Tifa vs. Aeris Chapter 3
Madness
By Chris Homer
The story so far: Tseng and Elena have met up with everyone in Rocket Town, the night before their wedding. However, something or rather, someone has crashed the party, and right into the life of Tifa Lockheart.......
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Tifa had to fight the urge to return to the house to destroy Aeris, as her mentor was instructing her to do. Sephiroth's hold was getting stronger, and it was only a matter of time before she gave in almost completely. She was feeling weak just by trying to restrain herself.
She smashed the window with her fist and her foot, didn't care about any cuts, which were numerous around her slim body, and ran as far as she could. Upon running, she came across a chocobo. She held a manipulate materia and controlled it, a bit like what Sephiroth was doing, and thus, she decided to ride as far away as possible.
She hoped to reach her choice of destination, a place that she wished never to return, not since they had defeated Sephiroth. But now the urge to go there was exceedingly strong. Not because of Seph's will, but of her own as well.
She had cured herself from her injuries but the trail of blood did lead to the open plain. She only wished that the others wouldn't put two and two together and try and find out where she went. Lord knows what she would do to them.
She had to resist the urge. She was almost there, where the reign of terror had first started.
Nibelheim.
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"Hell, what has that girl done to herself?" screamed Barret, who had been doing this screaming continuously since she had escaped.
"Sephiroth, that mother f..." he started to say, but Marlene restrained him, as she usually does.
Jessie surveyed the damaged. The trail of blood was small, but not unoticable. A tracker could easily pick up the scent, and they had once of the best in the whole cosmos.
Red saw that Jessie was looking at him in a strange way. Before he could run and hide, Jessie spoke.
"Red, can you pick up the scent from the track of blood?" she said.
Red did have his uses, and this was one of them. "I can't see any harm in doing that." he said, almost resigning to the fact. Tifa was a friend, and no-one could leave her hanging, even if that mad man Sephiroth was possessing her.
Cloud had remained quiet since he found out. Again, his glare turned evil at Chromer, but then shrugged it off. He unsheathed his sword.
"I swear, if he harms her, mentally, physically or emotionally, I swear, I shall....."
He trailed off. He realised he couldn't do anything, he would never harm Tifa, and Sephiroth was quite literaly, now a part of her. What could they do?
He turned to Aeris. "Can you remove him, Aeris?"
Aeris shook her head. "If I did that, then he would possess me, and that would be true disaster, he would be back on this earth, living. I'm sorry, Cloud." Tears in her eyes were showing.
Cloud once again turned to the window. What could he do?
"There is a way, Cloud."
Cloud turned to the speaker of the voice. Chromer.
"What?" he said. All eyes upon him.
Chromer spoke in as calm as a voice as he could. "I'm sorry I didn't say this sooner. It concerns myself and my powers, and in fear of me losing them. But I see you all and I realise it was my fault, so I'm going to cancel out what I did to her."
Barret was about to injerect with a "What the hell are you talking about?" but Chromer carried on.
"I can remove the black emerald's powers with my Ci'an power, but it is with all the Ci'an emeralds powers which I need to remove the black emerald, and thus, if I use all the power in my chestplate, I won't be able to use it any more."
A lot of people realised what this meant.
"Therefore, most of my attacks and healing abilities which could be used in your aid would be almost totally useless. I wouldn't really be much use to you now. But to undo the wrong I have caused in this girl, I am willing to do." He finished.
Everyone stood there, speechless. Suddenly, both Reeve and Heici spoke.
"Listen, man. I've known you for a while now, since you developed all these powers. I also know the fact that you can kick ass without them. So, why waste away when you can still be a capital butt-kicker!" said Heici.
"Yeah, come on, I know me and you have had our problems, but I know from experience you can kick ass without too much effort, so why worry?" said Reeve.
"There ain't no getting off this train that we are on!" said Barret.
Chromer looked up. Cloud walked to him.
"Listen, man. I realise the pain you had to go through to remove that bastard out of your system. To do it to Tifa, I almost see as unforgivable. But if you are willing to sacrifice your power for someone you hardly know, then it must show courage." He held out his hand. "I'm sorry, man."
Chromer smiled. "Apology accepted."
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Within minutes, everyone had assembled into the main room.
"I guess now our objective is to find Tifa. Chromer had said that he can remove his power into Tifa, but needs to have an environment to be worthy of. He has mentioned that he needs both myself and Aeris to help restrict her." Cloud said.
"Why you?" said Vincent from the back.
"As I am from Jenova cells and Aeris is a Cetra, we can hold any power that Sephiroth may use upon us. However, Tifa could end up destroying us because of this." he concluded.
