Tifa vs. Aeris Chapter 9
Anti-Climax
By Chris Homer
'How the hell did you pull off that stunt?' Yuffie exclaimed, directing her question to Chromer.
Chromer shrugged. "One of my most powerful psychic attacks. However, it may be the last time you see it. If we don't get destroyed by the monsters here, I will use the powers to destroy the spirit enveloped in Tifa."
"Sephiroth." Yuffie whispered.
"Yeah." Chromer sighed.
The four travellers had got onto the Crater from their flight job with ease but were quite a bit ahead of most of the others that had joined. Barret and co were a bit behind them and Zack's group had only just arrived.
However, Jenova had a surprise for all of them.......
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"No!" screamed Tifa in her mind as Cloud tried to stare into her beautiful eyes, eyes gone mad from the power Sephiroth was feeding upon her.
"You will pay for this, Sephiroth. As soon as my friends get here......" Cloud stated.
"....they are here, Cloud." Tifa/Seph said. "It's just my friends has sent them a welcoming committee, I doubt that they will want to leave." 'Tifa' said with a laugh unlike her.
Vincent snarled. "Lucresia!!! What the hell are you doing?"
Lucresia retaliated with a tentacle whip onto Vincent, making him scream in pain.
"Vincent! Oh shit!" said Cid.
Vincent through the pain. "Try and hold Tifa off, I'll take care of this thing....." Vincent said.
Cloud nodded. It was all he could do as he didn't wish to harm her, and they needed Aeris, Zack and Chromer here. It was bit dumb to seperate, but they needed to cover all angles. And now they were here, they just had to hold her off.
Was that it?
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Barret was none too pleased with Priscilla coming with them, but at least it was another pair of arms to use, albeit in a small way. Barret had loaded his missing score with bullets and materia and was ready to pump some lead in that son of a......
Suddenly, a bubble materialised in front of them. It was blue but with a green aura.
Barret didn't know what to make of the situation, so he cried "Everyone stand back!"
Lucas sensed the bubble and reliased what it was, but it was too lated to tell the stubborn Barret who laid waste to it.
As it burst, a green pod burst from it and started to glow. Barret blasted at this as well, but the bullets couldn't pierce it. It was either protected or the skin was harder than it looked.
Either way, Barret wasn't surprised when it started to grow. Barret knew that Jenova would have a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Jenova grew.....
and grew.....
and grew.......
The full metamorphisis was completed, Jenova X1 was the name of it (to writing purposes), and it was one hell of a creature. It had three triangular antenna like things, which were bigger than Yuffie, her head was small, but it had an ugliness which made Priscilla want to puke, and wonder if coming here was such a good idea, it's whole body seemed to be made of muscle, and it's roar was blood curdling.
"All right!" Barret screamed, and the battle commenced.
Jenova however wasn't interested in battle. It was only interested in carnage. It cast Blue and Red Light spells quickly, flooring the party, before Aeris cast Planet Protector.
Jenova then noticed the power of Aeris and it's primary attacks focused on her. Barret tried to block out many of the attacks, but it seemed that it's natural hatred for the Cetra was going to come out in force.
Reeve blasted away with his gun and striking with his staff, trying to keep it away from Aeris. Lucas blasted it with lightning materia and Priscilla stayed back to cure everyone. However, the Jenova had hardly been scratched. It seemed to be laughing off the pain.
Reeve cast Materia Enity and Barret blasted a Big Shot. Jenova retaliated with an Ultima which floored everyone, and Priscilla didn't get up.
Lucas enraged, cast Revive quickly before running at the Jenova.
He grabbed its sturnum, with an unknown strength, and dragged it down with a spear. (as in wrestling takedown, not weapon, if confusion about moves, write to me). He flipped over it and slammed it down in a death drop power bomb (also known as Razors/Outsiders Edge) before reversing again and hitting a German suplex. From that, Lucas passed out practically from exhaustion, but Jessie ran and dived, getting him to safety before Jenova could attack again.
