely towards Cloud. There was no compassion in the old man’s eyes as he leered down at the frightened little boy.

“Cloud, I might’ve known,” Strago said miserably. “You’re just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you? What the hell compelled you to bring Tifa all the way out here? And on the day her mother passed away, of all days! Now look at her!” He points a wrinkly, liver-spotted finger at Tifa, who was now cradled in the arms of her teary-eyed father. With her blue dress ripped the way it was, it looked like he was cradling a wilted curtain. “Your carelessness damn-near killed the girl. If she does die, it’ll be your damn fault! Now, get up! We’re heading back to the village!”

Rising to his feet was a major struggle on account of his skinned knee. Flexing his leg caused blood to stream out like a leaky faucet. Strago and Tifa’s father took no pity on Cloud. Both men walked at a brisk pace despite the boy’s inability to keep up. After five minutes of walking together, Strago and Tifa’s father were gone, having vanished into the pallid mist.

Cloud’s skinned knee, which was now throbbing in considerable pain, made the simple act of walking an excruciating ordeal. He sat down on a rock to take a breather, and cried for about a half an hour before continuing down the mountain. Cloud’s thoughts the entire time were of Tifa and his failure to protect her.

“If only I was stronger,” he kept saying to himself, weeping intermittently. “If only I was stronger.”

It was twilight by the time Cloud set foot in Nibelheim. Puddles of water reflected both the purple sky and the glowing lampposts that lined the still-deserted streets. Cloud limped his way home, sadder and more alone than ever.

A crowd of about two dozen people had gathered outside Tifa’s house. Locke, Sabin, Edgar and Relm were among those present. As Cloud approached, it was these four who pointed him out to the crowd. All heads turned in one direction. Upon spotting Cloud, their eyes assailed him with a wrath comparable to a volley of fiery arrows. The look of contempt was unmistakable. Now, the reason for this contempt had much to do with the story the four children had relayed to the townspeople, allegedly explaining Tifa’s accident. According to them, Cloud had filled Tifa’s head with lies about a city in the sky, which was supposed to be at the top of Nibel Mountain or something. Tifa wanted to go to the city in the sky so she could see her mother, because Cloud had told her that’s where people go when they die. Tifa’s four friends tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen to them. She was convinced her mother was waiting for her in the city in the sky. Being the good friends that they were, the four children tagged along, hoping to dissuade Tifa from going any farther. The moment they did convince her to turn back, Cloud appeared out of nowhere and offered to lead the rest of the way. Tifa took him up on his offer, and with that, both went off to climb Nibel Mountain by themselves, with tragic results.

Clearly, the four children had taken creative liberties in telling their version of events (egregiously so), but the townspeople had no reason to doubt the little fibbers. Cloud had always been something of a pariah, so it didn’t take much to convince them that this troubled little boy had led Tifa astray and almost got her killed.

Perhaps it was the heart-wrenching grief or the throbbing pain in his skinned knee, but whatever it was, Cloud was not the least bit intimidated by his fellow villagers. He responded to their contemptible gaze by brandishing a contemptible gaze of his own. Many in the crowd looked away indignantly, others murmured irately amongst themselves.

While Cloud was outside, engaged in a staring contest with the townspeople, his mother was inside, pacing around the living room, worried sick about her mislaid son. Strago and Tifa’s father had returned to the village hours ago. They’d gone out in search of the children after news spread they were missing. She was aghast to see the dreadful state Tifa was in. When she enquired about Cloud, the men told her that they’d lost him on the way back. He was fine, they assured her.

And indeed he was fine, aside from the skinned knee, that is. The mother saw this for herself the moment her son finally stepped through the front door. She rushed to him in a frenzied panic.

“Oh, Cloud, thank goodness you’re alright!” she cried, wrapping her bloodied and bruised little boy in her arms.

Cloud’s mother spared no time tending to his wounds. She mended him in the bathroom, first stripping him naked, and then soaking him in a steamy hot bath. She scrubbed her son clean of all dirt and blood, and applied ointment to his many lacerations. Cloud remained deathly silent the entire time. He hadn’t uttered a single word since arriving home.

“I’ve told you a million times how dangerous Nibel Mountain is,” the mother said firmly, pouring shampoo on her son’s head. “What possessed you children to go up there? You know you’re not supposed to leave the village.”

Cloud said nothing. The mother didn’t pry. She simply continued washing her son’s spiky blond hair, which was encrusted with mud. The shampoo suds ran down his face, stinging his cuts. Cloud winced.

“You should be thankful,” his mother said, rinsing him with a jar of water. “You walked away with only a scraped knee. I wish Tifa was as fortunate as you. She was unconscious when they brought her back to the village. Nobody knows how serious it is.”

Hearing this made Cloud’s chest tighten. He thought he would cry again.

“Come here,” his mother said tenderly, lifting his skinny little butt out of the tub.

She first dried him off with a towel, and then wrapped his injured knee in a bandage after rubbing it with mimett greens, a remedy that’s supposed help cuts heal faster.

“There, that should do it,” his mother said, admiring her own work. “Is the bandage too tight?”

Cloud shook his head.

A look of concern washed over her face. “What’s the matter, Cloud? You haven’t said a thing since walking through the door. Are you okay? Did you injure your throat?”

“I can talk,” he said, his tone lugubrious.

His mother touched his cheek affectionately. “It’s okay,” she smiled. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”

Finally, the mother dressed her son and tucked him into bed.

“Love you,” she said after kissing his forehead.

“Love you, too, Mom,” he replied, smiling for the first time all day.

The mother gave her son another kiss on his forehead for good measure. She then turned off the light and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

Cloud exhaled a melancholy sigh. The love and tenderness his mother showed him lifted his spirits, but not so much that it lessened his guilt or sorrow. Cloud tortured himself with thoughts of Tifa. She even haunted him in his dreams.

Chapter IV
Tifa was in a coma. The entire village blamed Cloud. Cloud also blamed himself, but not for the same reason. Everyone was under the mistaken impression Cloud had coerced Tifa into climbing Nibel Mountain, but, in reality, she’d gone under her own volition. Moreover, Cloud proved to be a greater friend to Tifa, sticking by her side while her supposed best friends abandoned her on the mountain. No one knew the truth, and Cloud never bothered to set the record straight, not even to his mother. Cloud didn’t care. He knew the truth and that’s all that mattered. Now, the reason Cloud blamed himself for Tifa’s accident was because he failed to save her when he had the chance. She wouldn’t be in a coma right now if only he’d been strong enough to pull her up from the ledge. His weakness proved to be her downfall, literally.

Tifa would be in a coma for seven days. However, before jumping straight to her miraculous recovery, it’s important to note an incident that occurred on the fifth day of her coma. The tension between Cloud and Tifa’s friends, that is, all the children in the village, turned vitriolic. Cloud couldn’t walk the streets without some random kid calling him a dirty name. Some even threatened him with bodily harm. Three kids in particular made these threats of violence. Their names were Bartz, Faris and Galuf, a trio of delinquent teens who delighted in terrorizing the weak and helpless. Cloud was easy prey for them. Their threats of violence would eventually turn to action. They attacked on a sunny afternoon (the fifth day of Tifa’s coma, if you remember).
Cloud’s mother had run out of gysahl herbs, which she intended to use as seasoning for that evening’s beef stew. She sent Cloud on an errand to procure more gysahl herbs. The Item Shop was on the opposite side of town, and to get there Cloud had to cross the town square, where in its center stood Nibelheim’s iconic water tower. As Cloud approached the water tower, he noticed Bartz, Faris and Galuf lurking in its shadow, seemingly ready to pounce on him. Cloud took extra precaution, sticking close to the perimeter of the square so as to keep as far away from them as possible. The trio of delinquent teens glowered at Cloud, but did nothing more. Cloud made it to the Item Shop without incident.

Strago was working the register that afternoon. He and Cloud hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since that fateful day on Nibel Mountain. Strago still harbored a grudge against the boy, and treated him just as miserably in the store as he did on the mountain.

“Can I get an order of gysahl herbs, please?” Cloud asked politely.

Strago responded with a lip-curling sneer. Without a word, he reached under the counter, grabbed a packet of gysahl herbs and rudely slammed it on the counter. The counter was the same height as Cloud, so the old man was essentially slamming it in the boy’s face.

“A hundred gil,” Strago mumbled coldly.

Cloud presented the money, whereupon Strago rudely snatched it from his little hand.

“Run along now,” Strago said, speaking in that miserable tone of his. “I’m a very busy man and you’re keeping me from work.”

He didn’t have to tell Cloud twice. The boy pocketed the gysahl herbs, and then trotted out of the store. Before leaving, though, Cloud took a quick peek outside from behind the display window. The delinquent teens were no longer stalking the streets. They’d gone. Relieved, Cloud exited the store and felt safe enough to walk past the water tower.

Bartz, Faris and Galuf were lying in wait. They’d taken cover behind a stack of crates that were piled alongside the water tower. The three tackled Cloud just as he was passing by, pounding him into the ground. Cloud landed facedown and stayed that way until he was lifted to his feet by Galuf, who immediately put him in a chokehold.

“You ain’t so tough now, are ya?” Bartz said, jabbing Cloud in his rib cage so hard if felt like he’d just been kicked by a mule. Cloud would’ve collapsed to his knees if Galuf hadn’t been holding him up.

“This one’s for Tifa!” Faris yelled, putting his entire weight behind a fierce backhand. The momentum of his smack tore Cloud away from Galuf’s chokehold. The poor boy collapsed to the floor like a marionette that just had its strings cut. He lay dazed and confused on the cobblestone street, bleeding from his mouth. As his blurry eyes refocused, Cloud could see Strago observing the bedlam from the comfort of his Item Shop. A morbid grin stretched across the old man’s wretched, prune-like face.

“Let’s see how you like being in a coma!” Galuf said, hammering Cloud with his boot heel.

Bartz and Faris joined in, kicking and stomping Cloud with reckless abandon. The poor boy’s only defense was to curl into a tight little ball. He prayed for them to stop pummeling him. He prayed with all his might. His prayers went unanswered.

Cloud’s mother was in the kitchen, stirring the beef stew and getting high off its flavorful scent. She dipped a ladle into the pot and took a sample taste. The beef stew was good. Good but not great. It was still missing that key ingredient. She wondered what was taking her son so long. She’d soon find out.

Cloud sauntered into the kitchen and handed his mother the packet of gysahl herbs. He tried to act nonchalant, but his mother was horrified beyond comprehension. The sight of her son’s torn clothes and bloody lip sent her into hysterics. She asked him what happened, but Cloud was reluctant to say. He didn’t want to tattle on his assailants. It seemed like a wimpy thing to do, you know, cry to your mommy after getting into a fight. Cloud wanted to take his lumps like a man. His mother, however, would have none of that. She demanded answers.

“It was Bartz, Faris and Galuf,” Cloud finally admitted. “They jumped me by the water tower.”

“You can’t be serious!” his mother shouted in astonishment. “They’re twice your age! Why, Cloud? Why’d they jump you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, Mom.”

“I know why!” she said angrily. “Because they’re cowards! Grown boys picking on a six-year-old, that’s cowards work!”

The mother rushed to the front door, stating aloud she would take care of everything right this minute.

“What’re you gonna do, Mom?” her anxious son asked.

But she was already gone.

Cloud retreated to his bedroom. As he lied in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, the sound of people shouting interrupted his train of thought. It was his mother. She was outside, giving hell to some poor soul. The arguing stopped suddenly, and it was quiet for several minutes

“Cloud, come downstairs!” his mother’s voice called out.

He followed her voice into the living room. Standing with her were the parents of his assailants.

A hefty man with a black beard and broad shoulders walked up to Cloud. With the smell of whisky hot on his breath, he asked, “Did our boys rough you up, son?”

“Yessir,” Cloud replied meekly.

“Tell me what happened.”

Cloud told him exactly how it happened.

“Okay, I’ve heard enough,” the man said gruffly. He turned to Cloud’s mother. “I’ll deal with my son, Mrs. Strife. You can be sure of that.”

The man left immediately thereafter. His wife followed suit.

The mother of one of the teens offered Cloud’s mother a sincere apology. “I’m truly sorry, Mrs. Strife. This whole thing with Tifa and the accident, well, it’s gotten way out of hand. Somehow we need to bring peace back into the village.”

After expressing similar sentiments, the rest of the parents left, vowing to discipline their delinquent kids.

Cloud’s mother was immensely pleased with herself. She thought she handled that rather well. Cloud didn’t think so. Her meddling irritated him to no extent.

“Why do you gotta make a big deal out of everything?” he said, leering at her with dagger eyes.

The mother was taken aback by her son’s lack of gratitude.

“I was just trying to help,” she defended.

But Cloud didn’t want to hear it. He turned on his heels, marched up to his room, threw himself into bed, and that’s where he stayed for the rest of the day.

Cloud tossed and turned for hours, unable to sleep. Some time after midnight he decided to go out for a stroll. Cloud’s mother slept in the room at the top of the stairs. He had to be extra stealthy, because even when tip-toeing, those stairs had a way of making an awful racket. Thankfully, the squealing of the stairs didn’t wake his mother. Cloud was now outside, basking in the glow of the silver moon, and the billions of stars that encircled it.

Cloud instinctively made his way towards Tifa’s house. Upon laying eyes on the drainpipe, which ran along Tifa’s window, Cloud was struck with the idea of sneaking into her bedroom. Never in his life had he climbed through her window, but it was something he’d been tempted to do for years. Unfortunately, he could never garner the courage to commit such a daring feat, which, romantic intentions aside, amounted to home invasion. But, being charged for breaking and entering was of little consequence at the moment. Cloud hadn’t seen Tifa since the accident. This was because of her father, who refused to let Cloud visit her, even going so far as to shoo him away the few times he came knocking on their door. Cloud was desperate to see Tifa, and it’s this desperation that compelled him to follow his impulse.

Cloud ascended the drainpipe with considerable more ease then he had anticipated. He pressed a hand on Tifa’s window, and to his delightful surprise, it lifted with little effort. Cloud crept inside as quietly as humanly possible so as to not disturb Tifa, though, really, that was just wishful thinking. There was no waking the girl even if a train crashed into her house.

Cloud couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked, like an angel trapped in eternal slumber. The silver moon’s radiant glow illuminated Tifa’s face, accentuating her snowy white skin and lavender eyelids. The bandage wrapped around her head did little to diminish her angelic beauty.

Cloud knelt beside Tifa. He spoke her name, hoping she’d respond. She didn’t.

“Oh, Tifa,” he moaned despondently. “I’m sorry I’m so weak. If I wasn’t so weak you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. You’d still be here, smiling and laughing and…” Cloud trailed off and didn’t continue. Talking made his mouth hurt on account of his swollen lower lip. It had been split wide open when Faris backhanded him.

Just then, Tifa’s bedroom door opened. The dark silhouette of her father stood at the threshold. He stepped inside, and frowned at the sight of his daughter. He said, “I thought I heard your voice.” He then skulked away, his weary head dropped below his shoulders.

Cloud had evaded Tifa’s father by a second, having ducked underneath her bed just in time. Once the father was gone, the boy came out of hiding, and gave Tifa one last, long look before climbing down the drainpipe. Cloud was back in bed five minutes later. As he lied in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as he so often did, he sensed a subtle difference within himself. Seeing Tifa tonight had changed him somehow. The knot in his stomach was gone and his muscles were considerably less tense. He exhaled a sigh, but unlike previous sighs, this one didn’t tighten his chest or make it hard to breathe. This was a sigh of relief, and it felt invigorating. Yes, something had definitely changed.

Chapter V
It wouldn’t be completely false to say Cloud went looking for trouble that morning. After a hearty breakfast and a kiss from his mother, the trouble-seeking boy fastened his laces and ran straight for the water tower. He sat on a crate and waited ever so patiently for his adversaries to arrive. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Well, well, well, if it ain’t Mister Cloud Strife,” a voice said. Its tone was both menacing and mischievous.

Cloud reeled his head to see that it was Bartz. He was accompanied by Faris and Galuf.

“Kid must have a death wish if he’s coming round here,” Faris said, eyeing Cloud the way predators eyed prey.

Whereas Bartz and Faris had impish smirks plastered across their pimply faces, Galuf was growling like a rabid dog. He was clearly vexed about something.

“My old man gave me a whuppin’ ’cause-a you,” Galuf barked, finally revealing the source of his vexation.

“That ain’t cool, is it, Cloud?” Bartz said playfully. “We only meant to even the score. You messed Tifa up, so we messed you up. Pound for pound. That’s all it was.”

“Yeah,” Faris added, carrying on the playfulness. “It all could’ve ended yesterday on a positive note, but, no, you just had to go crying to your mom like a little girl. You’ve taken this to a whole new level, my man.”

“Tell me about,” Bartz intoned. “I had to listen to my folks lecture me about the error of my ways for over an hour. So did Faris. Galuf, on the other hand, got a little more than a lecture.”

“Yeah,” Faris added again. “His old man’s got a drinking problem, you see, and he’s quick to anger. Tanned Galuf’s hide pretty good, he did. I mean, you can’t see any marks on Galuf right now, but that’s only ’cause his old man knows how to hit without leaving marks.”

“C’mon, forget all this stupid talk,” Galuf barked, bearing his crooked fangs. “Let’s just kick his scrawny ass already!”

“I’m down with that,” Faris concurred.

Bartz advanced on Cloud, pounding a clenched fist into an open palm. He said, “We did you a favor last time by not beating you into a bloody pulp. Now prepare to really bleed!”

“I ain’t scared of you,” Cloud said defiantly, hopping off the crate he was sitting on. “You guys are a bunch of fairies! It took three of you to take one of me!”

Enraged, Bartz tried to bumrush Cloud, but was stopped dead in his tracks. Cloud picked up a wooden plank and swung it wildly, striking Bartz directly in the abdomen. He fell to his knees, clenching his stomach. Cloud then finished him off, cracking the wooden plank upside his skull. Bartz was down for the count. Galuf and Faris teamed up to overpower Cloud. Galuf performed his patented headlock maneuver while Faris wailed away with cheap shots. In retaliation, Cloud kicked Faris square in the nuts, and bit Galuf in the forearm, taking a good chunk out of him. Faris rolled on the floor, gripping his squished testicles in unyielding pain. Cloud and Galuf wrestled in the dirt, kicking up plumes of dust. Cloud was swift and wriggly, and managed to pin Galuf down despite the size and weight difference. Galuf attempted to headbutt Cloud, but Cloud pulled away, absorbing a fraction of the impact. Galuf wouldn’t be so lucky. When Cloud counterattacked with a headbutt of his own, he broke Galuf’s nose. Blood spurt out like a geyser. A second later, Galuf was also rolling around in unyielding pain, holding his bloody nose. Just when the battle seemed won, somebody grabbed Cloud from behind. The excited boy swung his arms frantically, believing it to be Bartz.

“Cloud! No, stop it! Stop it!”

The person restraining him was his mother. Cloud quit resisting. It was at this point he could feel Galuf’s warm blood trickle down his face. The blood stained his white shirt with a smattering of red droplets.

Cloud’s mother shook him, and cried, “What were you thinking, Cloud? What?”

Instead of responding, Cloud took a moment to survey the battlefield. He, his mother, and his three adversaries stood in the center of a large gathering. Practically the entire village had turned up to watch the melee. They all gawked at Cloud with wide eyes and mouths agape. His blood-soaked face was impassive at first, but then he burst into tears, crying so hard he could scarcely breathe. The mother lifted her crying babe, and carried him away. The crowd parted for them the way crowds parted for a conquering hero.

Chapter VI
And on the seventh day Tifa awoke from her coma. The town of Nibelheim rejoiced. Initially, the doctors feared Tifa might’ve suffered brain damage or diminished motor skills, but overtime, those fears ultimately proved unfounded. After a few extra days of bed rest, Tifa was the picture of good health.