"However, we need to find her. Red and Jessie are going to be our trackers, so now, we need people to help us. Are ya all going?" said Cloud, looking at the Turks in particular.
"You'll know I'll be going." said Barrett.
"Me too." said Cid.
"I'm coming as well." piped in Shera.
Cid looked at his wife in shock.
"Shit, Shera. No way, you are not getting your ass killed for no reason." Cid said.
"Yeah, but why wait to see if you die in the middle of nowhere when I could be beside you. I'm good with a shotgun.." She produce one out of nowhere, which in fact, came from the back of the shed in her house. ".....and this time, I want to be part of the acion." she finished.
Cid looked like he was crying. "But Shera...." he whispered quietly.
Shera interrupted him with a soft kiss on the lips. "Till death do us part. That is how I want to live it."
Cid hugged his young wife to his limit. "Please don;t get your ass killed."
Shera responded. "I won't."
After a few minutes of silence, Cloud spoke up again. "Anyone else?"
Vincent gave a nod, which was a good as you could get from him. He still hadn't seen Lucresia and wondered where she went.
Reeve and Cait also volunteered, and as soon as Heici said he was in, Yuffie was in. Zack didn't need asking twice.
That left the Turks.
"Your wedding is tomorrow. Do you really want to sacrifice your lives to help out a former enemy?" said Cloud.
Tseng looked thoughtful.
"I've realised now that some of our actions have been more rampant towards society. We have done wrong, as you have. Don't deny it." he said, after catching a look from Barret. "However, it feels to me that my destiny is to fight along your side now." Tseng finished.
"Same here. Besides, how can we have a wedding when all our friends are dead?" Elena concluded, relieving a bit of humour into the group.
Rude, as usual, was quiet, but after seeing that Jessie was going, he simply nodded to help.
That left Reno.
"Reno?" Rude said quietly.
Reno was looking up at the ceiling in an intelligent way. He walked up to a glass with whiskey. He held it up. "I'm not sure if I'm in the right frame of mind to take on something like this."
The glass was quickly downed, the contents had vanished.
Reno shook his head like a dog, and simply said, "There, now I am. I mean, you must have a few marbles loose to down a whiskey, so now I'm in a psychopathic mind, let's go kick some ass!"
A cheer and some laughter went from the group.
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Tifa was entering Nibelheim at this moment. She had practically lost all will now, and was just moving on instinct. Sephiroth laughed on the inside, it had only been a matter of time before she gave in.
Tifa felt like passing out from the strain, but kept going, just to piss Sephiroth off of not allowing him to defeat her that easily. But even she knew that she had a breaking point, and that it was going to happen soon.
The breaking point occured when she saw the Nibel Mountains. The fear, the apprehension, the day when she found her chest nearly cut in half from Sephiroth's sword, where Sephiroth was supposedly killed by Cloud, it was all too much for her, and her last words as 'Tifa' were finished by a cold scream.
After a few minutes breathing, her next words were colder and deeper. "The Ancient...."
She headed off to Mt. Nibel.
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"All right, so everybody ready?" said Cloud.
"Almost." that was Vincent.
"Why, almost?" said Cloud.
"I can't find Lucresia. She seems to have vanished." said Vincent.
"Well, we may have to search for her as well." said Chromer.
"Well, whether if she is or isn't here, we can't delay searching any longer Vincent. I'm sorry." said Cloud.
Vincent sighed. His life was becoming better at one point, almost as if his humanity was returning. But now, where was Lucresia?
This was a problem.
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Outside Mt. Nibel, Tifa/Sephiroth was ready to cause more havoc.
"It is time to awaken the Gates Of Hell!" he/she cried. "My Hojo's minions will awaken, and we will crush this planet, and the Ancient in one go. Then, I will return to the earth, and become it's supreme ruler." he/she laughed out loud.
"I can't allow that." said a voice from behind her.
Tifa spun around to see a woman, in a white coat, reminding her of a Shinra scientist. But this woman was more than that.
"Sephiroth, my son."
Lucresia had arrived. The family reunion was on.
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O.K, so this part is a bit short, but in January, I've got A Level exams to take, plus I've got to do tons of homework and coursework throughout the Xmas holiday, but Part 4 will be longer, as the plot thickens.
I am a UK writer, but I have more RPG's than you can shake a stick at. I have from the US, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 3, Chrono Trigger, plus games such as Zelda, Secret of Mana/Evermore, Illusion of Gaia, Final Fantasy 7, Suikoden (which I've just completed) and recently Zelda: Ocarine of Time, so.......
After my series, I will be doing a couple of short stories before moving on to other things. But don't worry, you will be seeing my stuff (hopefully) for a while to come (A big groan comes from the world wide audience)
Comments appreciated at the usual address.
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