Jessie pounded on the Jenova, casting the Bahamut Zero spell she used during the attack of Lelin. The Jenova for the first time in the battle, seemed to scream inpain, but recovered and struck Jessie with a fist that Lennox Lewis would have been proud of (Hey, I'm British, I had to stick it in somewhere!), absolutely knocking her out.
Barret screamed. This was not going very well.........
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At about this moment, Zack, Mia and the Turks had gotten on and had noticed the danger with the Jenova. Zack ran, attempting to slice it in half as Rude, angered by the K.O of Jessie, loaded up his gun.
However, as he loaded, he saw his gun disintegrating. Soon, he saw his arm doing the same thing. He didn't feel any pain, confused maybe.
He glanced at his fellow Turks, who were experiencing the same thing. Even Mia was disintegrating. He closed his eyes, not wanting to know what was going to happen next.........
.
When he opened them, Rude found that he and his compratiats were still alive, but in a different area of the crater.
As everyone got up and asked questions revolving on 'what the hell?' a blue/green bubble evolved from the underground and exploded.
Mia rolled out of the way as the Turks and Zack took evasive action. A puddle of green slime came out of the bubble and started to shape.
This Jenova (J-LQ) was mainly a liquid blob, however, it appeared to have movement and was taunting them with it's 'fingers'.
Zack smirked. 'Let's kick ass!'
Zack rushed in, slicing wildly. However, every time he sliced, the sword just went through and came out sticky. Zack used his sword many times, but he couldn't hit the Jenova.
Suddenly, the Jenova morphed into a puddle and rose, hitting an uppercut into Zack, sending him into a cliff face. He groaned, still conscious, but worse for wear.
As Elena cured him, Reno charged a blast from his nightstick.
"NEO TURK LIGHT!"
The blast hit the Jenova and it starts to sparkle and a gurgled scream. Reno laughed, running at it.
"You ain't so tough!" he said, swinging at it with his nightstick.
Of course, it went through the Jenova, and it retaliated by 'creating' a coil and wrapping it round Reno, and squeezed. Reno gasped for breath.
"Look....I know....woman dig me.....but like....this?" he said.
Tseng ran and cast fire on the 'coil'. It melted onto the floor, releasing Reno. Mia cast fire, and Rude cast Ice3. They sensed a key, using the materia, the Jenova was starting to harden. This way, they could harm it.
Tseng cast Quake3. Elena cast Bolt3. Rude cast Ice3. Reno cast Fire3. The creature was becoming more visible.
Mia timed her run and leapt at it, her foot outsretched. With a loud 'he-yah!', her foot connected with the head, flooring the Jenova, Mia landing softly.
The Jenova looked at itself solidifying. Instead of looking shocked or upset, it laughed.
Zack moaned. "What is the thing laughing at?"
The Jenova only laughed more.
Suddenly, the hard skin created by the materia exploded and a bright light flowed from the Jenova.
The Turks thought they won, but Mia knew they hadn't. One of the abilities Zangan had given her was a 'super-sense'. She knew most person's weaknesses, but this was a Jenova. However, her sense told her that it wasn't dead.
Zack readied his sword as soon as he saw Mia ready herself in a crouching defensive position.
The Turks were more confident, but they saw something walking towards them from the mess that was that liquid Jenova.
The thing was 7 feet tall, had whipping tentacles for hair, like barb wire. It's face was red with scars, and a scream more evil than any of them heard before. It's hands were clawed, like the Gen Jenova they had faced, but it had 6 inch nails, easily ripping quality. It's body was green muscle and it's looked like it wanted blood.
The Jenova advanced.
The others tried to retreat....
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Yuffie's group were much further but getting too close to Tifa for comfort. So the third Jenova bubble created was going to be a pure distraction.
This Jenova was in a knight form, and with silver skin instead of green. It had a sabre, which flowed between silver and green flame, and also turned red and blue. It had a smile the Devil would have given it.
Chromer feared this creature more than his own father. It swung its sword with experience that would rival Zack and Cloud. He fended off as best he can with his sickle, but he was much more experienced in the martial arts and magic, and knew that in hand to hand, he was no match for this creature. His plan was to hold him off so the others could attack. However, did the others know this?