A party was held in the town square to celebrate Tifa’s miraculous recovery, and the entire village was invited, naturally. There was food and drink and music and dancing and lots and lots of laughter. Cloud chose not to attend the festivities, because he wanted to avoid an altercation between he and Tifa’s friends. They all hated him, and he knew if they started trouble with him, he’d sooner punch them in the face than walk away. Cloud, in an endless effort to prove his strength, had taken a solemn vow to never back down from a fight. The old Cloud, the one everyone used to bully and harass and tease, was no more. The new Cloud refused to be a victim.

Cloud spent the night of Tifa’s party on the outskirts of town, lying in the grass and gazing up at the stars. Unbeknownst to Cloud, Tifa had followed him into the outskirts. He was utterly flabbergasted by her sudden appearance, and as was so often the case, he honestly believed he was daydreaming. Once it was clear Tifa wasn’t a figment of his fevered imagination, Cloud invited her to sit alongside him. She happily obliged.

The first thing Tifa said to him was, “Why are you avoiding me?”

Cloud assured Tifa he wasn’t avoiding her, and in fact, he really did want to go to her party.

“But I was afraid of getting into a fight with your friends,” he explained,

Cloud then recounted the verbal and physical abuse he endured at the hands of her friends during her seven-day coma. Tifa replied that anyone who abused him was no friend of hers.

“And to be perfectly honest,” she began, “you’re the only friend that matters.”

Cloud wanted to cry, but he steeled himself.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

“Sorry about what?” she asked.

“I’m sorry that I let you fall.”

“What do you mean?”

Cloud turned shamefaced, and said, “On Nibel Mountain. You fell down the cliff because I wasn’t strong enough to pull you up.”

“Oh, that,” Tifa said with a taciturn giggle. “Well, the truth is, I don’t remember what happened.”

She went on to explain that the severe blow to her head erased all memories of that day.

“What’s the last thing you do remember?” Cloud asked.

“My mother dying,” Tifa whimpered.

Cloud was mortified for having asked such a thoughtless question. “I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“Come on, Cloud, let’s stop with all this sad talk,” Tifa said in perky voice. “Let’s talk about happy things. We’re together again. We should be happy.”

Cloud smiled. “I am happy.”

Tifa smiled back. “I’m happy, too.”

Cloud and Tifa spent the entire night gazing up at the stars. Cloud even had the fortitude to put an arm around her. Tifa didn’t shrink back.

Chapter VII
As chance would have it, on the same night of Tifa’s party, the Shinra Electric Power Company launched a military action against the nation of Wutai. But “military action” was simply euphemism for a declaration of war. The term “military action” was used for political purposes, because Shinra, a corporation, couldn’t declare war on a sovereign nation. Well, not that it couldn’t, it’s just that there’d never been a precedent for such a thing. If Shinra had officially declared war on Wutai, it would have brought up all sorts of thorny issues regarding state rights and corporate rights, and called into question whether Shinra was a corporate entity or a nation unto itself. All euphemism aside, however, Shinra had declared war on Wutai, but like any executive decision, this was a hostile takeover meant to increase the company’s bottom line profits and appease its stockholders.

Shinra controlled eighty-eight percent of the world’s Mako supply. The other twelve percent was controlled by Wutai, a small island nation with a homogeneous population. Wutai had a nationalized Mako industry, and the government refused to sell its controlling share to Shinra. Before becoming the global power that it was, Shinra was a private equity firm that made large-scale investments in media, energy, and consumer-related businesses. It rose to prominence in large part to its acquisition of non-state-owned Mako companies. It eventually generated enough capital to acquire state-owned Mako companies. In no time at all, Shinra owned every major Mako company on the planet. The only holdout was Wutai. For this small island nation, maintaining the integrity of their Mako industry was a matter of national survival. Mako was their only natural resource and number one export. Wutai was an ultra modern and technologically advanced country, but without Mako energy propping up its economy, it would quickly revert to a third world country. The Wutai were a proud people, with a culture steeped in honor, piety and tradition. Whereas the rest of the world openly embraced globalization, Wutai remained stubbornly resistant, thus isolating itself.

It was this isolation that ultimately left them vulnerable. When large reserves of Mako energy were discovered off the coast of Wutai, Shinra saw an opportunity to manufacture an international incident. The Mako reserves were well within the borders of Wutai’s costal territory, but Shrina disputed this claim, stating the Mako reserves were in international waters, and entitled to whoever was willing and able to mine them. Shinra sent deepwater drilling vessels into Wutai’s costal territory, and started an illegal mining operation. Wutai retaliated by sending in battleships to scare off the drilling vessels. This was exactly the response Shinra was hoping for. With the deployment of Wutai battleships, Shinra deployed its own battleships. In what proved to be an escalation towards war, Wutai sent in even more battleships, and Shinra responded in kind, until a whole armada of opposing forces was facing each other. Tensions were high, like a powder keg ready to explode. It was only a matter of time before someone lit the fuse.

Then the incident occurred. Shinra blamed Wutai for firing the first shot, claiming a Wutai battleship sunk a civilian fishing trawler that accidently wandered into the disputed waters. Wutai denounced the accusation, and said that this so-called fishing trawler was, in actuality, one of Shinra’s drilling vessels, which had intruded on their territory. A Wutai battleship attempted to drive away the belligerent drilling vessel, and in process, both ships collided. The drilling vessel made a distress call, whereupon Shinra’s battleships opened fire on Wutai’s armada. Wutai returned fire. A Shinra battleship took a direct hit, and sunk into the ocean, taking forty-five crewmates along with it. Shinra now had an excuse to launch its military action.

Again, for political purposes, this “military action” was initiated under the guise of a humanitarian mission. Shinra claimed Wutai posed a significant threat to international shipping lanes, and that their sinking of the trawler was just the opening volley of hostilities that would risk the lives of civilians and destabilize the global economy. Shinra lobbied for a military intervention, claiming that such an intervention would go a long way to preserve life, liberty, and the free market. After a week of politicking, where cash and favors were exchanged in cigarette smoke-filled rooms, Shinra got international approval for its war against Wutai.

They said the war would last only a couple of months (six months at the most), but eight years later, and with over a million lives lost, the war was still raging on.

Out of all the stories that came out of the war, the tale of Sephiroth became legendary. Sephiroth was a member of SOLDIER, an elite black ops unit founded by Shinra. Only the fiercest and strongest warriors could join their ranks, and there was none fiercer or stronger than Sephiroth. Shinra neither confirmed nor denied Sephiroth’s existence. Tales of his exploits were relayed to the world by soldiers and civilians who caught a fleeting glimpse of him on the battlefield. There was some armature video footage of Sephiroth, but it was usually blurry and shot from a long distance. Sephiroth was said to be adept at using magic, and the rare videos of him proved that this was most certainly the case. Sephiroth eviscerated entire Wutai platoons with just a flick of his wrist. One rare video showed him raise a hand to the sky, and seconds later, down came a tornado of fire that incinerated an entire column of military vehicles. His power was unreal. People debated whether or not Sephiroth could actually fly. Some soldiers on the frontline said they witnessed Sephiroth gliding high above their position, proof that he could fly. Other soldiers said Sephiroth didn’t so much fly, but leapt enormous distances. The latter had it correct. Sepiroth couldn’t fly. He was simply a high jumper. When Sephiroth jumped, often reaching heights as high as fifty feet, he always came crashing down to earth wielding an indestructible sword, which was named Masamune. The blade of Masamune was thin, approximately six-feet in length, and rumored to be enchanted. It could cut through the thick hide of a tank just as easily as flesh and bone.

Sephiroth was a living legend, and as the media spun it, he struck fear into the hearts of the authoritarian Wutai dogs, and in turn, was admired by all the peace-loving people of the free world. The media’s editorial policy notwithstanding (they were owned by Shinra, after all), it was indeed true Sephiroth was feared and admired in equal parts. Children admired him the most. There wasn’t a kid alive who didn’t want to be a superhero like Sephiroth, but it was Could Strife of Nibelheim who possessed the drive and passion to go beyond mere want. He made it his life’s ambition to join SOLDIER and become as powerful as the Great Sephiroth. Cloud was fourteen years old when he decided to leave the village and pursue his dream. He couldn’t wait to tell Tifa.

The night was chilly, and Tifa lay bundled in a plush quilt, sound asleep. A persistent tapping on the window awoke her. Groggy and irritated, Tifa stumbled out of bed and parted the curtains. It was Cloud and he was dangling from the drainpipe. She opened the shutter.

“Cloud? What’re you doing?” she said, mildly infuriated. “Do you even know how late it is?”

“Meet me on the water tower,” he said with a frankness that startled her.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Tifa squeaked.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” he said, “I just need to tell you something important.”

“Is it so important you can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“I think it is. Will you meet me?”

“Of course I will.”

“Thanks, Tifa. So, um, put on some clothes or whatever and meet me on the water tower, okay?”

And with that, Cloud descended the drainpipe, leaving Tifa feeling groggy, irritated, and now, befuddled.

Tifa took quite a bit of time to get ready. She was under the impression Cloud had some sort of romantic aim, that maybe tonight was the night he was going to declare his everlasting love for her. She prettied herself up, putting on a cute dress, brushing her long black hair, and spraying on a dash of flora-scented perfume. Tifa wasn’t much for make-up, but she did apply lipstick and blush to add a bit of color to her otherwise pale white features.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said upon arriving at the agreed upon rendezvous point. She sat beside Cloud at the edge of the water tower. A gust of wind blew through her hair, waving it like a silk curtain. Tifa thought she looked pretty that night, and she hoped Cloud thought so, too. It was tough to gauge his reaction, however. He just sat there, gazing at his navel.

“You said you wanted to say something,” Tifa said, initiating a conversation.

Cloud failed to reply. After a long beat, he finally said, “Come this spring, I’m leaving this town for Midgar.”

“All the boys are leaving town,” Tifa said sadly.

“But I’m different from all of them,” Cloud replied. “I’m not just going to find a job. I want to join SOLDIER. I’m going to be the best there is, like Sephiroth.”

“Sephiroth, the Great Sephiroth,” Tifa said with a douse of sarcasm.

Cloud didn’t respond to her sarcasm.

“Isn’t it hard to join SOLDIER?” she asked.

Cloud nodded his head. “I probably won’t be able to come back to this town for a while.”

Tifa sighed sorrowfully. “If you join, will you have to fight in the war?”

“Probably.”

Tifa wiped away the tear running down her cheek, smudging her blush. She took a deep breath, and said, “Will you be in the newspaper if you do well?”

“I’ll try,” Cloud replied weakly.

Silence permeated the conversation. Tifa glimpsed at Cloud several times, moving her lips with every glimpse. She was determined to speak, to pour out her heart, to tell Cloud how much she cared about him, to beg him not to go, but shaky nerves held her back. After a dozen attempts, she eventually came out and said something, though it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to say. “Why don’t we make a promise?” Cloud looked at her inquisitively. “If you get really famous, and I’m ever in a bind, you come save me, all right?”

“What?” Cloud said, bemused.

“I always wanted a famous hero to come to my rescue, a real knight in shining armor, like in those fairy tales. I want to experience that just once. So, when I’m in trouble, Cloud, I want you to rescue me.”

Cloud thought over the implications of making such a promise.

“Come on, promise me!” she insisted.

“Okay, I promise,” Cloud said with all sincerity. “If you’re ever in trouble, I’ll rescue you.”

A star shot across the night sky, and for that brief instance, all was right in the world.

Chapter VIII
In Nibelheim, if you wanted to make a decent living, there were only two viable avenues open to you: mining or farming, and neither paid all that well. Career opportunities being as scant as they were, springtime had come to be known as the Season of Exodus. This time of year saw half of the young adult male population migrate to cities in search of gainful employment. Left behind in the village were the women, children and elderly. It was an exciting time for those leaving. It was a sad time for those left behind.

Cloud’s mother was beside herself with grief. She didn’t want her son to join SOLDIER and march off to war.

“I can’t lose you,” she wept. “You’re all I have left in this world!”

Cloud assured her that he would be fine, but really, there was no assuring her. His mother couldn’t help but worry.

On the day of departure, when the bus arrived to steal away Nibelheim’s young men, Cloud’s mother gave him a satchel containing ten thousand gill. It was to help him along until he found steady employment. She was still opposed to his idea of joining SOLDIER, advising him instead to get a job as an account or something in sales.

“Oh, Cloud, you’re not my little chibi no more,” the mother said, weeping as she hugged and kissed her one and only child. “Where does the time go? It feels like it was only just yesterday I was wiping your tiny baby butt.”

“Aw, Mom, c’mon, quit it,” Cloud said, embarrassed because Tifa was standing right there.

Tifa giggled at his embarrassment. Once his mother was through smothering him with hugs and kisses, Tifa went in and gave him a hug and kiss of her own. She was tempted to kiss him on the lips, but was afraid that doing such a thing would transform this somber moment into something tawdry. Instead, she pecked his cheek, and said, “I’m going to miss you so much.”

“I’ll write you everyday,” Cloud replied.

A call was given to board the bus. The departing young men gave their final goodbyes to friends and family. Promises were made to keep in touch and send back money. Each of these young men boarding the bus had a dream and destination. Some were headed for Junon, a port city, where they hoped to get a lucrative job on the docks or perhaps a merchant ship. Others were headed for Gold Saucer, an internationally renowned city for gambling. Slot machines and Chocobo races would be their ticket to fame and fortune. And still others, like Cloud, were headed for Midgar, the largest metropolitan area in the world, and an important center for international affairs. Midgar had a significant impact on global commerce, media, art, fashion and entertainment. It’s also where Shinra was headquartered. They owned the city.

Tifa couldn’t help but give Cloud another hug and kiss before he got on the bus. Again, she was tempted to kiss him on the lips, and again, she chickened out. Tifa strode along as the bus pulled out of the town square, waving frantically at Cloud, who waved back just as frantically. The bus then rounded the water tower, accelerated, and was gone. Tifa cried helplessly.

Cloud’s mother comforted Tifa, embracing her as if she was her own child.

“Don’t cry,” the mother cooed. “Cloud will return soon enough, and I promise you, when he does return, you’ll be surprised and happy by how much he’s grown. He will be a man.”

If that was the case, Tifa hoped that when Cloud did return, she herself would be a woman.

Chapter IX
It took Cloud eight days to reach Midgar. The reason it took so long wasn’t just because Midgar and Nibelheim were on opposite sides of the globe—that was only half of it. The other half was that Cloud, he of humble origin, simply did not have the money to travel first class. He rode economy the entire trip. He began his journey by riding the bus all the way to the coast, where he then boarded a rickety old boat that just about sank as it crossed the expansive ocean. After that, Cloud got on another bus, which was then followed by a series of transfers that saw him hopping from one bus to the next. Then, finally, he got on the train that went directly to Midgar. The train left him at the transport hub, one of the busiest sectors in the city. Having lived his entire life in a quiet mining town with a population no greater than a couple of hundred people, it was something of a culture shock for Cloud to suddenly find himself smack-dab in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, which was inundated with thousands upon thousands of bodies fluttering about. The air pollution was also something new to Cloud. He’d only ever known the fresh air of the country, so when a truck zoomed by, spurting putrid black exhaust fumes, Cloud just about coughed up a lung.
The world was supposedly at war, but you’d never guess it from the look of the carefree, finely dressed denizens, many of whom were chatting mindlessly on shiny new cell phones. Still, there were a few signs of war, namely the checkpoints manned by military vehicles mounted with gun turrets. In addition, the streets were crawling with Shinra troopers, dressed in their trademark blue uniforms and face-obscuring helmets. They held their automatic rifles at the ready. Truth be told, their overwhelming presence had little to do with the war. Midgar was a police state, and Shinra troopers an oppressive force. Cloud was ignorant of this. He interpreted their overwhelming presence as proof the city was a safe place. Other than that, however, it was business as usual in Midgar.

For Cloud, the first order of business was finding a recruiting center. He asked a Shinra trooper manning one of the checkpoints where he might find one. The Shinra trooper was kind enough to give him the address of a nearby recruiting center.

A city as large as Midgar, with its many streets, side streets, alleyways, overpasses, and so and so forth, it was only natural a country bumpkin like Cloud would get lost. Whenever he came upon a checkpoint, Cloud asked a Shinra trooper to point him in the right direction.

After bouncing from here to there for close to an hour, Cloud eventually found the recruiting center. It was in a crummy neighborhood, where panhandlers begged for spare change and drunkards slept in the gutter. Cloud had never seen such squalid conditions before, but he tried not to let it get him down. He stepped into the ramshackle recruiting center with the single-minded purpose of joining SOLDIER. The recruiter, however, was quick to dash his hopes.

Speaking to Cloud through bullet-proof glass, the cantankerous recruiter said, “Listen, kid, SOLDIER is a top secret organization. They don’t just hire any old runt that comes blowing in from the street.”

“But it took me over a week to get here!” Cloud yelped. “I traveled from half way round the world just to join SOLDIER!”

“Yeah, you and every snot-nosed kid with delusions of being the next Sephiroth,” the recruiter bellowed. “You think you’re the first person to come in here, hoping to join SOLDIER? Think again! They come in by the hour. Once you leave, and the next kid comes in, I’m gonna tell him the same thing I’m telling you right now. SOLDIER ain’t hiring!”

Cloud was flabbergasted. “But, but, but—”

“Don’t ‘but’ me to death, kid,” the recruiter snapped. “Listen, if you’re really that desperate to fight and die in the war, why don’t you join one of the armed forces?” He presented Cloud with a number of pamphlets. “Let’s see,” he begins, sifting through the pamphlets, “there’s the army, the navy, the air force. Oh, and look, you can sign up to be a paramilitary or military contractor. SOLDIER falls somewhere between paramilitary and military contractor, so consider these two as your failsafe options.”

“But I don’t want to be a paramilitary or military contractor,” Cloud retorted. “I want to be a member of SOLDIER!”

“Then get the hell outta here!” the recruiter hollered, pointing to the exit. “Go on, get! You’re wasting my precious time!”

Cloud was on the verge of tears, but like always, he steeled him. Crying was a sign of weakness, and if there’s one thing an aspiring member of SOLDIER didn’t do, it was cry.

Cloud wandered into the slums of Midgar, where finely dressed denizens gave way to unwashed masses, and decrepit tenements took the place of shimmering skyscrapers. The air was even worse than before. It had a repugnant odor, like a foul mixture of spoiled meat and burnt rubber. Cloud barely acknowledged his dilapidated surroundings or was even aware he was walking ever deeper into hostile territory. Grief blinded him. It consumed his thoughts. Joining SOLDIER was his life’s ambition. What else was there to live for? Cloud honestly didn’t know. Perhaps it would be best to simply lay down and die, he thought.


Three street urchins caught sight of Cloud, and took an immediate interest in him. Well, not so much him, but his luggage. Cloud was carrying a rucksack and satchel. The rucksack contained his clothes, while the satchel contained the ten thousand gill his mother gave him. Judging by Cloud’s country boy appearance, the street urchins figured he was an out-of-towner, probably just off the train. They saw an easy mark.

The leader of the street urchins advanced on Cloud. His two accomplices followed closely.

“Hey, man,” the leader called out to Cloud. “You new round here?”

The street urchins were approximately the same age as Cloud, so when Cloud saw them, he was delighted to be among his own generation. Midgar was a strange place—downright scary, even. The welcoming smiles of these three kids filled Cloud with a degree of comfort.

The leader of the street urchins was Reno, a skinny boy with spiky red hair. Then there was his enforcer, Rude, a tall, brawny, baldheaded kid. And bringing up the rear was Elena, a petite blond girl. She was chewing gum, smacking her lips boorishly.

“You got anywhere to stay?” Reno asked Cloud.

“Not really,” Cloud admitted. “I just arrived in Midgar.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day, man, ’cause we just so happen to be the Midgar Welcoming Committee,” Reno said, speaking in the hyperactive voice of a sleazy salesman. “We work for a youth hostel, and would like it very much if you stayed with us.”