Luckily, Cait did, running and smashing his fists into the hide of this silver Jenova. However, it seemingly didn't phase him. The Jenova rose a foot and smashed Cait onto the floor, destabilising him for a moment. Heici ran to fix him , whilst Yuffie cast a spell.
"Tidal Wave!" she shouted.
The huge Leviathan monster appeared and sent a wave of water. It only held the Jenova back away from Chromer, but Heici also raised a materia.
"Giga flare!" he shouted.
The Bahamut monster blast finally did some damage, as the rays pierced the monster's flesh. The silver became a more recognisable green, but the monster's sword also changed the same colour and swung at Chromer.
Chromer attempted to fend it off, but the sword cut cleanily through it. The sword changed to blue and swung at Chromer again. The warrior felt the blunt of the blade, as the stun spell from the blue flame sent Chromer into oblivion.
Jenova SS was now fending off against Yuffie. Yuffie was trying to disarm Jenova by throwing her shuriken at the sword, but Jenova avoided it every time. Repeatedly, he avoided.
Yuffie threw again as the sword changed to silver.
Jenova struck at the shuriken and batted it away as it were a baseball. Yuffie raised a lightning materia.
"Bo..." she started but Jenova with inhuman speed, whizzed to her and knocked the materia out of her head.
"My materia!" she screamed and swung a roundhouse punch/kick, Thai kick-boxing style combination.
Both hits struck home, but they did very little, if any damage. Jenova grabbed Yuffie by the throat and lifted her up and raised its sword.
Suddenly, Heici ran and his fists glowed many colours. He hit a powerful uppercut to the monster's chin and his fist quickly connected with the Jenova's stomach. Green and silver blood came from the Jenova as it let go of Yuffie. Cait was also operational.
"Gross!" said Yuffie, as the blood hit her arm, it felt like acid so she quickly cast Cure. She also cast it on Chromer, and soon all 4 were up.
Jenova raised it's hand and shot down a spell of fire which combined with a meteorite. Yuffie screamed as it's went to connect.
Cait cast Wall and Chromer cast Regen quickly. The attack was powerful but the two spells repelled most of the damage. Chromer readied himself for another attack, but Jenova had his sword again, and he remembered one of his sickles was broken in half.
Oh shit.......
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Vincent was pleading with Lucresia to release herself from the Jenova that Sephiroth had changed her into. But Lucresia seemed to be not paying much attention. Instead, she focused on pummeling Vincent into oblivion.
As it was Jenova, the fighting style was different from Lucresia's style. Lucresia fought using her monster limit breaks and using her crystal shots. However, Jenova fought with everything. Vincent couldn't comprehend what was going to happen next.
Jenova cast many spells from many elementals, plus it's traditional attacks. Vincent refused to attack it, there had to be way of removing the Jenova within her.
With a roar, Vincent changed into his Chaos beast. Lucresia recognised it.
"This is me and my friend........"
Where the hell did that come from?
"Vincent......you came for me......."
Her eyes strayed upon the weapon that Vincent dropped as he changed. Chaos was obviously trying to restrain itself from attacking.
It was a standoff, neither attacking, neither knowing what to do........
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A similar situation was happening next door as Cloud, Red and Cid didn't know what to do with Tifa. How could they harm her?
"Hang on Tifa! They are coming!" Cloud said.
The laugh was not Tifa, but her eyes were still as human as ever.
Suddenly Red leapt at her, attempting to pin her down.
However, Tifa was surprisingly strong, mainly because of Sephiroth's added power, she fending off Red and threw him off the cliff with a back throw.
"RED!!!!!" screamed Cloud.
Red was nowhere to be seen.
Cloud looked at Tifa, he couldn't believe it.
Cloud threw his sword down.
"Go on then, Tifa, kill me." he said.
Cid looked at him in disbelief.
"What, kid, she won't snap out of it, Seph has her in control....."
Tifa ran and punched Cid in the gut and snapped her elbow over his head, Cid passing out momentarily.
They met eye to eye again. Again, Cloud said "Tifa, kill me." Tifa ran, attempt to execute a punch which would have fractured Cloud's skull.
But something stopped her, she was trying to fight Sephiroth's will.
Cloud quickly tackled her, hoping and praying the others could get here soon.............
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"Get up, damn you! You've only just returned to me, you're not getting your ass killed again!" Barret screamed, trying to wake up Jessie.
Reeve cast Cure and Revive in quick succession to Jessie as she started to stir. Aeris had cast many of her spells, Planet Protector, Breath of the Earth and Pulse of Life as Jenova struck with many powerful spells, Ultima, Shadow Flare and Pandora's Box included.
Aeris was getting fed up of this and cast Fury Band on her comrades.
Barret suddenly felt anger well in him more than ever. He raised his arm.
"Satellite Beam!" he shouted.
The Jenova looked up to see a beam of light go through its body, as the piercing of the flesh began.
But Barret wasn't finished.
"Anger Max!" he shouted.
Barret's gun went into overdrive as many bullets turned the already twisted flesh into a bloodbath, of green liquid pouring.
"Catastrophe!" he shouted.
His ultimate limit break came upon Jenova like a bolt of lightning. Jenova remained standing somehow.
Then Barret looked at Lucas, Reeve and Jessie, all with a murderous glint in their eyes.
"Magnum!" shouted Reeve.
Reeve drew his gun and went into a combination of Barret's Big Shot and Reno's Neo Turk Light. The powered up fireball blasted into the chest of Jenova, it screamed in pain.
Jenova tried to cast a spell but Reeve was quicker.
"Stave Shot!" And went into the same attack, but this time with his staff and with the use of a Fire3 materia.
Jessie ran with her staff. "Halberd Death!"
Her limit break consisted of multiple strikes with the staff, to compare, it was like a combination of Yuffie's Blood Fest and Red's Earth Rave. However, it was between them in power.
Jessie paused to take a breath and launched into another version, this time with more strikes. Lucas laughed.
"Teke Combo!" he shouted.
He ran, punched, flipped the Jenova with some sort of limit power, drove his fist into the face, lifted it up, performed an over the head belly to belly, bridged, did it again, went behind the Jenova, performed a full nelson suplex, reversed, did a german suplex, before finishing it off with a boston crab, snapping the spinal area of the Jenova.
The Jenova screamed as Aeris walked up to it.
"You are hereby banished of this world via the Cetra." she simply said as it rivered in pain.
Aeris waved her staff and cast some sort of spell. Light magic fluttered over the Jenova. The Jenova shivered back as it started to glow in this white light.......
.....and then it was gone.
Barret walked up to an exhausted team. Priscilla had stayed back wisely, but the others were well and truly tired. Aeris had powered them up with a spell and they kicked the alien's ass.
Barret smiled at Aeris.
"What the hell was that?" he said.
Aeris smiled weakly. "A special break, one only used against Jenova. It is a revolutionaly Cetra spell, banishing them off this universe. However, I'm too weak......" and with that fell.
Reeve ran, concerned. He stroked the dampened head of Aeris who was sweating badly. He gathered her up in his arms.
Lucas got an admiring smile from both Jessie and Priscilla, Barret looked impressed with him as well with Jessie, with words of 'I never knew you had it in you!' he said.
With Reeve carrying Aeris, Barret and co went to see what trouble Cloud was having....
Tifa......
Oh shit!
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The thing that had emerged from the liquid blob was more vicious than any of the Turks could have imagined. They knew Jenova was tough but this one was unstoppable.
However, they felt that they could destroy it....somehow.
Tseng had made the best progress. He had avoided many of the blows and had been wise to cast Wall on himself and the Turks. (Note: Turks, but didn't use it on Zack and Mia) He struck with his gun, loaded with materia which he recently mastered. Jenova however, despite the mini-onslaught Tseng was unleashing, and had cast high powered spells at every convience.