“What’s a youth hostel?” Cloud asked,

The street urchins glimpsed at each other, making snide expressions.

Rude said, “It’s like an inn, except, you know, more sociable.”

“That’s right,” Reno added. “It’s a place where young travelers such as yourself rest up before continuing on their journey. We got bunk beds and food and all that other good stuff. It’s a fun time, man, trust me. Come with us right now, and we’ll give you a fifty percent discount.”

Cloud accepted the generous offer.

“Hold on,” Elena butted in, smacking her lips as she chewed her gum. “The hostel ain’t free, ya know? You got enough money to pay for it?”

“Well, I do have ten thousand gill,” Cloud said. “Is that enough money?”

The street urchins eyed one another with oily grins.

“Uh, yeah, that’s more than enough money,” Reno said slyly.

Cloud followed the street urchins into a dark alleyway, and that’s when they struck. Rude punched Cloud in the back of the head, shorting out the wirework in his brain. Cloud dropped instantly. Rude, with his enormous strength, held Cloud down while Reno and Elena relieved him of his rucksack and satchel.

“Hey, what’re you kids doing!” a lady screamed from the edge of the alleyway.

“Crap, let’s get outta here!” Reno told his accomplices.

And with that, the three street urchins hightailed it out of there with their spoils.

Cloud was helped up by a beautiful young woman with long black hair. She reminded him of Tifa.

“Goodness, are you alright?” the woman asked.

“I’m fine,” Cloud said, considerably angry.

It wasn’t so much being robbed that angered him. It was being overpowered by a bunch of lowly street urchins. He was confident he could’ve taken them all on if he hadn’t been sucker-punched.

The woman introduced herself as Rinoa. She wore a highly fashionable pantsuit, complemented by equally fashionable shoes and accessories. She was obviously corporate executive material. Cloud thought it odd that a fashionable executive like her would be found here, in the ratty slums of Midgar. Actually, their meeting was nothing more than a coincidence. Rinoa was driving by in her luxury sedan when she happened to witness Cloud getting pummeled by the street urchins. She felt compelled to come to his rescue.

Rinoa said, “Can I drop you off anywhere? Home, maybe?”

Cloud replied, “I don’t live here. I have no home to go to.”

Cloud went on to say that he arrived in Midgar not too long ago, and that the street urchins robbed him of all his worldly possessions. Rinoa took pity on the hapless country boy, and offered to let him stay with her until he got his affairs in order.

On the car ride to her apartment, Rinoa asked Cloud what it was that brought him to Midgar.

“I want to join SOLDIER,” he answered, “but the guy at the recruiting center told me SOLDIER wasn’t hiring, and that I’d be better off joining the armed forces instead. I don’t want to be in the armed forces! I want to be in SOLDIER!”

“Why are you so eager to join SOLDIER?” Rinoa queried.

“I want to become the strongest person there is,” Cloud said adamantly, “so I can protect the people I care about!”

“Anyone in particular?”

“Well, there is this one person.”

“What’s her name?”

Cloud blushed. “How’d you know it was a girl?”

Rinoa smirked at him. “It’s always a girl.”

“Her name’s Tifa,” Cloud said bashfully. “When we were younger, like, six years old, we climbed up a really tall mountain. We weren’t supposed to. She slipped and fell over the side. I was quick enough to grab her, but not strong enough to pull her up. We both fell. I walked away with only a skinned knee, but Tifa, she was in a coma for seven days. I blame myself for what happened to her. If only I was strong enough, I could’ve saved her. All I want now is to be strong, as strong as Sephiroth, so I can protect her. That’s why I want to join SOLDIER.”

Rinoa’s heart fluttered. She said, “Aw, so you’re doing it out of love! How romantical!”

It never occurred to Cloud he was doing it out of love. For the longest time, it was his opinion that he was doing it out duty, the same way a knight’s duty was to protect his princess. Did Cloud love Tifa? Of course he did—more than anything in the world—but he never felt worthy of her. As far as he was concerned, Tifa was way too good for him.

“You know what?” Rinoa began. “I’m going to call my boyfriend, and see if he can’t help you get into SOLDIER. He works for the Registar.”

“What’s the Registar?”

“It’s a bureaucratic arm within Shinra. They handle correspondence and organize official meetings and whatnot. They also handle all the hiring and firing in the company, that includes the military. If anyone knows the secret of how to join SOLDIER, it’s my boyfriend.”

“And you really think he’ll help me?” Cloud asked enthusiastically.

“My boyfriend is the sweetest guy ever,” Rinoa smiled. “Of course he’ll help you.”

“Wow, thanks a lot, Rinoa!” Cloud gushed. “I really, really appreciate it!”

“Think nothing of it,” she said modestly. “Besides, I admire your reason for wanting to join SOLDIER. You’re doing it for love, and me being such a hopeless romantic, I can’t help but toss myself headlong into romantic entanglements. This girl Tifa is very lucky to have a friend like you, Cloud. Who says chivalry is dead?”

Cloud blushed a second time, even brighter than before.

Rinoa pressed a button on the steering wheel. It was an auto-dialer. Four drawn-out rings were followed by a man’s voice advising the caller to leave a message.

Rinoa said aloud, “Hey, Squall, it’s me, Rinoa. I have a boy here who’s interested in joining SOLDIER, and you being with the Registar, I figure you might know something about what it takes to join SOLDIER, so, I don’t know, if you can, call me back with the appropriate info, or better yet, come over to my place after work, okay? Hope to see you then. Love you, bye.” She pressed the button on the steering wheel again, and then turned to Cloud. “Well, there you have it,” she said with a wink. “The gears are in motion.”

Cloud was bursting with glee. His cheek muscles strained from smiling so hard.

The screen on the dashboard turned on. “This just in!” a man’s voice hollered. Cloud was startled by this sudden occurrence.

“Don’t worry,” Riona said. “I got it programmed so it turns on whenever there’s breaking news. Here, listen up. It’s probably important.”

A dapper-dressed anchorman with slicked back hair sat behind a news desk. In an overproduced newscaster voice, he said, “There’s been an explosion outside the gates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a car bomb. The number of dead has yet to be confirmed, but nine people are confirmed injured, four of them critically. No group has claimed responsibility, but authorities suspect terrorist group AVALANCHE to be behind this latest act of violence.”

“Damn AVALANCHE,” Rinoa muttered to herself, “attacking innocent civilians. Have they no shame?”

“Who’re AVALANCHE?” Cloud asked.

“They’re an insane cult that believes Mako energy is sacrilegious,” Rinoa said bitterly. “They terrorize Midgar, bombing any all things in the name of saving the planet. A bunch of anti-science nutjobs is what they really are. If we left it up to them, they’d outlaw technology and have us living in the dark ages!”

“It must be scary living in Midgar with terrorists running around,” Cloud said timorously. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“What, me, afraid? Of course not,” Rinoa scoffed. “You see, that’s exactly what terrorists want—to scare you, to keep you holed up in your own home like a prisoner! I refuse to be terrorized! Besides, Shinra has been taking the fight to them, infiltrating and dismantling terrorist cells all over the city. It’s only a matter of time before they completely annihilate AVALANCHE. That’s why the people love Shinra. They keep us safe.”

Rinoa’s loyalty to Shinra was unwavering, and she was well-rewarded for her loyalty with a good job and lavish apartment. She lived in an exclusive neighborhood designated for high-level Shinra employees. Her building was a monolithic spire constructed of glass and steel, as were many of the surrounding buildings. This section of Midgar looked like the city of the future.

Rinoa’s luxury sedan entered an orange-lit tunnel. It led into an underground parking lot. Upon entering, a buzzard sounded and red lights flashed in the car.

“Don’t let the red lights spook you,” Rinoa told Cloud. “That blinking just means we’re entering a high security area. A central databank in Shina HQ is checking my Identification Card to make sure I’m allowed within this area.”

After passing the checkpoint and parking her car, Rinoa led Cloud to an elevator, which then brought them up to the fifty-first floor.

“Here we are,” Rinoa said as the elevator door slid open.

They walked down a narrow white corridor, and stopped in front of the third door they came across. There was a mechanical panel where the doorknob should’ve been. Rinoa swiped her ID card within the slot of this panel. There was a beep, followed by locks releasing. The door then magically opened.

Cloud was first to step into the apartment. He immediately took note of the sparse furnishings. Rinoa had only the bare essentials: sofa, TV, refrigerator, computer, microwave, and the like. The fact that the apartment was huge made the sparseness all the more glaring. It hardly looked lived-in at all. The postmodern paintings hinged on the wall gave the impression this place was, in actuality, a rarely visited art gallery.

“Wow, your apartment is enormous,” Cloud said admiringly. “You live here with your boyfriend?”

“Oh, no, he has his own place,” Rinoa answered. “Not that it matters either way. I’m hardly home to begin with. I spend more time in the office than I do here. Nope, home is just where I sleep and go to the bathroom.”

“Uh-huh,” Cloud replied, not knowing what else to say.

“You want something to eat?” Rinoa asked. “I’m not much of a cook, but I do have some TV dinners if you’re hungery.”

And right on cue, hunger pains twisted Cloud’s stomach, causing it grumble irritably.

“Well, I guess that answer that question,” Rinoa giggled. “Don’t worry. I may not be much of a cook, but I can microwave my ass off.”

It was while they were eating TV dinners that Rinoa’s boyfriend, Squall, arrived. He was dressed to the nines in a black suit and tie. Standing together with Rinoa’s fashionable pantsuit, the two of them looked like the ultimate yuppie power couple.

The three of them talked in the living room.

“Now, I looked into how one might go about joining SOLDIER,” Squall began. “First and foremost, you have to be accepted into the Shinra Military Academy. The application alone will cost you twenty-five hundred gill.”

“But I don’t have twenty-five hundred gill,” Cloud yelp, panic-stricken.

Rinoa patted Cloud’s lap, and said, “Don’t you worry about money. I’ll sponsor you.”

Squall gave Rinoa a weird look, as if her behavior was unbecoming. “Okay, anyway,” he continued, “after paying for the application, you’ll have to take an exam. The exam comes in three parts. The first two parts are multiple choice questions, and will test your reading and mathematic comprehension. The third part is an essay. After the exam comes a physical. Pass the exam and physical, and it’s a good chance you’ll be accepted into the Academy. Before starting your curriculum in the Academy, you’ll spend two weeks in boot camp, and this is the most vital part of the process if you intend to join SOLDIER. On the last day of boot camp, cadets will be asked to choose what branch of the military they wish to serve in. Cadets are scored according to their physical and leadership attributes. The cadets with the highest scores will be given their preferred choice. Score high enough, and they’ll put you in the SOLDIER Program if you request it. In the Program, you will spend two years in a series of formal training environments. Survive the two years, graduate at the top of your class, and you just might be awarded a position in SOLDIER.”

Cloud was overwhelmed by the information, but not undaunted. He assured both Squall and Rinoa that he was up to the challenge.

“How will you be able to help him?” Rinoa asked Squall.

“Well, getting into the Shinra Military Academy isn’t exactly easy,” Squall answered. “Those allowed in tend to come from privileged families, and the application process has a quota, which, I hate to say, has already been filled for this semester.”

“So you can’t help him?” Rinoa said, dismayed.

“Now, just wait a sec, I didn’t say all that,” Squall intoned. “As far as applying is concerned, I’m pretty sure I can pull some strings and squeeze him into a slot.”

“Oh, you hear that, Cloud?” Rinoa cheered, hugging the boy. “All is not lost!”

After some back and forth about this and that, Squall and Rinoa decided to call it a night. Rinoa pointed Cloud to the guestroom, and told him to go to sleep. She then escorted her boyfriend to the door.

Before leaving, Squall said to Rinoa, “What’s the deal with you? Why are you helping some kid you don’t know from a hole in the wall? I mean, really, you’re going to sponsor him?”

Rinoa said, “I’m helping him because he wants to protect the girl he loves. I admire that. What the world needs are more people like him, those willing to fight for love.”

Squall smiled. “You really are a hopeless romantic.”

Rinoa smiled back. “And that’s why you love me.”

“It is.”

They kissed.

“So, you’ll really help him?” Rinoa asked.

“I’ll try my best,” Squall replied, “but there’s only so much I can do. If he doesn’t pass the exam, he’s not getting into the Academy no matter how many strings I try to pull. I’ll get some reading material to help him study.”

“Thanks, Squall,” Rinoa cooed, “you’re the sweetest.”

They kissed again and said goodbye.

Chapter X
Cloud passed the exam with flying colors, thanks in large part to intense cram sessions. The reading material Squall got for him proved most helpful. Cloud also passed the physical with flying colors. The boy was as fit as a fiddle, as the saying goes.

A week after the exam and physical, Cloud received a letter from the Shinra Military Academy. He was accepted. Cloud shared this joyous news with Rinoa, whereupon they celebrated at the most expensive restaurant in Midgar—her treat, of course. Cloud thanked Rinoa for all her help, and promised to repay her someway, somehow. Rinoa replied that the only payment she wanted was a nice letter from him every now and then, updating her on his progress in the Academy. Cloud did just that, sending her a letter once or twice a month. In the beginning, Rinoa replied to his letters in a prompt manner, but over time, her replies became few and far between, until, finally, she quit replying altogether. Cloud didn’t take it personal. He knew Rinoa was a very business woman.

In addition to writing letters to Rinoa, Cloud also wrote them to Tifa and his mother, the two most important women—nay, people—in his life. Getting their letters was always a morale booster. The content of their letters was the usual fare. Tifa and his mother wrote about life in Nibelheim, and how much they missed him. Cloud, likewise, wrote about life at the Academy, and how much he missed them in turn.

Cloud managed to enroll in the SOLDIER Program. He'd proven his strength and leadership skills in boot camp. Cloud wasn't the greatest cadet, to be sure, but he was certainly more capable than most. Be that as it may, there was one cadet who stood above all others, and he was looked upon with both jealousy and envy by his fellow cadets. His name was Zack Fair. He was a few years older than Cloud, hence, he was more experienced, but his age and experience didn't matter to Cloud. He saw Zack as his rival on account both aspired to be the next Sephiroth. Zack wasn't the least bit threatened by a little kid like Cloud, but Cloud thought he was stronger than Zack. As their rivalry blossomed so did their friendship. They were the best of friends within the second year of the SOLDIER Program.

Though Cloud was convinced he was stronger than Zack, this was simply not true. Zack was ten times stronger than Cloud, but not only that, Zack was also a more proficient magic user. In sparring matches, Zack mercilessly subdued the competition, but he always went easy on Cloud since they were friends. Because of this, Cloud was under the mistaken impression he was on equal footing with Zack, but that was far from the case. If they weren’t friends, and Zack exerted his full power, he would have wasted Cloud in less than three maneuvers. For all intents and purposes, Cloud was a mediocre fighter. He did exhibit some leadership skills, but it became readily apparent he was better at following orders rather than giving them. None of this was lost on the judges who decided which cadets joined SOLDIER and which were tossed to the wayside. Many were tossed to the wayside, and Cloud was one of them, but most humiliating of all, he had to wait until graduation day to find out.

In the first semester, the SOLDIER Program had approximately two hundred cadets. By the second semester, that number was down by two-thirds. Many of the cadets couldn’t handle the intense, and oftentimes, barbaric training. A typical exercise, for example, involved dropping cadets into a monster-infested dungeon, and leaving them there to fend for themselves for days. Many cadets were critically injured in these and other life-threatening exercises. By the time graduation rolled around, less than fifteen SOLDIER cadets remained, and from this paltry sum, only a handful would be granted the honor of becoming full members of SOLDIER.

Cloud and Zack sat next to each other on graduation day. The ceremony took place in the grand opera house, located in downtown Midgar. A majority of the cadets in the Shinra Military Academy hailed from well-to-do families. They were the sons and daughters of senators and ambassadors and corporate executives. It was a very hoity-toity affair. The grand opera house was crammed from floor to ceiling with the crème de la crème of polite society. Cloud didn’t invite Tifa or his mother. He didn’t want them present if by some off chance he was rejected by SOLDIER. This proved to be a perceptive move on his part, because he was indeed rejected. The announcement of who would join the ranks of SOLDIER came halfway through the ceremony. Zack was the first name called, naturally, then three others, and that was it. Cloud was incapable of bearing this epic failure with stoicism. He got up in the middle of the ceremony, went to the restroom, locked himself in a stall, and cried to the point of hyperventilation. He then stormed out the grand opera house, hopped on a train, and retreated to his dorm room, where he continued his crying fit.

Cloud intended to write a letter to Tifa and his mother, informing them on his epic failure, but he couldn’t bring himself to write the letter—or any letter, for that matter. He’d wasted two years of his life on a fruitless pursuit. He had enormous difficulty coping with this sad reality. The shame was too great. So ashamed was Cloud, in fact, that he vowed never to return to Nibelheim. He had promised Tifa and his mother that he would return a proud member of SOLDIER. Since that was never going to happen, he saw no reason to go back home. What for? To endure their pitiable gazes? To be laughed at and ridiculed? No, it was better to disappear.

Cloud opted to carry on his military career as a Shinra trooper. If the war with Wutai was still going on, Cloud would have been sent to the frontline, but an armistice was signed a few days after he graduated from the Academy. Wutai, thoroughly beaten by Shinra and its superior force, surrendered unconditionally. Their small island nation was occupied by foreign soldiers, and their Mako reserves were seized by Shinra, who now owned one hundred percent of the world’s Mako supply.

Back in Nibelheim, Tifa and Cloud’s mother were distraught. Cloud had severed all correspondence with them, leaving both in the lurch, as it were. Tifa was especially distraught. She couldn’t help but wonder what became of Cloud, her love interest. Was he safe? Was he eating healthy? Was he even thinking about her? These were questions Tifa asked herself time and time again. In what became a routine for her, Tifa would check the newspaper to see if Cloud had made the news. She was certain he’d commit some heroic deed on the battlefield that would thrust him into the headlines. The fact that the war was over didn’t seem to register with Tifa. She kept on checking the newspaper for Cloud, day in and day out. That’s how much she loved and believed in him.

Cloud’s stint as a Shinra trooper was lackluster, to say the least. He mostly did grunt work: manning checkpoints, protecting dignitaries, escorting artillery convoys, and so on and so forth. Cloud had settled into an empty existent. He was now just another faceless spook in a blue uniform.

This life of mediocrity would soon come to an end. Cloud was sitting in the barracks, cleaning his automatic rifle, when his commanding officer requested a word with him. Sephiroth was leading a mission into Nibelheim, and they wanted Cloud to accompany him. Needless to say, Cloud was challenged by conflicting interests. On one hand, he was thrilled to finally have a chance to work with his hero, Sephiroth, but on the other hand, he had vowed never to return to Nibelheim.

“Why me, sir?” Cloud asked his commanding officer.

“You’re from Nibelheim, if I’m not mistaken. Born and raised, correct?”

“Yessir.”

“Well, I’m counting on you to provide logistical support. You know the terrain. Use it to your advantage. Don’t let me down, soldier.”

“I won’t, sir.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” the commanding officer bellowed. “Garamonde will be accompanying you.”

Cyan Garamonde was a Shinra trooper. He held the same lowly rank as Cloud.

“Any more questions, soldier?” the commanding officer asked Cloud.

“No, sir.”

“Good, off with you, then.”

They saluted and parted ways.

What the commanding officer failed to mention was, aside from Sephiroth, another member of SOLDIER would be accompanying them. As chance would have it, that other member of SOLDIER was Cloud’s old friend and rival, Zack.


PART 2

Chapter XI

Rain fell from the dark skies, transforming the dirt road into a river of viscous mud. Darting across this muddy river was a black utility van. Confined in this van were Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud. These three sat in the back while Cyan, the driver, sat alone in the front. All were dressed in their respective uniforms. Cloud and Cyan wore the drab blue colors of Shinra troopers, whereas Sephiroth and Zack donned the stylish black apparel common among SOLDIER members.