The other Turks had been little help, as they were busy retreating and defending. The lethals claws of the Jenova had gotten through the walls like butter, and Elena was having real problems fending off the blows, along with Reno. Rude had faired slightly better, but not much.
Meanwhile, Zack and Mia were watching each others back as the Turks were.......slightly busy. Zack made a decision. The Turks were defending. So......
"ARRGGH!" Zack screamed and ran, sword swinging, and executing an Omnislash on the Jenova.
For the first time in the battle, it screamed, but Jenova retailiated with a swift slice to Zack's face, clawmacks scarring as blood ran down the face.
Mia enraged, went to Jenova and attempted a fire kick (flying kick with fire materia).
Attempted was the word. Jenova cast a black spells around her, gravity, and Mia felt her body being sucked into oblivion. In truth, her energy was being drained at a rapid rate.
Reno saw this, and out of respect and surprising compasion, cast Cure on both of them as Tseng cast another Wall.
"Zack, Mia!" screamed Elena.
They scampered quickly, as the blood stopped leaking as the Cure came upon affect. "We have to work together, this thing is gonna have us for lunch!" said Tseng.
"If we wait here any longer, it will have it's main course right here!" Reno said.
"Right, Elena stay back with Mia and Rude. Cast defensive spells and use any openings. Zack, you, me and Reno will do the main attacking. O.K?"
Zack just nodded.
The Jenova wasn't gonna wait forever. It cast another Ultima spell on them and something of a laugh came out of it.
The Wall did it's job, but barely. As Elena cured them, Tseng shouted. "Very funny, let's see how you like a taste of your own medicine!" He raised a materia.
"Ultima!" he shouted.
Jenova was surprised as it felt the same power surge through it's body in pain. So, this human could use the ultimate spell as well.....
He didn't have time to think as Rude raised a red materia.
"Ultimate End!"
Rude had surprisingly got one of these, but it wasn't really a surprise. Cloud had mastered the spell several times so that the most powerful spell they had was the most frequent in the squad. One of them was given to Jessie, who gave it to Rude who was confident that he could use it much more efficient. Besides, Reeve had one as well if things got hairy in their group.
The knights did its business as they always did. Elena raised a yellow materia.
"Mime!"
The knights didn't pause for a breath as the materia repeated the attack again. The Jenova couldn't believe the power from this attack. It excelled it's own ultima spell and the pain shuddering through it's body was unbelievable.
Lucresia secretly thanked the gods of the materia that was destroying her alien persona.
The Jenova was getting weak but not destroyed. Mia ran to it, a glint in her eye.
Zack went to stop her but Tseng held him.
"She knows what she is doing." he said.
Zack looked and realised what she was doing. The same limit break that Tifa used so many times. Tifa........
He quickly got his concerntration back and saw Mia now on the meteodrive, somehow getting the huge thing up and down, before rising in a water uppercut and flying in with the meteo strike. Her fist glowed as she prepared to use the elixir.
And the fist struck pay dirt.
Mia didn't realise what happened in that neno-second. Then, the world was black for her as the Jenova exploded.
Mia flew, aiming for the wall, but Rude caught her on the way. He laid her down gently as Reno, Tseng and Zack went to her.
"Is she all right?" Reno said, concern in his voice.
"I think so." said Elena as she raised a materia.
"Full Cure!" she said, before Tseng noticed the green marks on her body.
"The blood may be dangerous." he said raising a materia. "Esuna!"
Both spells worked their magic in their special ways. Mia felt her strength returning as the acid marks left her body and her blood bubble inside her body as her energy began to return. She opened her eyes.
"Wh....what happened?" she said. Zack smiled.
"You saved us, Mia, looks like you past the test." he said.
"What test?" she said.
"You'll see......as long as things go right...." he added, humour and worry in his voice, remembering Aeris. What about her and her feelings? With Tifa in obvious trouble, what did this mean with her, Cloud, Tifa and himself?
Tseng woke the troops. "Well, it looks like we're alive, so let's go whip some ass!" he said.