The screeching of windshield wipers and wheels digging into the mud resonated through the otherwise silent van. Another sound resonating through the van was Cloud's stomach-churning gagging. He suffered from terrible motion sickness, and was trying his damndest not to throw up all over the place. How embarrassing it would be, he thought, to vomit in the presence of his hero, Sephiroth. Cloud tried to put on a brave face, but it was nigh impossible to keep his lunch down with the van jostling side to side the way it was.

Zack, conversely, was full of pep and strutting around like a caged animal. He was restless. He hated sitting down and doing nothing. He also hated silence. Silence and inaction were unnerving prospects for Zack. Things always needed to be happening, was his mantra, and if things weren't happening, then you needed to make them happen.

"Sure is raining hard," Zack said aloud, hoping someone would respond. Nobody had uttered a word since they entered the van. That was over six hours ago.

The silence ensued.

Zack went over to Cloud, who was pale yellow in the face. Motion sickness was taking a dreadful toll on him."Hey, you doing alright?" Zack asked Cloud.

"I'm alright," Cloud gurgled, waving a hand as if everything was just peachy-keen.

That was the extent of their conversation. Zack saw no need to continue talking to Cloud. The poor kid was clearly in awful shape, what with his crippling motion sickness and all. No sense in exacerbating the problem by forcing a conversation, Zack thought.

With nothing better to do, Zack took to performing sit-ups. It helped relieve the tension in his cramped muscles.

"Hey, settle down," Sephiroth bellowed, irked by Zack's incessant fidgeting.

Zack got up from the dirty floor, and dusted the crude off his pants.

"They gave me new Materia," Zack told Sephiroth, seizing this rare opportunity to converse with his converse-shy mentor. "I can't wait to use it."

Sephiroth looked away. "Just a kid," he murmured to himself.

Zack scratched his head, unsure of what his mentor meant by that. Undeterred, Zack carried on, telling Sephiroth, "So, you going to brief us about the mission?"

"This isn't just a typical mission," Sephiroth said enigmatically.

Zack smiled widely. "Good!"

Sephiroth leered at Zack with his catlike eyes, and said, "Why do you say that?"

"I joined SOLDIER so I could be like you," Zack began, "but by the time I made First Class, the war was over. My big hopes of becoming a hero like you ended with the war. That's why I always sign up whenever there's a big mission. Kind of a way to prove myself."

It depressed Cloud to hear this. He shared the exact same dream as Zack, but unlike Zack, he had failed to realize that dream. Whereas Zack was now a proud member of SOLDIER, Cloud was just another faceless Shinra trooper, indistinguishable from the rest and just as expendable.

"Say, how do you feel, Mister Sephiroth?" Zack asked

"I thought you wanted a briefing?" Sephiroth replied.

Zack shrugged his shoulders. "Okay then."

Sephiroth stood up and homed in on Zack and Cloud with his catlike eyes, which emitted an eerie green glow. "Our mission is to investigate an old Mako Reactor," he explained, his voice sharp and uncompromising. "There have been reports of it malfunctioning, and producing brutal creatures. First we will dispose of those creatures. Then we'll locate the problem and neutralize it."

"Brutal creatures? Where?" Zack asked.

"The Mako Reactor at Nibelheim," Sephiroth answered.

Upon the mention of Nibelheim, Cloud wondered how Tifa and his mother would react to the news that he failed in his attempt to join SOLDIER. Would his mother be disappointed in him? Would Tifa care about him any less? Cloud tried not to entertain such disconcerting thoughts. Thinking about it gave him a headache, and as sick as he felt right then, he was afraid giving it anymore thought would prompt him to puke his brains out.

"Nibelheim, that's my hometown," Cloud said faintly.

"Is that so?" Sephiroth said, not particularly interested.

The van skidded to an abrupt halt, tossing the passengers to the floor—all except Sephiroth, that is. He stood tall and unfazed. A loud roar, akin to a crack of thunder, echoed from outside. Pounding footsteps followed this thunderous roar. From the sound of it, the footsteps belonged to a gigantic monster, which was apparently circling the van. Another thunderous roar echoed.

"What is that?" Cloud asked timorously.

"That's our creature," Sephiroth said, unsheathing his Masamune.

Zack flung open the van's back door, wielding his Buster Sword as he did. Though Zack was first to step out, Sephiroth seemingly flew past him.

The towering creature blocking the road was a dragon. Its eyes were bright yellow and its ghastly lizard grin was filled with fangs that resembled hundreds of tiny knives. The dragon's green scales glistened in the night rain.

Sephiroth, moving with the swiftness of a gale force wind, was within striking distance just as Zack was still trying to catch up.The dragon snapped its head back and inhaled. Then, with a quick jerk of its neck, flames spurted from its mouth. Sephiroth stood unblinking as his body was engulfed by flames. Cloud, who was watching from behind the van, looked on in horror as he saw Sephiroth's body get swallowed up by a brilliant orange fireball. That horror lasted only a second, for no sooner had the flames engulfed him than he came barreling out the other end, unscathed. In one fell swoop, Sephiroth leapt into the air, and with a simple downward slash, the dragon was reduced to nothing, its ghastly lizard grin forever wiped off the face of the earth. The dragon had no time to shriek as its body was split in half by Sephiroth's invincible sword, Masamune. Blood exploded from its gutted torso like water from a collapsed levee. Steaming hot entrails spilled out of the gaping hole and into the cold mud. There, slippery intestines squirmed about as if there was still life in them.

Cloud looked on, agog, his jaw unhinged. It's often been said, but this was irrefutable evidence: Sephiroth's power was unreal!

Chapter XII

The streets of Nibelheim were completely deserted the day Sephiroth and the others arrived. They parked the van outside the village and walked the rest of the way.

Zack wondered aloud where everyone was hiding. He'd expected a much warmer reception, since, you know, the Great Sephiroth, legendary war hero, had just arrived to save the day. Sephiroth was swarmed everywhere he went, like a major celebrity, and like any major celebrity, people were forever asking for his autograph and an opportunity to take a picture with him. Seriously, who didn't want meet Sephiroth? Zack almost felt slighted by Nibelheim's less than rapturous welcome.

Now, it wasn't so much that the good people of Nibelheim didn't want to meet Sephiroth. It's just that they feared leaving their homes on account of the monsters, which had since infested the area. The monsters mostly attacked at night, but despite that, people refrained from walking around in the daytime as well. If it wasn't necessary to be outside, people generally stayed inside. Even the arrival of the Great Sephiroth wasn't enough to coax them out of the relative safety of their homes.

Sephiroth led the party deeper into town."It must feel nice to be back home," Sephiroth said to Cloud. "I don't have a hometown."

"How 'bout your parents?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth hesitated. "My mother's name was Jenova," he finally said. "She died right after she gave birth to me. My father…" Sephiroth didn't continue.

Cloud wondered why Sephiroth had suddenly trailed off, but he didn't dare pry. No sense in involving himself in other people's problems, Cloud thought. Besides, he had his own problems to contend with, namely, how was he going to face Tifa and his mother? He hadn't exchanged a single word with them since his time in the Shinra Military Academy. What would be his lame excuse for severing all correspondence with them? Would they be angry with him? Or was it more likely they'd be sad and disappointed? Either way, Cloud was none too eager to confront them.

Their first contact with the people of Nibelheim came at the Inn. They were greeted warmly by the manager, who led Sephiroth and the others up to their rooms. Cloud stayed behind in the lobby. He had noticed an old man wearing brightly colored robes unfamiliar to these parts. The old man was clearly a foreigner, and engaged in some queer-looking behavior. To Cloud, it looked like the old man was dancing. His graceful movements were akin to those of a light-footed ballerina. Actually, he wasn't dancing. The old man was merely cycling through various fighting stances. It eventually dawned on Cloud that the old man was a fighter, not a ballerina.

"Excuse me," Cloud said, interrupting the old man. "What fighting style is that?"

"Don't you know who I am?" the brawny old man said in a gruff voice, pounding his chest triumphantly. "I am the world famous Zangan. I travel around the globe teaching children martial arts. I have one hundred twenty-eight students all over the world. In this town, a girl named Tifa is a student of mine."

"Tifa?" Cloud said, stunned.

"Tifa has good sense," Zangan commented. "She'll be a powerful fighter."

As curious as Cloud was to learn more about Tifa becoming a powerful fighter, he wasn't in the right frame of mind to have a longwinded conversation, not least with a complete stranger. Cloud thanked the old man for his time, and then went off to rejoin the others. Just as he reached the top of the stairs, Cloud took note of Sephiroth, who was staring unblinkingly out the window. This particular window overlooked the Shinra Mansion.

"I've hired a guide to help lead us through the mountains," Sephiroth announced. Since no one else was present, Cloud assumed Sephiroth was addressing him personally. "I've heard she's young," Sephiroth continued. "I hope we can rely on her."

Cloud couldn't help but wonder if Tifa was the guide. It would be ironic if it was, considering she almost died climbing the very same mountain so many years ago.

"You have family here?" Sephiroth asked.

"My mother," Cloud answered.

Sephiroth reeled his head in Cloud's direction. His green, catlike eyes did not betray his emotions. He said, "Sometimes I wonder what would've become of me if my mother hadn't died. Would I still be the powerful warrior I am today, or would she have inspired me to lead a different life?"

"Yeah, maybe you'd be an accountant today," Cloud chortled.

Sephiroth smiled thoughtfully. "You should pay your mother a visit," he said. "She'll be happy to see you. I'm sure."

Sephiroth turned his attention back to the window and said nothing more.

Cloud left the inn and walked back to his old neighborhood. Upon reaching the street he lived on, his gaze first fell on Tifa's gingerbread-like house. The sight of the drainpipe brought back fond memories of how he used to climb up and knock on Tifa's window. Sometimes she'd be happy to see him, while other times she'd be annoyed. In the few instances she was annoyed, it was mostly because he had caught her at a most inopportune moment: sleeping or in the middle of getting dressed. Needless to say, she freaked out the most when she was in the middle of getting dressed. Cloud never saw her naked (as much as he wanted to). Though he knew it was a silly thing do at his age, Cloud was tempted to climb the drainpipe, for old times' sake. And he did just that. He figured since no one was around, it was highly unlikely he'd get caught. Cloud peeked into Tifa's bedroom, and saw that it was vacant. The shutter was unlocked, like always. Cloud climbed through the window, careful not to make a sound.

Tifa's bedroom hadn't changed one bit. It was still as girly as ever. In the corner was a piano, and by the foot of her dresser were plush toys of Chocobos and Moogles. Cloud saw a piece of paper atop her desk. It was a letter from her friend, Locke. He noticed his name in the letter and decided to read it. Cloud wanted to see what sort of gossip Locke was trying to spread about him.

Tifa, how are you? I just arrived in Midgar eight days ago. Yesterday, all the people from Nibelheim who were here got together to welcome me. The only person we couldn't get a hold of was Cloud. But everyone agreed he wasn't that close to us. So even if we asked, he wouldn't have come anyway. Well, enough about him. Midgar is really something. But to tell you the truth, I feel so behind on everything…so out of it. Right now I'm living in the slums, but I plan to move to a really nice home, like the ones I've seen in magazines…once I make some money. But to do that I guess I have to find a job first. That's right. I still haven't found a job yet. I lied to my parents and told them I found a great job with Shinra Inc. I wonder if it's too late to go back home? Sometimes I think I should've taken over my parents' store. I just made it here to Midgar, but all I think about is Nibelheim.

There was more written, but Cloud stopped there. The letter was beginning to depress him. As much as he hated to admit it, Cloud related with Locke's plight. He, too, felt so behind on everything…so out of it.

Cloud descended the drainpipe and made his way back home. He stopped at the front door, too apprehensive to go any farther. It had been over two years since he last saw his mother. How would he go about saying hello, but even more importantly, how would he break the news to her that he failed to join SOLDIER, and was now a lowly Shinra trooper.

After an eternity of just standing there, Cloud turned the doorknob and entered his childhood home. He found his mother in the kitchen, laboring over a hot stove. The sweet smell in the air indicated she was baking cookies.

"Uh," Cloud muttered.

His mother turned around, jumped, and let out an ear-piercing shriek.

"Goodness, who are you?" she screamed. "What are you doing in my home?"

Then Cloud remembered he was wearing his face-obscuring helmet.

"Mom, Mom, settle down, it's me!" he yelped, removing the gaudy helmet, thus revealing his round face, blue eyes, and spiky blond hair.

His mother stood breathless for several seconds. Once she was able to breathe again, she cheered, "Cloud! Oh, Cloud! Welcome home!"

She rushed over to her child, and smothered him with hugs and kisses.

"Hi, Mom," Cloud whimpered as his mother held him tight.

"Come, come," she said, leading him to the living room, excited. "Let me take a better look at you."

The mother circled her son, absorbing every stitch and seam of his spiffy blue uniform.

"My oh my," she swooned, "you look so brave and handsome. Is this a SOLDIER uniform? Are you a member of SOLDIER?"

"Mom, I…" Cloud wanted to tell her the truth, that he wasn't accepted, but he lacked all courage to do so. "Yeah," he lied. "I'm a member of SOLDIER. This is how they dress."

His mother smiled proudly. Her smile was like a dagger to his heart. Truly, it killed Cloud to lie to his mother like that. Just another shame to add to the pile, he thought dourly.

"Ah, what do we have here?" Cloud's mother said, calling attention to his helmet. "This thing scared me at first, because I didn't know it was you under there. Can you put it on again? I want to see the full effect of the uniform."

Cloud did as his mother asked. The helmet enclosed his entire head, and a visor concealed his eyes.

"Oh my," his mother said, disheartened. "You look scary, like a robot. Please, take it off."

Cloud took off the helmet and crammed it under his armpit.

"That's better," his mother cooed, stroking his round face. "I want to see those beautiful blue eyes of yours."

Her gentle petting made him feel considerably more at ease. The mother always knew how to comfort her little chibi.

Cloud was tired and decided to lie down on the couch. His mother advised him to lie down in his own bed instead. Cloud responded that he didn't want to get too comfortable, because this was only a quick visit. He had to stay with his combat unit, which was stationed back at the Inn. His mother was saddened to hear this, naturally. Wanting to savor every precious second with her son, she remained by his side the entire time, voicing her concerns as only a mother could.

"My, how you've grown," she said with immense pride. "I bet the girls never leave you alone."

"Not really."

Cloud was staring blankly at the ceiling, an old favorite pastime of his.

"I'm worried about you," his mother said. "There are a lot of temptations in the city. I'd feel a lot better if you would just settle down and had a nice girlfriend."

"I'm all right."

"You should have…" The mother thought for a moment. "An older girlfriend," she finally said. "One that'll take good care of you. I think that would be best for you."

"I'm not interested."

Cloud shut his eyelids, and started nodding off. His mother kept right on talking. Her sweet, gentle voice guided him as he drifted off into deep sleep.

"Are you eating right?" his mother asked.

"The company feeds us," he yawned.

"Is that so?" she said, mildly intrigued. "You can't cook, right?"

Cloud's consciousness began to fade, as did his mother's voice.

"I was worried sick about how you were doing," she said, her voice now coming from as far away as outer space.

Cloud slipped into a state of semi-unconsciousness. His mother's words became fragmented.

"Cloud…"

"You know, Cloud…"

"Isn't that right, Cloud?"

"I will always be your mother."

Cloud didn't know it then, but that would be his mother's last words to him.

Chapter XIII

Sephiroth and his team convened outside the wrought iron gates of Shinra Mansion. Cloud and Cyan, the other Shinra trooper, manned the perimeter, keeping all curious onlookers at bay. A small crowd had gathered to see the Great Sephiroth, but the Great Sephiroth didn't want to be bothered.

A man holding a camera approached Cloud and Cyan. He asked the Shinra troopers, "Do you think Sephiroth would mind if I take his picture? He's a hero to me."

"Step away, sir," Cyan replied in an authoritative voice.

"But I just—"

"I said step away!" Cyan barked, gripping his automatic rifle in a manner suggesting he'd draw it on the meddling cameraman if he didn't scram.

The cameraman took the hint and hightailed it out of there.

Sephiroth was talking to a man. Cloud recognized this man as Tifa's father.

"Listen to me, Sephiroth," Tifa's father said. "In case anything happens to my daughter—"

"Trust me," Sephiroth interrupted.Standing with Sephiroth and Tifa's father was Tifa herself. She was wearing a skimpy cowgirl outfit, complete with knee-high boots, revealing miniskirt, exposed midriff, and Stetson hat. To say hers wasn't appropriate mountain climbing attire would be an understatement. Truth be told, Cloud thought she looked a little skanky, but he couldn't tell her that. Not because he feared a slap in the face, but because he was incognito. Cloud was trying to keep a low profile so Tifa didn't notice him. He still hadn't worked up the courage to reveal himself to her. He was much too ashamed about his inability to join SOLDIER. Cloud was confident Tifa wouldn't recognize him so long as he kept quiet, and didn't remove his face-obscuring helmet.

"I'll be alright," Tifa assured her father. "I have two men from SOLDIER with me." She then turned to Sephiroth. "I'm Tifa. Nice to meet you."

Sephiroth nodded politely.

The cameraman had managed to slip through the perimeter. He asked Sephiroth if it was okay to take his picture. Zack urged Sephiroth to play along.

"C'mon, it'll be cool," Zack said. He turned to Tifa. "Hey, let's have our guide in it, too."

"Sure," Tifa said, sidling up next to him.

Zack said to Sephiroth, "C'mon, last chance."

Sephiroth was reluctant, but ultimately obliged. He stood next to Tifa.The cameraman fitted the lens over his right eye, and said, "Say cheese."

Then came a blinding white flash. Cloud was suddenly reminded of the day he and Tifa climbed Nibel Mountain, and how lightening had filled the dark skies with brilliant white flares.

"Thanks, this should come out great," the cameraman said, promptly running off. "I'll make a few copies for everyone."

Zack dusted his hands, and said, "All in a days work."

"I'm sure there's more to SOLDIER than guys looking cool and taking pictures," Tifa quipped.

"Nope, that's about it." Zack joked.

Tifa let out a good-natured giggle.

"Enough," Sephiroth said in a stern voice. "We have a job to do. Let's move."

Tifa hugged her father goodbye, and then led Sephiroth and his team up the dirt road that led into Nibel Mountain. Cloud remembered this particular route. They were following the same route Tifa had followed on that ill-fated day ten years ago, when she fell from the mountain and almost died. Cloud was amazed at how well Tifa had adapted to the hostile environment since then. She was surefooted and agile, and maneuvered past the rocky terrain with such ease that it was clear she'd conquered the mountain, the same mountain that almost killed her.

The party eventually came upon a decrepit rope bridge. Halfway across, the floorboards started to creak, and the ropes began to unravel.

"Everybody head back!" Sephiroth yelled suddenly."What's wrong?" Tifa asked, startled.

There was a loud snap. Cloud instinctively went for Tifa, hoping to grab her, save her. The bridge disappeared from underneath his feet long before he could get a running start. He was now freefalling. The world spun like a furious top. Cloud shut his eyes and braced himself for the sudden impact.

"Cloud," a voice said.

Cloud felt his face getting slapped. The sting in his cheeks was enough to wake him. He opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first, but gradually Zack's face came into focus.

"Ha, you're alive!" Zack said, relieved. "Damn, you ain't even scratched. I guess that helmet came in handy, huh?"

"What happened?" Cloud muttered as he sat up.

"Gravity, that's what happened," Zack replied. "If it weren't for the canopy, we'd all be dead!"

Above them were billowy plumes composed of leaves and branches. The leaves and branches had broken their fall.

"Is your friend okay?" a familiar voice said.

Cloud's heart fluttered at the sight of Tifa. She was okay, completely unharmed. Next to her was Sephiroth, equally unharmed. Cloud staggered to his feet.

"Everybody okay?" Sephiroth asked aloud.

"Yeah," Zack replied, "but we're missing somebody."

Cyan was nowhere to be found.

"I know it may seem cold, but we have to keep going," Sephiroth said.

There were no objections.

"So, how do we get out of here?" Zack enquired, gazing up at the leafy canopy.

"I know of a nearby cave," Tifa said. "It'll take us straight to the Mako Reactor."

Tifa brought them to the cave, which had a hollowed out interior that glowed bright green. Also glowing bright green were the pools of liquid gathered in various craters.

"Wow, I've never seen a place like this," Zack remarked. "It's just so…green."

"The caves around here are abundant with Mako energy," Sephiroth explained. "That's why the reactor was built in this location."

Just then, they were ambushed by kyuvildunises, giant locus-type creatures. There were four of them, and they crept towards the party, clicking and chattering madly. Their mad sounds bounced off the cavernous emerald walls, echoing countless times. Sephiroth wasn't the least bit intimidated. He raised a hand, flicked his wrist, and just like that, the kyuvildunises were consumed by a fiery yellow light. Once the light had vanished, all the creatures were laying dead in there own pasty brown fluids.

Tifa was duly impressed. She wasn't one to hero-worship (in fact, she was one of the few people in the world who didn't sweat Sephiroth). Still, there was no denying he was all-powerful—almost godlike! Tifa found this to be an unsettling notion. No one person should have so much power, or at least, that was her humble opinion.

Tifa led the party into the belly of the cave, and wandered into a section she'd never been before. It was filled with flowers and trees, and at its center was a fountain spurting out jade liquid.

"What is this?" Tifa said, stopping to absorb the lush scenery."A Mako fountain," Sephiroth said. "It's a miracle of nature."

Tifa's eyes sparkled as she gazed into the glittery jade liquid of the Mako fountain.

"It's beautiful," she cooed, spellbound,

The party encircled the Mako fountain.

"If the Mako Reactor continues to suck up the energy, this fountain will dry up," Tifa whispered to herself.

"Materia," Sephiroth said suddenly. "If you condense Mako energy, Materia is produced. It's very rare to be able to see Materia in its natural state."

"You mean in a couple of years this will turn into Materia?" Tifa said, amazed. "By the way, why is it that when you use Materia you can also use magic?"

"The Knowledge and Wisdom of the Ancients is held in the Materia," Sephiroth answered. "Anyone with this Knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That Knowledge interacts between us and the Planet, calling up magic. Or so they say."

"A mysterious power," Zack said in complete awe.

Sephiroth laughed. It caught everyone off guard.

"Did I say something funny?" Zack asked, bemused.

Sephiroth quit laughing, and then explained himself. "A man once told me never to use an unscientific term like 'mysterious power.' 'It shouldn't even be called magic!' he said. I still remember how angry he was."

"Who was that?" Zack asked.

"Hojo of Shinra," Sephiroth answered, "an inexperienced man assigned to take over the work of a great scientist. He was a walking mass of complexes."

Tifa's eyes were still fixed on the glittery jade liquid. "A Mako fountain," she whispered. "So this is where the Knowledge of the Ancients is stored."

After spelunking for quite some time, the party eventually arrived at the Mako Reactor. The towering structure sat atop a dark and foreboding peak. The land was dead, having dried up and withered away long ago. The Mako Reactor had sucked all life out of the entire region.

Sephiroth stopped at the bottom of the metal staircase, which led directly into the Mako Reactor. He said to Tifa, "You must stay out here. This reactor is full of Shinra's industrial secrets." He pointed to Cloud. "You stay with her."

"Oh, man!" Tifa whined. She leered at the Shinra trooper. "You better take good care of me."

Sephiroth and Zack ascended the metal staircase, and then disappeared into the Mako Reactor.

Cloud was now alone with Tifa, only she didn't know it was Cloud. His gaudy helmet masked his true identity.

"So, you got a name?" Tifa asked him.

Cloud froze. If he spoke she would recognize his voice. He remained silent.

Cloud's silence annoyed Tifa. "Great!" she said, irritated. "They stuck me with a mute!"

A narrow steel bridge connected two platforms. As Zack and Sephiroth made their way across this bridge, Zack leaned over to take a quick peek of the world below. Underneath them, some eighty yards down, was a river that glowed an incandescent green. This was the Lifestream. The grinding of gears and banging of rusty pipes made for a clamorous atmosphere. These gears and pipes were working in conjunction, sucking the Lifestream dry of all Mako energy.

At the end of the second platform was the entrance to the Core. Inside the Core were high-tech chambers shaped like capsules. These chambers were lined in a row and stacked in a stadium-seating-like arrangement. There was only one staircase, and it led up to a sealed door. Above the sealed door, written in big bold letters, was a single word: JENOVA."So, what's the problem?" Zack asked Sephiroth, who was inspecting machinery in the far right corner of the room.

"This is the reason for the malfunctioning," Sephiroth said, pointing to a valve. "This part is broken."

Zack knelt down and twirled the valve. It didn't seem to do any good. He got back up, dusting his hands.

"Why did it break?" Zack asked.

Sephiroth didn't respond. He was too busy inspecting a chamber. Each chamber had a small porthole. Sephiroth was peering into one of these portholes. He pushed away moments later, seemingly unsettled by what he saw.

"Now I see, Hojo," Sephiroth said to himself, "but even doing this will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast." Sephiroth then addressed Zack. "All these capsules, pipes, and gears are a system that condenses and freezes Mako energy. That is, when it's working correctly. Now, what does Mako energy become when it's further condensed?"

Zack gave it a quick think. "Oh yeah!" he finally said. "It becomes Materia."

"Right, normally," Sephiroth replied, "but Hojo put something else in there. Take a look."

Sephiroth stepped aside, allowing Zack access to the porthole. Inside was a hideous blue creature with white horns and a face like a dragon. Its eyes flashed opened. Zack fell backwards, spooked by this sudden occurrence. Its eerie green eyes were now etched in his mind."Wh…what is that!" Zack shuddered.

"You see," Sephiroth began, "normal members of SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with Mako. Different from other people, but still human."

Zack picked himself up from the floor. "But what is that thing?" he asked, unable to grasp the concept.

"They've been exposed to a higher degree of Mako," Sephiroth explained. "Far more than you, Zack."

"Is this some kind of monster?" Zack enquired.

"Exactly," Sephiroth answered, "and it's Hojo of Shinra that's responsible for all of this. Mutated living organisms produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."

Zack reeled his head towards Sephiroth, realizing just then that the monster in the chamber had similar green, catlike eyes.

"Normal members of SOLDIER?" Zack bleated. "You're different?"

There was silence. Sephiroth hung his head low, grasping his scalp tightly. He was struck with a sudden epiphany, and this epiphany made him tremble uncontrollably.

"N…no," Sephiroth stuttered. "Was I…"

He unsheathed Masamune and struck the chamber in a fit of rage. His strike wasn't enough to destroy it.

"Was I created this way, too?" Sephiroth yelled, his teeth gnashing.

Sephiroth moved to another chamber, and, with his sword glinting in the dim light, struck it twice with all his might. The window shattered. Viscous green fluid oozed out. Zack jumped back as Sephiroth continued his destructive rampage, slashing chamber after chamber.

"Am I the same as all these monsters?" Sephiroth cried, swinging his sword like a berserker.

"Sephiroth!" Zack hollered.

Upon hearing his name, Sephiroth turned to Zack, his green, catlike eyes filled with a sort of madness. He wielded Masamune in a threatening manner. Zack honestly believed Sephiroth meant to strike him down. Thankfully, the mentally unhinged SOLDIER stayed his hand.

"You saw it!" Sephiroth sneered. "All of them…were human!"

"Human?" Zack uttered in disbelief. "No way!"

Sephiroth's madness gradually subsided. He now appeared much calmer.

"I've always felt that I was different from others," Sephiroth said in a disquiet murmur. "Special in some way." He turned away from Zack and headed for the exit. "But…not like this."

Sephiroth collapsed before making it to the exit. On hands and knees, he whimpered, "Am I human?"

Chapter XIV

Sephiroth was never the same after the incident in the Mako Reactor. He and his party had come to Nibelheim to repair the broken reactor, and exterminate all mutated creatures, but that mission had since fallen to the wayside. While Cloud and Zack went out on nightly patrols to rid the area of monsters, Sephiroth sequestered himself in his hotel room and refused to see anyone. He stayed in that room for days on end, never opening the door once, not even to eat (though there was some debate whether or not Sephiroth actually ate, or if he sustained himself by the sheer will of his pure awesomeness). Zack and Cloud were concerned. Zack especially. He'd seen the madness in Sephiroth's green, catlike eyes that day in the Mako Reactor. His were the eyes of a fanatic, one who was willing and capable enough to commit any and all atrocities.

One night, Cloud and Zack came back from a patrol to find Sephiroth gone. It took some sleuthing, but they eventually discovered he'd taken up residence in the Shinra Mansion. The mansion had been abandoned for years. After some debate, both decided to pay Sephiroth an importune visit. They prepared themselves for just about anything.The mansion's interior was colossal. A massive staircase spiraled upwards to a second and third floor. Paintings of haughty noblemen and majestic landscapes decorated the walls, and statues of mythical creatures were positioned in various corners of the foyer. There was also a grand chandelier dangling from the ceiling, but this was in disrepair, as were all other furnishings in the mansion. Everything was covered underneath a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

Cloud and Zack split up in order to cover more ground. The layout of the mansion was truly labyrinthine. Behind every door was a room, and behind every room was a corridor, and in these corridors were more doors that led to more rooms that led to even more corridors. Their search for Sephiroth proved arduous. The blinding darkness didn't help much, either.

It was Cloud who happened across a hidden door. He entered a scarcely decorated room where in the corner was a gray brick wall. This wall seemed out of place. Upon closer inspection, he noticed an outline that looked very much like a door."Find anything?" Zack asked as he entered the room.

Cloud moved his hands all along the wall, trying to find a switch or a pressure plate, anything that might open this hidden door.

Zack looked on in bewilderment. "What're you doing?"

And just then, the hidden door revealed itself. Cloud didn't know what he pressed, but whatever it was, it caused the gray brick wall to slide open. Beyond the darkness was a staircase that spiraled downward. Cloud and Zack descended ever so cautiously. Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, they found themselves in a cavern that was lit florescent lavender. At the opposite end of this lavender-lit cavern was a wooden door. Yellow light poured through the cracks of the door.

Cloud and Zack now found themselves in a laboratory. It was dark inside. A few candles scattered here and there was the only light source. At the center of this laboratory were two chambers. They shared the same technology as the chambers found in the Mako reactor, only instead of metal cocoons, these chambers resembled glass beakers, and were wired into a control panel swathed with buttons, switches and dials.Past the laboratory was a small library. A narrow corridor connected the library with the laboratory. It was within this narrow corridor that they found Sephiroth. He stood motionless, like a statue, his nose buried in a book. He was reading something aloud. Cloud and Zack caught him in midsentence.

"…an organism that was apparently dead. Found in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. Professor Gast named the organism Jenova." Sephiroth flipped the page. "X Year, X Month, X Day, Jenova confirmed to be an Ancient. X Year, X Month, X Day, Jenova Project green-lighted. The use of Mako Reactor 1 approved for use."

Cloud and Zack approached Sephiroth, but he didn't acknowledge the two. He simply turned on his heels and sauntered into the small library, saying to himself, "My mother's name was Jenova. Jenova Project. Is this just a coincidence?" He placed a trembling hand on his face. "Professor Gast," he whimpered, "why didn't you tell me anything? Why did you have to die?"

Cloud and Zack bravely stepped forward, intent on having a word with Sephiroth, but they stopped in their tracks when Sephiroth spoke up. "Let me be alone!" he bellowed, his back turned to them.

And with that, Cloud and Zack were gone, leaving Sephiroth alone to ponder his own existence.

As the days passed, and Cloud and Zack continued their nightly patrols, dispatching monsters they came across, Sephiroth remained hold up in the Shinra Mansion, reading every book, periodical, and research paper he found. He was possessed by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. This knowledge ultimately drove him in insane. All was quiet for a couple of days, but then came the maniacal laughter, and the beginning of the end for all those residing in Nibelheim that fateful night.It began ominous enough. Cloud and Zack were on their nightly patrol when suddenly a bout of wicked laughter came booming out the Shinra Mansion. They knew straightaway it was Sephiroth. They also knew he'd finally snapped. It was Zack who volunteered to go inside and confront Sephiroth. He told Cloud to stay behind, because Sephiroth had become dangerously erratic, and if he should lash out, Cloud wouldn't last long against him. It took a SOLDIER to take on a SOLDIER, was Zack's general argument. Cloud agreed to stay behind.

Upon reentering the secret laboratory, Zack was immediately taken aback by what he saw. Books were scattered all over the place, and piled high, almost up to the ceiling. By this point, the maniacal laughter had ceased, but in the back, where the small library was located, Zack could hear sinister chuckling.

"Who is it?" Sephiroth sneered. He was sitting at a table, surrounded on all sides by thick manuscripts. "Show yourself!"

Zack stepped into the light.

Sephiroth's green, catlike eyes narrowed into two thin slit. "Traitor," he grumbled to himself.

"Traitor?" Zack replied, visibly confused."You ignorant traitor," Sephiroth said with the greatest of malice. "Allow me to enlighten you." He sat up straight and leaned forward on the desk, looking quite professorial. "This planet originally belonged to the Cetra," he began. "The Cetra were an itinerant race that migrated across the Planet. They'd settle into an area, and then move on before they depleted all natural resources. They were in harmony with the Planet. At the end of their harsh, hard journey, they believed they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness. But those who disliked the journey appeared." His tone became exceptionally bitter. "No longer content with migrating, they forsook the Promised Land, and elected to live an easier life by building shelters and exploiting natural resources. They took what the Cetra and the Planet had made, and didn't give back one whit in return! Those are your ancestors!"

Zack listened carefully but had trouble comprehending. All this talk about the Planet, the Cetra, the Promised Land, it all sounded like convoluted plot devices for a bad sci-fi movie.

"Long ago," Sephiroth continued, "disaster struck the Planet. Your ancestors survived. The Cetra did not. Your ancestors survived because they hid! The Cetra, in all their magnanimous glory, sacrificed themselves to save the Planet. After that, your ancestors, those worthless creatures, continued to multiply like a virus." Sephiroth picked up a manuscript. "Now all that's left of the Cetra are in these reports." He then lobbed the manuscript behind his shoulder.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Zack asked, losing patience.

"Don't you get it?" Sephiroth said, angered by Zack's complete ignorance. "A specimen was found in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. They named the specimen Jenova. Jenova is an Ancient. The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the Ancients—no, the Cetra!" he corrected himself. "They were successful in this endeavor. They produced someone gifted with all the powers of the Ancients. I am what they produced! I am a true descendent of the Cetra!"

"Pr…produced?" Zack stammered.

Sephiroth got up and advanced on Zack in a slow, methodical manner.

"That is correct," Sephiroth hissed. A menacing smirk was plastered across his androgynous face. "Professor Gast, head of the Jenova Project and genius scientist, produced me."

Of course, Zack thought. It all suddenly made sense. This explained Sephiroth's inhuman strength—he wasn't human at all! He was an Ancient, or Cetra, as he put it.

Sephiroth brushed passed Zack, apparently making his way out of the laboratory.

"Sephiroth, wait," Zack said, putting a hand on his mentor's shoulder.

"Out of my way!" Sephiroth yelled, tossing Zack clear across the room and into a bookshelf.

The bookshelf keeled over and crashed down on Zack, pinning him underneath. The last thing he heard before passing out was Sephiroth saying, "I'm going to see my mother."

When Zack finally came to, he didn't know how much time had elapsed. Was it a couple of minutes? Was it a couple of hours? After freeing himself from the bookshelf, he made a mad dash for the streets of Nibelheim, which were already engulfed in flames. The entire town was on fire, and everywhere there were dead bodies, many of them severed limb from limb. The ground ran thick with the blood of the innocent "Terrible," Zack muttered to himself. "Sephiroth, this is too terrible!"

"Hey!" a voice hollered. "Are you still sane?"

It was Zangan, the old martial arts master.

"There are still people alive in these burning houses," Zangan said. "Help me by going into that house over there! I'll save the people in here!"

And with that, the old man kicked down the door, and jumped headlong into the blazing backdraft.

Just as Zack was about to enter the house Zangan pointed out, he came across the cameraman who'd taken the group photo of him, Tifa and Sephiroth. The cameraman, lying on his back, had his precious camera clenched to his abdomen. His face was pale and his body was shivering as if he was suffering from hypothermia.

"Am I…going…to make it?" the cameraman choked, spitting up blood.

Zack looked him over. The camera was pressed against a gaping belly wound. It was the only fixture keeping his entrails from completely spilling out. Zack was amazed the eviscerated cameraman wasn't dead yet. He'd be dead soon enough. Zack knew this but said nothing.

Off in the distance, Zack saw the blue uniform of a Shinra trooper. He knew for certain it was Cloud. He just hoped his little buddy was still alive.

"Please…don't…leave…me!" the cameraman pleaded. His plea went unanswered.

Cloud was unconscious, bleeding from the forehead. It wasn't a serious wound. His gaudy helmet may have very well saved his life.

"Yo, Cloud, you okay?" Zack said, trying to wake his fallen companion.

Cloud mumbled something, but otherwise remained motionless.

"Damn that Sephiroth!" Zack grunted. "He went crazy! Massacred the entire village! We gotta…we gotta stop that maniac! But, dammit, where'd he go?"

Then it occurred to Zack. Sephiroth had mentioned something about seeing his mother. His mother's name was Jenova, and as it so happened, that's the exact same name inscribed above the sealed door located in the Core of the Mako Reactor. It didn't take an investigative genius to solve this riddle.

"He's gone back to the Mako Reactor," Zack said aloud. He patted Cloud's injured head. "You stay right here, buddy. I'll be back for you in no time."

Zack sprinted up the road leading into Nibel Mountain. He vaulted over the dead bodies littering the blood-soaked streets.

It took some effort, but Cloud eventually garnered enough strength to stand up. He didn't know how it was he got knocked out. All he remembered was a bright flash, followed by a tornado of fire, and then total darkness. Within that darkness he heard the agonizing screams of women and children. His body was sore and unresponsive, but he worked through the pain in order to get to his house. All he could think about was his mother. He had to see her. He had to know she was alright.

His childhood home was in flames, as was every other home in the vicinity. Specs of burning ember filled the night air like a flurry of fiery snowflakes. Disregarding his own safety, Cloud plowed through the flaming front door, and maneuvered his way into the kitchen, where his mother spent most of her time, and it was here, in the kitchen, where Cloud found her, or at least, what was left of her. His once vibrant, loving, gentle mother had been reduced to ashes. Her charred remains were indistinguishable from the charred beams of timber that apparently crushed her to death."Mom!" Cloud yelled. "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Cloud was in denial. His mother was clearly dead, but still he attempted to recover her charred remains. He probably would have jumped into the flames if the roof hadn't suddenly come crashing down. Cloud reluctantly retreated from the collapsing house. He then watched in tears as his childhood home burnt to the ground, and his mother along with it. He cried harder and harder every passing second, and the longer he cried, the heavier his breathing became. He inhaled long, drawn-out gasps. The smoke and fire burnt his lungs, but the pain induced only fueled his hatred for Sephiroth.

Cloud journeyed to the Mako Reactor resolute on one thing and one thing only: The death of Sephiroth by his own hands. The town of Nibelheim demanded retribution.