A moment of humour went through the camp as a tired, but alive, group headed for the main centre of the crater.
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The Jenova body had changed from green to silver many times now as the samurai like Jenova struck home again on Chromer.
Chromer, exhausted, tried to cast another psychic spell, but felt that he didn't have the energy. He stayed back and hoped and prayed that the others could do enough to stop him.
However, the others were in just as bad, if not worse, prediciments than Chromer. Cait had been smashed many times and could hold on, even with his back-up program operational. Heici knew he couldn't fix him in the time and Yuffie certainly couldn't stop it on her own.
Heici went into his version of Tifa's limit break. He ran, hitting many punches to Jenova and an uppercut powered by fire. The uppercut made the Jenova fly up into the air, and Heici hit more punches and an axe kick. As the Jenova landed, his arms straightened into a clothesline, with his arm clothing three colours, signifying the power of three materias.
His last move was the Shamatu technique Tifa had taught him and Yuffie a while back. He gathered his spirit (chi) energy and exerted it into a fireball technique. It struck home and the Jenova for the first time staggered and looked in pain.
He hoped that the cure spell worked on a robot. He cast it on Cait.
Cait started to move. Cait, despite being a robot, had all human emotions, thus, pain was one of them as the feeling and conscious like movements in the AI circuits that Reeve had installed made him react to the Cure spell like any of their allies. Cait stood up and ran at Jenova, sending some super toy soldiers at Jenova, another improvement Reeve had made, this time on his attacking techniques.
The soldiers cast weak spells of every materia, including meteor, which could hardly be weak. The Jenova felt a little irritated, but still advanced.
Cait cast another Wall spell on himself, Heici and Yuffie. Chromer tried to regain conscious and strength as Heici cast a cure spell his way.
Yuffie used her Gauntlet limit breaks to try and do something to this Jenova. The explosion made the Jenova go back and try to avoid being attacked, but it was hopeless. This one seemed impossible to defeat.
The Jenova raised it's sword, ready to slice Yuffie in half.
Suddenly, it stopped.
In the middle of it's body was a black hole. The Jenova couldn't believe it, a black hole projecting from the middle of it's body!
Heici turned around to see Chromer casting a spell, a gravity spell of sorts. From the black hole, meteors struck outs and hit the Jenova with unforgiving force, the Jenova's neck snapped from the force of one of the meteors, and its body turned black....sorry, green and blue.
Chromer exhausted from that attack, however, knew that the Jenova was almost done. That was his most powerful gravity spell and it still lived. However, he still had the energy to shout;
"Now, finish it! This is your chance!"
Yuffie quickly took the chance. "ALL CREATION!"
Yuffie created a giant pulsating beam, which she release at Jenova, blasting holes as green, silver and red blood poured from it's already injured parts of the body.
Heici had already used his limit break, but he and Yuffie powered up their fists and both of them had a fireball powered up. Cait was about to cast a spell as well, but there was no need.
They released at the same time as the fireball joined together. It landed in the area where the black hole had been.
The impact was tremendous. The middle of Jenova burst and green blood erupted from it. Yuffie tried hard not to be sick. Heici and Chromer even turned away, a bit taken aback.
The Jenova erupted in a bloody green mess. What was remaining would be impossible to be put into words.
Chromer recovered, extremely tired, but cast his All Cure spell and sat down as it took affect.
"Could be worse." Heici said.
"Shut up!" Yuffie said, wondering what to do next when they got up and got ready to face Sephiroth inside Tifa.
God, didn't want to think about it as she gagged, remembering the incident she just witnessed...........
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As the third Jenova was destroyed, Vincent noticed a change in Lucresia's movements. Of course, he didn't know what had happened, but a moment she was attacking, another movement she was still at a standoff, now she was kneeling down in pain, holding her head.
Suddenly, Lucresia let loose with a scream that no-one had heard. If Cloud and Seph/Tifa would have listened, they would have heard a piercing scream which would have destroyed buildings, never mind windows.
Vincent noticed something. Still in his Chaos form, his senses recognised something above Lucresia.