Chapter IXV

Tifa's father, who held an administrative position in Shinra's Nibelheim branch, had gone to the Mako Reactor early that morning to assess the damage of the malfunctioning equipment, and fill out the appropriate paperwork. On his way out, he was confronted by Sephiroth, who only moments earlier had razed Nibelheim to the ground. Tifa's father was ignorant of this, naturally, and greeted Sephiroth warmly. Sephiroth responded by running him threw with his sword. When Tifa finally arrived on the scene, her father was already dead, having bled to death on the staircase leading into reactor.

"Papa!" Tifa cried as she hovered over her deceased father, Sephiroth's sword still imbedded in his chest. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he?" she sobbed. Her vision blurred as tears flowed down her tender cheeks. "Sephiroth! SOLDIER! Mako! Reactors! Shinra! Everything! I hate them all!"Ever so diligently, she retracted Sephiroth's invincible sword, Masamune, from out her father's chest, and then ventured into the murky depths of the reactor. Tifa's aim: to avenge her father's death.

Sephiroth stood in front of the sealed door that led into Jenova's room.

"I've come, Mother," Sephiroth said like a dutiful child, his arms parted as if ready for an embrace. "I've thought of a great idea. Let's go to the Promised Land."

Just then, the sealed door miraculously opened. Sephiroth had apparently spoken the magic words. The pungent aroma of oil and decayed flesh filled the dark interior of Jenova's room.

"How could you?" a voice shouted in Sephiroth's direction. It was Tifa. "To Papa," she cried, "and all the townspeople! How could you?"

Tifa rushed up the stairs with Masamune in hand, and lunged at Sephiroth with the explicit intent of striking him dead.

"You fool!" Sephiroth cackled, stopping the blade with the palm of his hands. He then seized Masamune, turned its blade on Tifa, and struck her down. Tifa felt no pain, not even as she rolled down the metal stairs. A trail of blood followed her as she tumbled into what felt like a dark abyss. When the world finally stopped spinning, she found herself besieged by an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility. Everything was so still, so quiet. If this was how she would die, it wasn't so bad, she thought. It didn't hurt one bit.

Sephiroth lurched into Jenova's room. It was a small, dimly lit alcove, festooned with cables and mechanical contraptions. A robotic edifice shaped liked an angel was perched on a towering pedestal that just about touched the ceiling. A large, winding pipe acted as a stairway to this robotic angel. Sheltered behind its parted wings was a cryogenic chamber. Sephiroth sensed the presence of Jenova. He smiled a sinister smile as he ascended.

"Sephiroth!" a voice roared in the semidarkness of the room.

It was Zack. He stood at the bottom of the winding pipe, his Buster Sword poised ready to strike.

Sephiroth didn't acknowledge Zack.

With his smile growing evermore sinister, Sephiroth said, "With her superior power, knowledge, and magic, Mother was destined to become ruler of the Planet." He dug his talon-like fingers into the bust of the robotic angel. "But they, those worthless creatures, are stealing the Planet from mother. But don't worry, because I'm here now!"Sephiroth tore the robotic angel from its foundation just as easily as one might uproot a turnip. Electricity sparked and wires snapped. Most curious of all, however, was the dark pink fluid that erupted from the robotic angel's eyes and mouth.

Revealed at last was Jenova, or what was left of her. Jenova was in disrepair, to say the least. She had no arms, her legs were cut off at the knees, and what might've once been imposing crimson wings were now just tattered and grotesque appendages. Jenova, her skin as pale as death, had the same long platinum hair as Sephiroth, but whereas his eyes glowed an emerald green, her eyes glowed a neon red. Her glowing red eyes gave the misconception that she was still alive. Jenova, her physical form anyway, was very much dead. She floated within a vat of bluish liquid. Atop her head, sitting like a crown, was a mechanical device, and on this mechanical device was a name plate that read: JENOVA. Just so there's no mistaking the identity of this unholy creature.
"Why did you kill the townspeople?" Zack yelled at Sephiroth. "Why did you hurt Tifa? Answer me, Sephiroth!"

"Look, Mother," Sephiroth snickered. "They've come." Still addressing Jenova, he said, "You should have ruled the Planet. You were stronger, smarter."

Zack ran up and brought the Buster Sword to Sephiroth's neck. Sephiroth didn't flinch.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Zack asked, both angry and disappointed in his mentor.

"I am the Chosen One," Sephiroth said coolly. "I have been chosen to rule the Planet."And with that, Sephiroth performed a backward slash that repelled Zack. The sound of their swords clashing echoed throughout the entire reactor.

By the time Cloud reached the reactor core, the battle between Zack and Sephiroth was long over, and Zack had lost. The young SOLDIER lay at the top of the stairs like a tossed ragdoll. In his flaccid hand was the Buster Sword. His weapon, his training, his tenacity, all had failed him. This was a sentiment that held true for Tifa, who, like Zack, was unconscious and bleeding profusely. Cloud gazed upon this human wreckage, and was driven deeper into bereavement. Righteous indignation soon followed, as did the thirst for vengeance. Sparing no time, Cloud pried the Buster Sword from Zack's flaccid hand, and then advanced on his unsuspecting opponent.

Sephiroth was in awe of Jenova. The mere sight of her had him utterly hypnotized. So engrossed was Sephiroth that he failed to notice Cloud creeping up on him. It was only after the Buster Sword pierced through his abdomen did he reel his head. Sephiroth and Cloud locked eyes. No words were exchanged. After glaring at each other for a beat, Cloud retracted the Buster Sword. Sephiroth stumbled forward, hitting the cold glass of the cryogenic chamber. A streak of blood marked the glass as he slid to the floor. Upon touching ground, Sephiroth slumped inward, resting before Jenova in a sort of fetal position, a baby returning to the womb. He lay there, motionless, seemingly dead.

Cloud removed his helmet, and tossed it next to the fallen SOLDIER. Cloud's round face glistened with sweat, tears and ash. He exited Jenova's room weeping softly to himself.

Tifa squirmed, apparently trying to move her legs. This unmistakable sign of life excited Cloud. He ran to Tifa and was quick to take her in his arms. It was here Cloud got a better view of her injury, and what he saw horrified him. Sephiroth's sword left a gaping wound that ran the length of her torso. It's a miracle Tifa wasn't eviscerated. Cloud placed a hand on the gaping wound, fearful her guts would spill out of her belly any second now. Tifa winced in pain when Cloud touched her. She opened her weak eyes, but only for a second, only long enough to recognize her childhood friend.

"Cloud," she said in almost a whisper. "So you really did come."

That's all she said before closing her eyes again. Her eyelids fluttered shut like a butterfly coming to rest.

Cloud's throat tightened. He thought he would burst into tears, but he didn't dare. He wanted to stay strong, for Tifa's sake.

The faint sound of footsteps caught his ear. These footsteps emanated from high up above, from within Jenova's room. It was Sephiroth. He emerged from darkness holding the Masamune sword in one hand, and Jenova's severed head in the other. Sephiroth walked with an awful limp, a direct result of the injury inflicted on him by Cloud.

Sephiroth sneered in Cloud's direction. He said to the boy, "How dare you!"

"Cloud," a faint voice said. It was Zack, lying hurt and barely conscious. "Finish off Sephiroth."

And then Zack was unconscious again.

Cloud took heed of his friend's words. After gently placing Tifa's head down, Cloud picked up the Buster Sword and went off to meet his destiny.

Even fatally wounded, Sephiroth was no push over. Cloud learned this the hard way when he attempted a direct assault. The instant their swords met, Cloud was tossed backwards. The boy soared through the air like a pebble thrown across a pond. Cloud lost the Buster Sword upon hitting the ground. The force of the impact caused him to slide several feet before coming to a rest outside the reactor core. Cloud staggered to his feet and saw that he was now standing on the bridge overlooking the Life Stream.

"You really thought you could defeat me?" Sephiroth bellowed, advancing on Cloud. "I won't be done in by the likes of you! You parasites are stealing the Planet from Mother!"

"And what about me? What about my mother?" Cloud wept. "My hometown! My family! You took it all away from me!"

"You are an insect," Sephiroth hissed, "and so was your mother!"

A spark ignited within Cloud, propelling him forward. Evidently, no logic was behind this action. He was unarmed. How did he hope to stand against Sephiroth and his invincible sword? It was a terrible lapse of judgment on his part, but in Cloud's defense, it was love for his mother and blinding hatred for her killer that caused him to act so rashly.

Sephiroth skewered Cloud, impaling him right through his stomach. The bitter lead taste of blood filled Cloud's mouth instantaneously.


"Such weak creatures," Sephiroth laughed, holding Cloud up like a trophy.

Cloud coughed, spitting out a load of blood, what might've been a pint's worth.

"My hometown!" Cloud said through clenched, bloody teeth. "My family! You took them from me! Damn you, Sephiroth! Goddamn you!"

It was love, not hate that endowed Cloud with the strength to overpower Sephiroth. Love for Tifa, but most importantly, love for his deceased mother. She alone cried out to him.

Sephiroth watched in disbelief as Cloud gripped the blade of Masamune, which was dripping bright red with the blood of the innocent. Cloud drove the blade deeper into his stomach, which, in turn, gave him better leverage. He then lowered himself to the ground. Sephiroth was powerless to resist.

"No, impossible!" were Sephiroth's last words before Cloud flung him over the bridge, along with Masamune and Jenova's severed head.

Sephiroth plunged into the Life Stream, and was immediately swept away by the emerald tide. He was as good as dead. No human had ever survived a dip in the Life Stream. Then again, Sephiroth was no human.

Whether or not Sephiroth survived his fatal plunge was of little concern to Cloud. All the boy could think about was Tifa, his love interest. With what little strength he had left, he used it to get back to her. Cloud rested beside an unconscious Tifa, putting an arm around her as if to keep her warm. He then closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep. Lying there, holding Tifa, Cloud was happy, complete. If this was how he would die, it wasn't so bad, he thought. It didn't hurt one bit.

Chapter XVI

Shortly after Cloud slipped into what turned out to be a coma, Zangan arrived in search of his student, Tifa. The old man had brought along a Cure Materia and used its magic on the critically injured girl. The Cure Materia did the trick of stabilizing her vital signs, but it was a weak spell that failed to repair her completely. The gash across her chest was much too big, much too deep. All the magic in the world was not going to save her life. What Tifa needed was a doctor to sew her up and give her a blood transfusion. She'd lost too much blood. It was a miracle she was even still alive.

Zangan pried Tifa from Cloud's embrace and carried her outside. Upon reaching the exit, Zangan caught sight of a helicopter in the distance. It flew over the still-burning wreckage of Nibelheim. The town, which sat on the horizon, glowed as brightly as a sunset. Across the broadside of the helicopter, it read: SHINRA INC. Zagnan managed to slip away without being spotted, leaving Zack and Cloud at the mercy of the evil corporation.

Five Shinra troopers bolted out of the helicopter when it landed. Also present was Professor Hojo. For Professor Hojo, going out into the field like this was so unlike him. He was a man of science, and preferred the comforting surroundings of a laboratory. Given the option, he would've stayed in Midgar, where he was in the midst of conducting important research for a number of projects, but the higher-ups at Shinra insisted he go to Nibelheim to handle the fallout of Sephiroth's murderous rampage. After all, Sephiroth was Professor Hojo's responsibility. He created him.

The Shinra troopers hurried into the Mako Reactor while Professor Hojo waited outside. After about fifteen minutes, a Shinra trooper emerged from the reactor to inform Professor Hojo what they discovered so far.

"We reviewed the CCTV footage," the troopers said.

"And?" Professor Hojo replied impatiently.

"Sephiroth is dead."

"Impossible!" Professor Hojo cried in disbelief.

"He fell into the Life Stream. There's no way of recovering his body."

Hojo folded his arms, and said to himself, "How careless."

"There are some survivors," the trooper continued, "two of them. One is a Shinra trooper, the other is a member of SOLDIER. There was a third survivor, a girl, but an old man spirited her away. They couldn't have gone too far. Should we go after them?"

"In do time," Professor Hojo bellowed. "First we have to deal with cleaning up this mess. No one must know what happened here. Shinra doesn't need the bad publicity. After securing this area, round up the surviving villagers. They're going to have to be reeducated. As for the two in the reactor, scrape them off the floor. We're taking them with us. I think I just found the perfect specimens for an exciting new experiment."

Chapter XVII

The town of Nibelheim was rebuilt to its former glory, but the old residents were forbidden to return. Those who survived the massacre were relocated to other towns and villages far far away, care of Shinra, who also strong-armed them into keeping quiet about that fateful night. According to "official records," the town was not razed by Sephiroth. Quite the contrary. Sephiroth had accomplished his mission of repairing the Mako Reactor, and eradicated all the monsters. Soon after, he disappeared, never to be heard from again. Sephiroth's sudden disappearance was in keeping with his mysterious nature, so no foul play was suspected.

Needless to say, those who resettled Nibelheim were unaware of the great tragedy that occurred on that grim night five years ago.

Within those five years, Zack and Cloud were imprisoned in cryogenic chambers, in Shinra Mansion's secret laboratory. They were injected with Jenova cells to see how their bodies would react. After some lackluster results, Professor Hojo lost interest in them, and returned to Midgar to carry on his previous experiments. Zack and Cloud remained in stasis like a pair of homunculi.

They were not totally forgotten, however. Every afternoon a lone scientist would check up on them to record their status. One fateful day, while he was eating his lunch, the scientist spilled juice all over the control panel. He tried to soak up the juice with a handkerchief, but in the process, he inadvertently pressed the release button for the cryogenic chambers. Green fluid spilled to the ground as Zack and Cloud were ejected from their test tube prisons.

"Oh, God!" the scientist yelped as Zack rose to his feet. "Please, don't hurt me! I just work here!"

Zack showed no mercy, and jabbed the scientist in the face, knocking him out instantly.

Zack was naked. He was quick to cup his private parts upon realizing this. He looked around for something to hide his shame. Much to his relief, there was a cellblock in the laboratory, and locked behind its bars was his SOLDIER equipment, Buster Sword and all. Zack used the keys the scientist had on himself to unlock the door and retrieve his equipment.

Also in the cellblock was Cloud's equipment. Cloud was also naked and needed to be covered up, but Zack decided not to dress him in his old Shinra trooper uniform. This was because the uniform was tattered and covered entirely in blood, blood that was now pitch-black after five years of drying in that dark, damp cellblock. Only, Zack didn't know it was five years later. To him, it seemed like he'd only been unconscious for maybe a day or two. Moreover, he felt fit and well rested—like a new man, as it were. The same could not be said about Cloud, who appeared to be in a vegetative state. His eyes were open, but he was unresponsive.

After dressing himself, Zack knelt beside his still-naked friend. He said, "Cloud, you alright?"

Cloud murmured incoherently. His voice was barely audible.

"We have to get out of here," Zack said with great urgency. "Your clothes are torn to hell, but it's your lucky day, 'cause I got a spare SOLDIER uniform. My mom always told me to carry extra underwear…well, you know what I mean."

Zack retrieved the spare uniform.

"Here, put this on," Zack said, dressing Cloud. "It smells a little tough. Don't complain."

With Cloud now fully clothed, Zack stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"You look pretty good in that," he smirked.

Zack and Cloud escaped the town of Nibelheim at night, under the cover of darkness. Zack carried Cloud the entire way, since he could barely walk under his own strength.

They reached the interstate some time around morning. The sky was a vivid cerulean dotted with puffy white clouds. As pretty as the sky was, the heat of the sun was merciless. It was like walking through a blazing furnace. The merciless heat made carrying Cloud a major chore, but Zack refused to abandon his friend, who he regarded more like a little brother. A big brother's job was to look after and take care of his little brother. And that's exactly what Zack was doing: taking care of his little brother.

The interstate was deserted. There was nothing to see except parched grasslands for miles around, and on the horizon were endless rows of craggy mountains.

It was mid-afternoon when a vehicle finally made an appearance. It was a pickup truck, a dusty old jalopy. The driver, a rotund, bearded man in overalls, was kind enough to offer Zack and Cloud a ride. He said he'd take them as far as North Corel, which was where he happened to be heading. Zack accepted the offer. He loaded Cloud into the back of the pickup truck, hopped on after him, and then they were off.

Zack humored the driver with a bit of chitchat, and it was here he learned the startling truth that five years had passed. After the initial shock wore off, Zack was quite impressed by how well he aged. He looked no different than he did five years ago. The biggest change occurred to Cloud, who had since shed the round, chubby cheeks of a sixteen-year-old, and now had the slim, chiseled visage of a twenty-one-year-old. Cloud had grown into a man, yes, but he was now as feeble as a catatonic geriatric. There in the pickup truck, Cloud sat hunched over, his head bobbing mindlessly, his mouth dripping with spit. It pained Zack to see Cloud in such a sorry state. He tried to keep a positive attitude, for Cloud's sake.

"Yo, old guy," Zack said to the driver. "Are we at North Corel yet?"

"Shaddap!" the driver said, agitated. "Yer lucky I even gave you a ride."

Zack turned to Cloud, who sat across from him. "So, Cloud, what're you gonna do once we get to North Corel?"

Cloud replied with a guttural mumble.

Discouraged, Zack took a moment to absorb his surroundings. Shrubs and boulders constituted much of the scenery. They were driving through a barren valley.

Zack turned back to Cloud. "No matter what we do, Cloud, we'll need money first." Then an idea occurred to him. "Hey, wanna start a business?" he asked Cloud, hoping he'd respond positively. Cloud didn't respond in the slightest. "But what could we do?" Zack pondered aloud. "Hey, old guy, you think I'd be good at anything?" he asked to the driver.

"What're you yappin' about?" the driver retorted. "Yer still young, ain't ya? Young folks should try everything! You gotta pay yer dues while you're young. Go out and look for what you really want."

"Try everything?" Zack scoffed. "Right, that's easy for him to say."

"What's that?" the driver asked, not catching what Zack muttered under his breath.

"Uh, nothing, pops, just forget it." Silence, then: "Hey, of course!" Zack whooped. "I can be a mercenary! I've got a lot brains and skills other guys don't! That settles it! I'm gonna be a mercenary! Yeah, thanks, pops!"

"That's not what I meant," the driver exclaimed. "Didn't you hear a word I said?"

"I'm gonna be a mercenary, and that's that!" Zack proclaimed. "Boring stuff, dangerous stuff, anything for money! I'm gonna be rich!"

Zack slid up beside Cloud, and said to him, "You know the perfect place to be a mercenary? Midgar! I tell ya, a city that big, I'll definitely have my work cut out for me. The clients will just be pouring in." Zack paused, seemingly waiting on his catatonic companion to jump into the discussion. Again, Cloud didn't respond. "I got a girlfriend back in Midgar," Zack continued. "I never told you about her, did I? Yeah, well, she's just the sweetest thing. A flower girl. You can't get any sweeter than that, right? Her name's Aerith, Aerith Gainsborough. A sweet name for a sweet lady. I promised I'd come back for her, that I'd see her again. Anyway, what're you gonna do once we're in Midgar?"

"U…uhhh…" were the only words Cloud could muster.

"Just kidding," Zack laughed. "I won't leave you like that." He put an arm over Cloud's shoulder, and said, "We're friends, right? Friends gotta look after each other." Zack shook Cloud affectionately. "Mercenaries, Cloud. You and me. Understand? Nothing's gonna stop us now."

Upon reaching North Corel, Zack and Cloud hitchhiked their way to Costa del Sol, where they stowed away on a cargo ship heading for the Eastern Continent. Their next destination was the port city of Junon. It was in a small town, just outside of Junon, that Zack came across a motorcycle attached to a sidecar. Owning such a vehicle would make their journey a lot less cumbersome. Zack would then no longer have to lug Cloud from place to place. He could just sit him down in the sidecar. The motorcycle was parked outside a tavern. It belonged to a pair of Shinra troopers, who'd gone inside to down a couple of pints. By the time the Shinra troopers exited the tavern, their vehicle was no longer there. Zack had hotwired it, and was long gone.

The motorcycle ran out of gas several miles outside of Midgar, in an area commonly known as the Wastelands, on account it was a forsaken place bereft of life and vegetation. The entire landscape was nothing but rocks and canyons and high cliffs, all of it colored a dreary gray. Zack had no other choice but to carry Cloud the rest of the way, through the Wastelands.

"Don't worry," Zack told Cloud, holding him upright as he ushered him along. They shuffled their feet through the loose dirt, leaving a trail of footprints behind. "Once we get to Midgar, we're gonna find us a doctor, and he's gonna fix you up proper, good as new. You're gonna be alright, Cloud. Whatever is wrong with you, it's nothing a little modern medicine can't fix."

A spark of lighting shot across the sky, followed by the cataclysmic sound of thunder. Dark skies loomed overhead. A storm was coming.

"There they are!" a voice shouted out from afar.

Zack turned to see Shinra troopers advancing on them.

Sparing no time, Zack laid Cloud on the ground, equipped his Buster Sword, and charged headlong into a platoon of Shinra troopers. There was gunfire and the sound of bullets ricocheting off Zack's Buster Sword. Agonizing screams filled the air immediately thereafter. These screams belonged to the Shinra troopers who hadn't died right away, and were now holding the bloody stump that used to be their arm or leg. Zack had sliced through the platoon with considerable ease. Having successfully repelled the first wave, Zack rushed back to Cloud, intending to make a strategic retreat.

"More are coming!" Zack yelled as he peeled Cloud from the ground, "We gotta—"

Zack was interrupted by a dreadful noise, one that echoed endless through the Wastelands. The dreadful noise replayed itself over and over again, causing his soul to grow dimmer with each reverberation. It wasn't thunder, but it had the same terrible sound and force. Zack's chest was suddenly inflicted with a fiery pain. He began to choke on what he thought was saliva. To his shock, blood burst from his mouth. Zack placed a hand over the pain in his chest and felt a large puncture wound. Blood was pouring out at an alarming speed.

Zack had been hit by a sniper, who was lying prone on a high cliff. The sparkly glint on the rifle's scope gave away his position. Zack unleashed a fire spell, striking the sniper dead a hundred yards away.

More Shinra troopers arrived, what appeared to be an entire battalion. It was futile to run. Zack would make his final stand here.

It was over in less than ten minutes. Countless Shinra troopers floated in puddles of their own blood. Some were hacked to bits. Others were burnt black by fire and lightening spells. All were dead as dead can be.

Zack lay on the edge of a cliff, seemingly resting. Off in the distance, beyond the dreary gray of the Wastelands, was the neon-tinged cityscape of Midgar. Zack smiled through bloodstained lips. So close yet so far, he thought.

"I made a promise to see you again, Aerith," Zack said, tears pooling in his eyes. "Oh well, some other time."

Droplets fell from the dark, formless sky. It escalated to a torrential downpour. The blades of rain stung Cloud's sleepy face something fierce. A frosty wind swept over his body. The frosty wind was refreshing. Cloud was at peace. He didn't wish to move, but the voice inside his head ordered him to do just that.

"Get up," the voice said with authority.

"Who are you?" Cloud asked, lost in a dreamy haze. "Who…am I?"

"You are Cloud Strife of Nibelheim," the voice answered. "SOLDIER, First Class. You've been through a lot, but that's no excuse to just lie down all day."

"Who are you?"

"All in due time. Right now you must get up. Destiny awaits."

"…Destiny?"

The voice was gone now.

Cloud staggered to his feet, and robotically made his way toward Zack's corpse. Ignorant of what he was doing, as if he was preprogrammed, Cloud pried the Buster Sword from Zack's cold dead hand. He didn't even acknowledging his fallen friend. In fact, Cloud was conscious of nothing, except for the flashing neon lights of Midgar, which sat on the horizon, practically within arms reach.

With Buster Sword in hand, Cloud headed toward the city on the horizon. Not under his own volition, however. He felt a mysterious force pulling him there. His destiny, perhaps? He didn't know. Nor did he care. He was a mercenary now. He'd take any job so long as the pay was good. If that job somehow fit into the grand scheme of things, just as well. If it didn't, all the better. Cloud had no intention of being a hero. He was in it for himself, and no once else.

Chapter XVIII

Professor Hojo sat laboring over a laptop in his office, which was located on one of the highest floors in Shinra HQ, just short of the penthouse. He had a commanding, panoramic view of Midgar, which wasn't much to look at the moment, since the torrential downpour also brought with it a pallid mist. A thick fog blanketed the entire city. It was nighttime, which added greater opacity to the fog. From his vantage point, it looked like Shinra HQ was floating in the clouds. Because his office was dimly lit, the lightening that flashed intermittently proved to be his only real light source. Professor Hojo was a man shrouded in darkness, both literately and figuratively.

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

"What is it? I'm busy!" Professor Hojo bellowed in a miserable voice.

The door opened and in walked Tseng, leader of the secret criminal organization known as the Turks. He was dressed in designer black suit and tie, and had his long black hair slicked back. Tseng was also a man shrouded in darkness, the same as Professor Hojo.

"Oh, it's you, Tseng," Professor Hojo said, immensely bothered. "So, what is so important that you saw fit to disturb me?"

Without a word, Tseng handed Professor Hojo an envelope. Contained within were four slips of paper.

"What's this?" Professor Hojo asked.

"It's the report concerning the two escapees from Nibelheim," Tseng answered.

Professor Hojo read the four slips to himself.

Escapee Report No. 1

X Month X Day

The two escapees were located near Midgar.

Escapee Report No. 2

Subject A: Former member of SOLDIER/ Number ( )

-No reaction could be detected from either Mako Radiation Therapy or Jenova.

Subject B: Former Shinra Trooper/ Number ( )

-Reaction to Jenova detected.

Escapee Report No. 3

Concerning their disposal.

Subject A: Shot for resisting.

Subject B: Escaped during A's resistance.

Escapee Report No. 4

Subject B's whereabouts is currently unknown. We submit there in no need to pursue him due to his diminishing consciousness.

Professor Hojo slammed the report on the desk, infuriated. "Five years of research, all for naught! What a waste," he said, more annoyed than angry.

"What should we do now, professor?" Tseng enquired.

Professor Hojo rose from his chair, and sauntered to the window. He gazed into the pallid mist down below.

"Professor?" Tseng repeated.

"Damn it! I'm thinking," Professor Hojo snapped. After an extended beat, he turned back to Tseng, and said, "We'll forget about Subject B for the time being. If the report is correct about his diminishing consciousness, then he is of no use to anyone. His mind is a tangled web of disparate thoughts and memories. We've had similar results with other subjects, who ultimately succumb to acute dementia and schizophrenia. If Subject B is anything like the others, he most likely doesn't know who is, where he's from, or even where he's going. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up brain dead by the end of the week. But what really impresses me about Subject B was that his body seemed to respond favorably to the Jenova cells. If his mind hadn't gone, he would have made a perfect Sephiroth clone. But that's neither here nor there. We have more pressing matters to deal with. We'll cut our losses with this one."

"Is that all?" Tseng asked.

"No, that is not all," Hojo exclaimed, seemingly agitated. "Tseng, if I'm not mistaken, it's been you duty to obtain that Ancient girl?"

"You mean Aerith Gainsborough?" Tseng responded.

"Yes, the precocious flower girl from the Sector 5 Slums. Have you made any progress in getting her to cooperate with Shinra? Last I checked, that was far from the case."

"We're trying to gain her trust," Tseng said. "It's been a delicate process."

"How many years has it been, and still she trusts us as much as a hen trusts a fox. How do you explain that?"

Tseng shrugged. "She's difficult to deal with, and her mother is suspicious of Shinra. She's drilled that suspicion into her daughter's head."

"Let's get on thing clear, that woman is not her mother!" Hojo said angrily. "She is nothing more than a foster parent, and meddlesome one at that. Arieth's mother was an Ancient, who died an unfortunate death."

"Trying to escape from you, if I remember correctly," Tseng mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Hojo asked, missing what Tseng mumbled.

"It was nothing, professor," Tseng replied.

"My patience has worn thin, and so has President Shinra's," Professor Hojo said in a threatening manner. "I advised him—and he agreed—it's time to bring Areith into the Shinra fold, forcibly if need be. Aerith is the last of her kind, a Cetra. It was foolish to have her run around free all these years. She needs to be in my lab, so I can experiment on her. Within that girl lie the secrets of the Cetra. Imagine what we could achieve if we unlocked those secrets!"

Tseng nodded, and said, "Very well. I'll have my men retrieve Areith. She will be yours next thing tomorrow."

"Make it happen, Tseng," Professor Hojo barked. "It is imperative we tie up all loose ends before Reunion."

"Reunion?" Tseng asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Reunion," Professor Hojo said, showing genuine elation. "When the Jenova cells rejoin Jenova herself, and it's then she will be reconstituted.

"Jenova cells?" Tseng asked, incapable of comprehending the concept. "Are those the same sort of cells you injected into members of SOLDIER?"

"That's none of your concern, now is it, Tseng?" Professor Hojo replied snootily. "I've humored you long enough. Be gone. You have a job to do so do it! Get me the Ancient girl and be quick about it!"

Tseng bowed, brandishing a resentful glare as he did. And then he was gone.

Lightening flashed, filling the office with blazing white light, but only for a second. Darkness was quick to descend.

"Fools," Professor Hojo grumbled to himself in the darkness. "All of them. Not a single one fit to live." He laughed sinisterly. "Humans are such weak, pathetic little things. No matter. Let them scurry about with their politics and their intrigue. What's it matter? Their reign on earth is drawing to a close. The Reunion will take care of all them. It will be magnificent." He laughed again. "Oh, these worthless creatures. Sephiroth, you were right."

Chapter XIX

Tifa sat at the bar counter, nursing a glass of bourbon. She exhaled a despondent sigh as she stared blankly at the brown liquor. She was lost in memories. Behind her, seated at a wooden square table, were three of her companions, all of whom were talking and laughing jovially as they traded nostalgic anecdotes. Tifa downed her drink, wishing she had something to get nostalgic about. A subtle warmness swept her as the brown liquor dispersed in her bloodstream. It was a pleasant feeling so she took another sip.

"Hey, Tifa, wotta ya doing sitting by yourself?"asked one of her companions, a young man named Biggs. Her other two companions were Jessie, a young woman with short brown hair, and Wedge, the nebbish fat guy of the group.

Tifa swiveled around, and was greeted by the inviting smiles of her three companions. They beckoned her to sit with them.

"C'mon, Tifa," urged Jessie. "It's no fun without ya."

"Yeah, there's a spot free," Wedge added, pointing to the chair next to him.

Tifa picked up her glass of bourbon, ambled on over, and sat beside Wedge.

"What were you guys talking about?" Tifa asked them.

"Nothing really," Biggs smirked. "Just shooting the breeze, you know, talking shit and whatnot."

"Looks like I made it just in time," Tifa replied sarcastically.

Jessie looked around the bar, and asked, "Hey, anybody seen Barret? He's been gone an awfully long time. Where'd he go?"

"He's at the Weapons Shop with Marlene," Wedge explained, "upgrading his Gatling Gun for tomorrow's mission."

"With Marlene? In this rain?" Jessie said, concerned. "Marlene could catch a deadly cold, as small as she is. What's Barret thinking?"

"It's been raining for weeks," Tifa grumbled. "What I wouldn't give to see the sun shine again."

"Tell me about it," Wedge chimed in. "What if we don't survive the mission tomorrow? We'll have died never seeing another blue sky."

"Don't be so damn pessimistic!" Biggs bellowed.

"I'm not being pessimistic," Wedge defended. "I'm just saying—"

"Don't just say!" Biggs hollered. "You're disturbing my calm!"

"Hey, hey, c'mon, settle down, guys," Jessie said, trying to be the voice of reason. "Listen, Wedge, there's nothing to worry about. This mission isn't going to be any more dangerous than our previous missions. We faced life and death situations before, and we always got through them in one piece. Tomorrow won't be any different."

"Yeah, but all that other stuff we did was just petty car bombs and vandalism," Wedge said in that nebbish voice of his. "Tomorrow we're gonna be knocking on Shinra's front door, essentially. I mean, who's ever tried to blow up a Mako Reactor? No one in their right mind, that's for sure!"

Biggs pounded a fist on the table, rattling the glasses and liquor bottles. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Wotta ya trying to say about us, Wedge? We ain't in our right minds? Everything we've done, all our friends who died, have led us to this point!" He rose from his chair and pointed an accusing finger at Wedge "You knew the risks when you joined, so don't start crying now that things are heating up!"

Jessie tugged at Biggs elbow, pulling him back into his chair. "Take it easy, will ya?" she told Biggs in a calm but firm voice. "We're all a bit anxious, okay, but that's no reason to turn on each other!"

Tifa stood up and motioned toward the exit.

"Where you going?" Wedge asked her.

"It's stifling in here," she replied. "I need some fresh air."

"Must be the testosterone," Jessie sniggered. "All this male bravado is just suffocating! But still, Tifa, it's raining like mad outside. You could catch pneumonia."

"I like the rain," Tifa said with a demure smile.

And then she promptly left the scene.

A lot had changed for Tifa in the five years since the Nibelheim Incident. For one thing, she was now the proud proprietor of a tavern, which she named 7th Heaven. Its name, emblazoned on neon signage festooned above the entrance, held a special significance for her. Back when she was a child, Tifa's mother once told her that 7th Heaven was an enchanted land that lay between Heaven and Earth, and the closest a living person could get to Heaven without having to die. Tifa found some irony in calling a tavern such a name, her tavern especially, since it's the secret headquarters for AVALANCHE, a group Shinra had long labeled a terrorist organization, but as Tifa saw it, Shinra was the real terrorist organization. She vowed long ago to avenge what Shinra did to her hometown of Nibelheim. The innocent souls that lost their lives that fateful night cried out for retribution. Tifa would get her revenge, or die trying.

How Tifa arrived at this juncture in her life was like this: After narrowly escaping Shinra's clutches following Sephiroth's murderous rampage, Zangan took Tifa to Midgar for medical attention. He left the fatally injured girl in the care of kind and capable doctors. By the time she recovered, Zangan was gone. Why he left the way he did, without even saying goodbye, was a mystery to Tifa, but she figured that was simply his way, his being a wandering warrior and all. The years following her recovery were not kind to Tifa. She struggled to survive in the slums of Midgar, but she was clever and ambitious, and managed to parlay both these traits in a way that helped her procure food, money, and a place to sleep. Tifa was street smart, but she wanted more than a life of scavenging and scrimping by. She wanted a business. Putting her clever and ambitious traits to good use, Tifa saved up money, took out loans, and opened up a tavern. Since it was located in the heart of Midgar's most shadiest slum, many unsavory people frequented her establishment. Much of her clientele consisted of vagrants and vagabonds, each indistinguishable from the last, but there was one person who stood out from this insalubrious lot. His name was Barret Wallace, a big, gruff, swarthy gentleman with a permanent scowl etched on his granite-like bearded face. Aside from his scowl, another notable feature was his right hand, that is to say, where his right hand used to be. He lost it in an accident, an accident he'd yet to reveal to anyone. In fact, not much was know about Barret, except that he hailed from the town of North Corel, and his wife died in a disaster perpetrated by Shinra. It was on the same day his wife died—was killed—that Barret lost his right hand, which he had since replaced with a prosthetic limb that also morphed into a Gatling Gun. He modified his hand into a weapon as a means to realize his desire for revenge against Shinra. It was this mutual desire for revenge that drew Tifa to Barret. She wholeheartedly supported his cause, and although she was not a hundred percent supportive of his terrorist tactics, she thought it was a necessary evil to combat an even greater evil: Shinra!

Hatred and the unquenchable thirst for vengeance have a way of diminishing one's humanity. Tifa, a sweet, nubile girl at heart, was not immune.

The cold blades of rain pelted Tifa from every direction, almost as if she was being assaulted by a volley of needlepoint icicles. Tifa hugged herself for warmth. Hers was an aimless stroll through the slums. She was neither thinking nor observing her surroundings. Her mind was a complete blank. Only after hearing the shrill whistle of a train did she snap out of her trance. Tifa had wandered into the vicinity of the train station without even realizing it. A train was departing. It let out another shrill whistle, and spurted black smoke from its smokestack. Just as soon as the clamorous chugging of the train faded away, another sound caught Tifa's ear: the barking of a dog. Childish curiosity compelled Tifa to inspect this sound.

The dog, a scraggily-haired stray, was hovering over a man lying in a watery puddle beside the train tracks. The man remained motionless. He looked dead. Tifa approached cautiously. Another man, a train conductor by the looks of his uniform, arrived on the scene and reached the body before Tifa.

"Hey, you," the conductor said to the man lying in the puddle, "snap out of it, huh? This ain't no bed and breakfast!"

"Oh my, is he all right?" Tifa asked, genuinely concerned.

"Guess so," the conductor replied. "Don't look like he was hit by a train. Just sleeping. Prolly drunk."

Tifa gave the body a fastidious look, and noticed something familiar about him. She recognized the clothes he was wearing. It was the stylish black uniform worn by members of SOLDIER. In his hand was a sword, a Broad Sword, to be exact, which Tifa remembered was the same kind of weapon wielded by Zack, the young SOLDIER who came to Nibelheim so many years ago with that monster Sephiroth. But it wasn't Zack that lay before her feet. It was—

"Cloud?" Tifa squeaked in disbelief.

"You know this guy?" asked the conductor.

Tifa knelt beside her childhood friend, and held his limp, damp body in her trembling arms. Cloud began to stir. His eyes struggled to open, but once they did, Tifa immediately second-guessed whether or not this person was indeed Cloud. Whereas the Cloud she knew had crystal blue eyes, the person she was currently holding had glowing emerald green eyes. An icy chill shot through Tifa's very soul, because these were Sephiroth's eyes! She was certain of it. There was no doubt in her mind. Those evil green eyes haunted her dreams.

"Cloud?" Tifa said, immensely perturbed. "Is, is it you?"

"Ti…Tifa?" Cloud muttered hazily.

Cloud staggered to his feet, breaking away from Tifa, who remained kneeling on the wet pavement. She kept her gaze fixed upon this imposing figure, hardly blinking, despite the rain stinging her eyeballs.

"That's me, I'm Cloud," he said nonchalantly.

Cloud extended a hand for Tifa to grab. She hesitated, but eventually took hold. Cloud lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. His strength was incredible.

"Oh, God!" Tifa yelped. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

And then she began to cry.

Cloud wiped the tears from her cheeks. With buckets of rain pouring down on them, his was a futile gesture.

"C'mon, Tifa, don't cry," Cloud said tenderly. "You know you can't get rid of me that easily."

Tifa smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but, wow, how long has it been since we last saw one another?"

The question paralyzed Cloud. He held his head, suddenly stricken by a terrific migraine.

"Five years?" Cloud whispered to himself. "Yeah, five years," he said with conviction.

It was now Tifa's turn to suffer paralysis. To her, it had actually been seven years since they'd last seen each another (the day Cloud left Nibelheim for Midgar). Tifa meant to correct him, but thought it prudent not to call attention to his apparent memory lapse. Something was clearly in the wrong with Cloud.

No matter. Tifa invited Cloud to 7th Heaven for a drink, and hopefully get to the bottom of his lost years.

"Yeah, sure," Cloud said, in regards to Tifa's invitation. "I could use a drink."

The tavern was empty. Biggs and the others were gone, probably to sleep, to rest for the big day tomorrow. Tifa sat Cloud down at the bar counter, and then circled around to pose as the bartender. Jazzy music played in the background. It came from an old-timey jukebox. The tavern's amber lighting and rustic décor produced a mellow ambiance.

"Nice place," Cloud commented. "You're doing pretty well for yourself from the looks of it."

"Thanks," Tifa said, pouring him a glass of whisky. "I'm doing alright." She poured herself a glass of whisky. "So," she continued, "how have you been?"