He noticed something else too. Lucresia was returning to her human form, but unconscious. Whatever had happened, she had released the Jenova spirit that Seph had implanted in her. His heart felt more earthly than ever.
Suddenly, realisation poured on his face. The thing above her was.....
With a growl, Chaos jumped and unleashed flaming skulls at the spirit above him. Although it was seemingly invisible, Vincent could sense it and could destroy it. With a rage inside of him, Vincent blasted with his skulls of fire many times. The spirit didn't even have chance to realise what was happening.
Vincent wasn't going to stop until he destroyed the thing which was keeping Lucresia from being herself.
The spirit started to fade, unable to comprehend with this power. However, a trail of words seemed to focus in his mind. 'I'll be back.'
Vincent didn't have time to ponder these words. He was already checking on Lucresia who had passed out in front of him.
He held her hand and held her close. No way, he didn't care what Hojo did to him, his feelings and affection were not going away. Not this time.
As he held her there, he didn't even remember what was going on right next to him........
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Tifa smiled evilly as Cloud still remained in his standoff position. Her hands glowed in another version of the Shamatu fireball technique and it started to grow.
"Are you sure Cloud?" said 'Tifa'.
"Go on. Finish me." he said.
"All right. Your request." she said.
Her fireball grew larger and larger, until she was ready it was going to destroy Cloud. She felt the power surge through her body as she went to release the fireball.
It was then that her mind couldn't take it. The image of Sephiroth making her use her fireball technique to destroy Cloud was too heartbreaking. With her mind's strength, she had a battle with herself.
"No, you won't do it! I love him!" she thought.
"Stop it, I'll destroy you!" Seph retailiated in the battle.
Suddenly, it became a battle of the mind as Tifa and Sephiroth seemed to face each other in her mind. Tifa seemed to be talking to herself from Cloud's persception.
(Visualise a battle between Sephiroth and Tifa in real life, and this is what is happening in her mind as a battle between the 'spirits', if you will)
'Tifa' readied hersef as Sephiroth advanced on her, his masamune there as usual.
"I scarred you once physically, now I'll scar you mentally." he said.
"Don't bet on it." she said.
The sword barely got through her defence as Tifa swung with her fist, pivoting and striking with her foot. Sephiroth dodged back, as Tifa kept swinging, missing every time.
Suddenly, Sephiroth swung and connected with Tifa's arm. She screamed as the injury focused on her. Sephiroth laughed.
"Let me tell you something. If I kill you here, you will die. Your mind is history if I kill you and I will take control of your body. Thus, I will control you, and then I will destroy Aeris, and come back to the physical world to destroy you all!" he said.
"No....way....not.....Cloud....not anyone. I love him, you are not killing him...."
This is a time I will remind you that Cloud is hearing this battle, but can't do a damn thing. When Cloud heard the words 'I love him', his heart went in his throat. Hot damn.......Tifa..........
Sephiroth swung again and Tifa fell back, he wound in the chest, not deep, but bad enough to make her extremely weak.
On the outside, Cloud noticed something. "She's breathing slower. Shit, Sephiroth!"
Tifa felt a fist connect to the side of her head and passed out in her mind.
Sephiroth laughed and stepped back, ready to stick the Masamune in her gut, decided to prolong her and Cloud's agony.
"She's stopped breathing!" screamed Cloud on the outside.
"SEPHIROTH! AERIS!"
"TIFA!" he screamed. Tears fell in his eyes. She isn't dead.....no..........
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Now you know why I called this chapter 'Anti-climax.'
Tifa is not going to die is she? Naw, of course not, I'm just worrying all of the Tifa fans out there a bit. Don't worry the others will save her. Or will she?
A couple of notes. Rude. What is his relationship with Jessie going to be like, and also new character Mia? This is going to have a dramatic impact on the Aeris triangle.
Final thing. This spirit will be back in the next part of the chronicles and make a deep impact on one of the characters. Hence the 'I'll be back' line.
One more part left. Hope you can wait!
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