This seemingly innocuous question initiated a disquieting conversation. Disquieting because the things Cloud said left Tifa utterly speechless. If Cloud was to be believed, it was he and Sephiroth that arrived in Nibelheim five years ago to repair the Mako Reactor and exterminate the monsters. Cloud never once mentioned Zack. It was as if Zack never existed. In fact, Cloud assumed his role, doing and saying the things Zack had said and done. For instance, the photo she took with Sephiroth. According to Cloud, he was in the picture with them, not Zack. In the same token, Cloud mentioned things only he and Tifa would know. Personal things.

She finally worked up enough nerve to confront him. "Cloud," she began, her voice terribly meek, "are you sure you're remembering correctly?"

Cloud was visibly perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

Her voice still meek, she said, "I mean, what you're saying…I just don't remember things the way you do."

"I'm not following, Tifa. What're you getting at?"

"I don't remember you being in Nibelheim when Sephiroth was there," she said bluntly. "You weren't there."

"Stop joking, Tifa. It isn't funny."

"I'm not joking! You weren't there, Cloud! You weren't!"

"Of course I was! I was there!"

"No, you weren't! It was Zack! Zack was there!"

Cloud choked. "Zack?"

"Yeah, Zack," Tifa said, glad to see she had struck a chord. "Do you know Zack? He's a member of SOLDIER, just like you. You must've met."

Cloud was inflicted with another migraine, even worse than before. It felt like a vice was tightening around his brain, squeezing all the life out of him. He clenched his brow in pain.

"Are you okay, Cloud?" Tifa asked, awfully worried.

Cloud gnashed his teeth, and said, "Why are you trying to confuse me, Tifa?" Then he shouted, "Why?"

Tifa's spin stiffened. "Cloud, I, I'm not trying to confuse you, it's just—"

"I was there, on that very night, the night Sephiroth massacred the entire village!" Cloud yelled on the verge of tears. "I remember the fire, the dead bodies, the blood on the streets! I see it all as clearly as I see you right now! I remember my mother! Even now I can see her, sprawled on the kitchen floor—dead—engulfed in flames! I can smell the fire, feel the heat! I remember running to the Mako Reactor! I remember finding you on the ground, a frightening gash across your chest, blood everywhere, your blood as hot as the fire! I remember holding you in my arms! I remember you looking right at me, into my eyes—into my soul! I remember everything! It's you who forgot! It's you who's confused!"

"Cloud, Cloud, please, stop!" Tifa sobbed. "Stop shouting, please!"

Deathly silence eclipsed the air. Tifa wept quietly to herself while Cloud stared unblinkingly into his glass of whisky with those new green eyes of his.

As confused as Tifa was about a whole host of things, one thing she was certainly not confused about was what happened that night in Nibelheim five years ago. Something was irrefutably wrong with Cloud, of that she was positive. The green eyes, the glaring holes in his memory, this wasn't the Cloud she knew…but at the same time, it was the Cloud she knew. Everything was happening too fast for Tifa. She needed more time.

"It doesn't matter," Cloud said, seemingly to himself.

"What?" Tifa squeaked.

"The past," Cloud answered. "It doesn't matter. None of it does. I've moved on. I'm a mercenary now."

"A mercenary?" Tifa squeaked again.

Cloud nodded. "That's right. The only thing that matters to me now is making money. I'm through trying to be a hero. Be a hero for what? For parades? For accolades? For the greater good? Ha! What a joke! That hero stuff is cute when you're a kid, when you don't know any better, but then you grow up and enter the real world. Live a minute in the real world, and you quickly realize all that hero stuff is just bullshit. Everybody's in it for themselves, for the bigger piece of the pie. You're a chump if you don't think money isn't everything. It is! Money makes the world go round, and I'm going round with it."

Hearing this made Tifa sad. Cloud always had anger problems, but she never imagined it would ever get this bad, to the point Cloud abandoned all faith in humanity. She wanted to weep for him.

Cloud downed his whisky, drinking half the glass in a single gulp. He said, "It was a mistake coming back to Midgar. Too many bad memories. The quicker I'm out of here, the better."

Tifa panicked. "You're leaving?"

Cloud finished off his whisky, slammed the glass on the counter, and said, "Yep, first thing tomorrow. I'm outta here!"

Tifa's panic reached heights seldom seen before. After so many years of being apart, she couldn't stand the thought of losing Cloud. No, she couldn't lose him! Not again!

"But you can't leave Midgar," Tifa said, trying to mask her alarm with a levelheaded tone, "you just got here."

Cloud merely shrugged.

With threat of his departure lingering overhead, Tifa thought fast and recklessly. She brought up AVALANCHE, and mentioned how they were going to sabotage a Mako Reactor.

"Why are you telling me this?" Cloud asked, clearly disinterested.

"Because, because," Tifa stuttered, fishing for an answer, "because I want you to join us! Join our struggle against Shinra!"

"I'm not interested in politics," Cloud replied dryly.

"Politics?" Tifa said, taken aback. "Shinra destroyed our village! They have to pay for what they did!"

"Sephiroth destroyed our village," Cloud said heatedly, "and he's dead! What good will blowing up one Mako Reactor do? One Mako Reactor out of hundreds of thousands! It won't change a thing. It won't bring back our family. Shinra's too powerful. They're everywhere. Wake up, Tifa, you're fighting a lost cause!"

Tifa began to cry, and Cloud felt bad for making her cry.

Then she stiffened her lips, and said, "You're a mercenary, right?"

"What?"

"You're a mercenary," Tifa repeated, her tone forceful, "that's what you said."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Then I'll pay you."

"You'll pay me?"

"I'll pay you to fight for AVALANCHE! I'll pay you to fight against Shinra!"

Tifa's forcefulness caught Cloud off guard. It was now his turn to be speechless.

And then Barret entered the fray. He sauntered into the tavern, slamming open wide the door. Accompanying him was a little girl, a six-year-old, in a yellow raincoat. The little girl's name was Marlene. Marlene was Barret's daughter, or so he claimed. She bore no resemblance to her father. Whereas Barret was olive-skinned and wooly-haired, Marlene had skin as white as freshly fallen snow, and reddish brown hair that was silky smooth.

Cloud didn't bother turning around. He kept his back to the new arrivals.

"Barret, Marlene, hey, you two," Tifa said pleasantly.

"Tifa!" Marlene cheered.

Little Marlene ran around the bar counter, and threw herself into Tifa's arms. Both shared a heartfelt embrace.

"Whoa, you're wet!" Tifa exclaimed, picking up Marlene. She then pointed out Cloud. "Look, Marlene, this is my old friend, Cloud. We grew up together. Say hi, Marlene."

Little Marlene didn't act in response. She simply gazed at her little fingers, which she twiddled bashfully. Tifa placed Marlene down, sensing her unease.

"She's a bit shy," Tifa told Cloud.

Cloud gave a lax head nod, expressing his indifference.

"Take a bath and go to bed," Barret told Marlene in a typical fatherly demeanor: commanding yet compassionate.

"Okay, Papa," Marlene said, promptly scampering up the staircase.

Barret ambled toward the staircase, yawning and scratching his strong belly as he did so.

"Man, I'm tired," he yawned. "Goodnight, Tifa."

"Barret, wait," Tifa said. "I want you to meet my friend."

"Ain't interested," he replied gruffly. "Got a long day tomorrow. Gonna need all my beauty sleep."

"That's what I wanna talk to you about," Tifa said, grabbing Barret's thick wrist as he passed by. "I was hoping my friend could join us."

Barret stopped dead in his tracks.

"Could join us?" he said, practically screaming. "We ain't going to a ga'damn baby shower. Of course he can't just join us! What the hella ya thinkin'?"

"But I told him—"

"Told him? Told him what?"

"I told him about bombing the Mako Reactor."

"For chrissake, Tifa, are ya off yer tit?"

"Jeez, would you cool it?" Tifa yawped. "Can I at least get a word in? Look, this is my friend, and I've known him forever. He's a member of SOLDIER and—"

"A member of SOLDIER?" Barret hollered like a maniac. "SOLDIER is part of Shinra! This spiky-haired ass could be a ga'damn spy!"

"For crying out loud, will you let me finish?"

Cloud's bar stool emitted a strident screech as he pushed away from the counter.

"Tifa, don't bother," Cloud said impassively. "I'm leaving anyway. Thanks for the drink. We oughta do this again some time."

Cloud got up and headed for the exit. Tifa was quick to cut him off.

"No, Cloud, wait!" she said, blocking the door.

Barret laughed out loud. "Hell, Tifa, let him go back to Shinra! No skin off my balls!"

Tifa disregarded Barret's derisive comment. She said to Cloud, "Don't leave, please. Gimme another minute with Barret. I'll have him convinced, you'll see."

Cloud didn't respond. He simply looked at her through half-closed eyes.

Tifa returned to Barret, and said, "Look, Cloud will be a valuable contribution to our cause. He's a capable fighter."

"Oh, and I ain't?" Barret countered.

"He used to be with SOLDIER. Even you can't deny they're skilled and powerful warriors."

"I don't give a flying rat's ass on how skilled and powerful blonde-boy is. He's from Shinra and that's reason 'nuff not to trust him!"

"Then trust me," she quickly added. "I grew up with Cloud. I know he's not a spy. Please, trust me."

Barret massaged his forehead in frustration. "But, ga'dammit, Tifa," he sighed, giving voice to his frustration.

Tifa persisted. "Please, we're hurting for the help."

"Even if I wanted to, it won't work," Barret said. "Jessie only forged five ID cards. Without the ID cards, ain't nobody passin' the checkpoint into Sector 1. The alarm will sound, and that's it for all of us! If he comes, somebody's gonna hafta stay behind."

"Then I'll stay," Tifa said without hesitation.

Barret blinked hard several times.

"You really are off yer tit!" he yelled, caterwauling like an angry gorilla. "You're the best damn fighter we got, and you expect me to sideline you? The hell I will!"

"He's a better fighter," Tifa replied.

Barret eyed Tifa with a hint of suspicion. He said, "What's the real deal between you two?"

"W-what?" Tifa stammered. "What sort of question is that?"

And then Barret laughed a hearty laugh.

Tifa was flabbergasted by his sudden mirth.

"What?" Tifa asked, shaken. "What's so funny?"

"You got a schoolgirl crush on blondie!" he laughed.

Tifa blushed. "What? No! Don't be ridiculous! I'm just thinking about the mission!"

"You do, you got a crush" he laughed childishly. "You know what? Fine. I trust you, Tifa. I trust your judgment. If that spiky-haired ass is half the fighter you say he is, then I'll take your word for it, but I still don't trust him."

"Thank you, Barret," Tifa said, immensely grateful.

"Now all you gotta do is catch up with loverboy," Barret said, promptly turning on his heels and making his way toward the staircase.

Tifa was bemused by Barret's parting remark until she turned around to discover Cloud was gone. She went chasing after him, through the wind and rain. She spotted Cloud a minute later, striding down an empty, puddle-strewn alleyway. He wasn't in any hurry, almost as if he wanted her to catch up with him.
"Cloud!" Tifa cried out. "Wait, stop!"

Cloud turned to face Tifa. She stopped in front of him.

"We worked everything out," Tifa wheezed, trying to catch her breath. "I convinced Barret. We want you to fight with us."

"And?"

"And what?"

"How much will you be paying me?"

Tifa exhaled a diffident chortle. "Oh, that's right, you're a mercenary now." She thought it over for a quick second, and said, "How does 1000 Gil sound?"

"Doesn't sound like very much," he said sardonically.

"1500 Gil, then. Please, Cloud," she pleaded, "we really need you."

Cloud fixed an intense gaze on Tifa, digging into her with his haunting green eyes, eyes that reminded her so much of Sephiroth. Cloud said to Tifa, "Do they need me, or is it you who needs me?"

Tifa blushed an incandescent red. "I, uh, I don't know what you mean."

They remained quiet for an uncomfortably long time.

Cloud sighed somberly, and said, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll fight with you."

"Thank you, Cloud," Tifa said, leaning in and embracing him. "Thank you so much."

Cloud and Tifa remained in the embrace for an extended period, holding one another as the cold, merciless rain poured on them. It was Cloud who first broke away, telling Tifa it was about time they head back to 7th Heaven, and head back they did. The merciless rain continued pouring down from the bleak black sky, and it made Tifa wetter and colder every passing second. She secretly yearned for Cloud to put an arm around her to keep her warm, but he didn't. Their walk was a quiet, seemingly lonesome one.

Final Chapter

Tifa and Cloud arrived at the train station late. They had overslept. Tifa was considerably miffed Barret didn't have the decency to wake them. He was team leader, after all. Tifa hoped Barret still wasn't sore about her abandoning the mission last minute so as to let Cloud take her place. Even if he was sore, that's no excuse to act like a petulant child, today being such an important day for AVALANCHE: the day they blew up Mako Reactor No. 1. This merry band of freedom-fighters-slash-eco-terrorists, having operated in the shadows for so many years—playing cat and mouse, as it were—were now taking the fight directly to Shinra. This brazen attack on a Mako Reactor was their grandest gesture yet. It was, they hoped, the opening volley in a bigger war, one that would herald the downfall of Shinra. Such was their ambitious plan. Such was their delusion.

Jessie waited impatiently on the train platform, in front of the train that was still boarding passengers. She spotted Tifa among the crowd and waved in her direction.

"What took you so long?" Jessie asked, her voice sounding both anxious and annoyed. "Everybody's already onboard."

"Sorry," Tifa apologized. "It was a long night."

Jessie shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Just so long as you made it." She then handed Tifa a plastic card. "Here, your ID."

"But I'm not going," Tifa replied.

Jessie's face twisted in shock. "Say what?" she blurted, her eyes practically bulging out her skull. "We've been planning this job for months, and now—"

"Didn't Barret tell you?" Tifa said, cutting her frantic friend short.

"Tell me what?"

Tifa sighed in frustration. Not only did Barret not have the decency to wake them, he also didn't do the responsible thing of informing the party Cloud was going in her stead. Tifa enlightened Jessie.

"This is such short notice," Jessie said, immensely concerned.

"He's an extraordinary fighter," Tifa said proudly, "intuitive in any given situation. He's also a former member of SOLDIER, and trained for this sort of thing."

"SOLDIER?" Jessie said, her eyes widening in shock. "But aren't they the enemy?"

"He's an ex-SOLDIER," Tifa said, putting an emphasis on ex. "We can trust him."

Jessie gave another shrug. "Okay, whatever." She requisitioned Tifa's ID card and presented it to Cloud. "C'mon, let's board," she told the newest member of AVALANCHE. "The train's departing any minute now."

Cloud motioned for the train, but Tifa held him back, tugging on his forearm. "Here," she said, taking out two palm-sized green orbs from her satchel, and handing them to Cloud. "They're Materia. Ice and Lightening," she explained. "I imagine your magic skills will come mighty handy in a tight spot. One can't rely on brute strength all the time, right?"

"Thanks," Cloud said. "I appreciate it."

"I wanted to get a Cure Materia, too, but I was low on Gil."

"It's okay," Cloud said with a cocksure grin, "I doubt I would have needed it."

And then he boarded the train. Tifa remained on the platform and watched with a heavy heart as the train pulled out of the station. She stayed there until the train was no longer in sight. Once it was gone, Tifa exhaled a longing sigh. Cloud had come back to her, and this was reason enough to get hopeful about many things. Tifa couldn't stop smiling. For the first time in a long time, she was happy. Completely and utterly happy.

Aboard the train, Jessie led Cloud through a tide of commuters.

"Excuse me," Jessie said, elbowing her way past the throng of people. She explained to Cloud along the way that the rest of the party had taken up positions in the cargo compartment. Cloud merely nodded, half-paying attention.

After moving from car to car, they reached the sliding door that led to the cargo compartment. It had a large sign posted front and center. The sign read: Authorized Personnel Only! The door was ajar. Jessie pushed it open ever so gently, as if she was afraid of waking whoever might lie on the other side. It was blindingly dark on the opposite end of the threshold. Jessie felt her way through the darkness, maneuvering past the crates that were scattered about.

"The train should be entering the security checkpoint any second," Jessie told Cloud.

Just then Cloud heard a rustling sound emanate from behind him. He reached for the Broad Sword on his back, but didn't draw it after recognizing Barret, who had emerged from out of nowhere.

"You two are making too much ga'damn noise!" Barret yawped in that gruff voice of his.

Cloud found Barret's statement ironic considering he was making the most noise out of all of them. It's conceivable that commuters sitting as far back as two cars heard him.

"Where are the others?" Jessie asked Barret.

"The upper deck," Barret responded.

And then Jessie and Cloud followed him up a ladder.

Upon reaching the upper deck, a buzzard sounded and red lights started flashing. They were now passing through the checkpoint.

"These ID cards of yours better work," Barret said in a threatening tone.

"Trust me," Jessie replied with utmost confidence.

The red lights faded a of couple seconds later. All was normal again.

Jessie grinned with due satisfaction. "See, told ya," she bragged. "Nothing to it. Safe and sound."

Biggs and Wedge lurched from out of hiding.

"That was close," Wedge said fretfully.

"Good going," Biggs told Jessie. "We couldn't have made it this far without your ingenious hacking skills."

"Hey, have I ever let you guys down?" Jessie smirked.

"Okay, okay," Barret rudely chimed in. "This ain't a ga'damn circle jerk! We still got a mission to accomplish! C'mon, follow me!"

And with that the party followed him up another ladder. This one led outside, to the top of the train. The blustery wind and gray smoke spurting out the engine's smokestack made for precarious environs. The party lay prone, hanging for dear life, as the train jostled like a bucking bronco.

"This is so dangerous!" Jessie yelled to Cloud over the roar of the airstream. "I love it!"

Wind and smoke struck Cloud's face as the train sped down the tracks at full speed. His vision began to blur on account of the water pooling in his eyes.

"What's the point of this," Cloud yelled to Jessie, "riding atop the train like this?"

"All passengers are ordered off the train once it reaches the last stop," Jessie explained very loudly. "Mako Reactor No. 1, our intended target, is much farther up than that. We're riding this bad boy all the way to the refueling depot. The Mako Reactor isn't too far from there."

After an hour or so, the train arrived at its final public destination, and, as expected, every passenger was removed from every car. After a half-hour of sitting idle, the train picked up speed and was off again.

It wasn't long before they reached the refueling depot. The train came to a rolling stop before a brick wall. Steam ejected from the smokestack one last time, and all was silent for a beat.

Two Shinra soldiers dressed in spiffy crimson trench coats guarded the platform. Biggs, eager to engage, was first to strike. He jumped in front of the rightmost soldier, body slamming him to the ground in an instant. The leftmost soldier attempted to aid his companion, but was quickly subdued by Jessie, who jumped down and gave him a swift roundhouse kick to the jaw. Both soldiers were knocked unconscious. Wedge, ever the cautious soul, used the ladder to dismount the train, forgoing the flashiness of Biggs and Jessie.

Barret leapt to the ground, followed immediately by Cloud, who performed a midair flip, just to showoff.

Barret turned to Cloud, and said, "C'mon, newcomer! Follow me!"

Barret then ran to join Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, who were already exiting the train platform. Just as Cloud was getting a running start, two Shinra troopers burst through a gate, cutting him off from the others.

"There!" one of the Shinra troopers yelled. "There's the intruder!"

The Shinra troopers rushed Cloud, or at least, they tried to. In a most casual manner, one that could also be construed as flippant, Cloud reached for his Buster Sword, and with two effortless swings, made short work of his advancing enemies. He saw no need to kill such unworthy opponents, so he wounded them, slicing their assault rifles in half in the process. The Shinra troopers writhed on the floor, in pain. Cloud continued onward, for his mission had only just started.

What began as a rebellion against an evil corporation became much more. And what erupted went beyond imagination.

To Be Continued In FINAL FANTASY VII