Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII ❯ Chapter 22 The Ultimate Choice ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tifa and Reno arrived at the church a few minutes after Jenova and Sephiroth had left. Cloud was sitting on his knees, staring at nothing. Tifa put her hand on his shoulder and shook him a few times. Still he refused to snap out of his daze. Reno sat back, watching Tifa as she desperatly tried to get Cloud back into reality. He wouldn't budge though, his thoughts were on what he had been left with. He had been left with the ultmate choice, to kill Jenova or let the planet be destroyed.
"Reno, help me we have to get him out of here!" Tifa said looking up at Reno.
"How are we gonna do that?" he asked.
"Grab his arm, we'll drag him home," Tifa demanded taking one of Cloud's arms.
Reno sighed but did as she said and took one of his arms. They dragged Cloud back home. Cloud sat in his dark room, lost in thought. He didn't know what he should do. The only thing he could figure out was that Jenova had to be stopped. Meanwhile downstairs, Tifa called Vincent, Cid, and Yuffie over. She had a feeling something bad was brewing and knew that they would need backup. They all stood in the kitchen dicussing on what actions should be taken.
"Aeris went missing, and Cloud is dazed," Tifa said looking at everyone.
"It had to be Sephiroth who caused this," Vincent said.
"That damn Sephiroth, when will he ever just die?!" Cid exclaimed.
"He won't which is why he have to kill him," Vincent answered.
"So, what should we do then? The only one who can handle Sephiroth is Cloud!" Yuffie countered.
"We have to try, that's all we can do," Reno replied.
The room became silent and everyone's eyes fell on the ex-Turk.
"Right? Cloud's outta it and Sephiroth is gonna destroy the planet. We can't rely on him right now so we have to try....even if it means dying for our planet," Reno continued.
Tifa watched him as he said this and smiled in admriation. "He's right," she said and then looked at the others. "He's absolutely right."
"Fine, that's dandy, now just what are we gonin' to do first?" Cid asked.
"We're going to find Sephiroth and end this!" came Cloud's voice from the doorway.
Everyone turned to see Cloud, just as he used to be. He had the large buster sword mounted on his back by a backstrap and without the black clothing to hide anything. He had on his old clothes and had the red ribbon tied around his arm. Seeing his bare arms, made Tifa think of the stigma that Reno had on his back. She had gotten the stigma on her palms and now wore gloves to hide it. She wondered if the stigma would ever disappear from their skin. As much as she loved Reno, she didn't want to live with stigma.
"Where do we find him? He could be anywhere!" Yuffie pointed out.
"I think I know where he went," Cloud said turning to the front door. "The city of the Anicents,where I put the black materia."
The others looked at each other and then followed after Cloud without a word. Over the past three years they had all grown accustomed to Cloud's leadership, and so they didn't protest when he said he knew where Sephiroth was. Cid manged to find something that they could use to fly to the city. When they got there the city was still standing. If the black materia was here, it hadn't been taken just yet, the buildings were still standing. However as they neared the city the ground began to quake. They stopped in their tracks, looking around at each other in alarm. Then there was a horrifing sound. Cloud, Vincent, Tifa, Reno, Yuffie, and Cid watched as the buliding made by the ancients crumbled to the ground.
"The black materia!" Cloud yelled over the loudness and then took off at a dead run for the crumbling ruin.
"Cloud come back!" Tifa called and then her and the others ran after him.
The buliding stopped crumbling by the time they reached it. Now all there was, was a pile of rubble. Sephiroth stood on the highest piece of rubble, looking down at something in his hands. Cloud called out his name and he looked over at him with a smirk. Sephiroth told Cloud to come to the temple of the anicents if he wanted to watch the reunion. Cloud ran towards Sephiroth but the silver haired man disappeared before he could reach him. They all boarded back on the airship and headed for the nearby Temple of the Ancients. They were going to settle this once and for all. Cloud wasn't about to let Sephiroth destroy the planet.
When they got there, Cloud didn't take any time to think about how the temple was rebuilt after being destroyed the first time. He ran inside and down into the heart of the temple. Jenova stood on a platform, holding up the black materia. She was chanting something in a language he couldn't understand. It was the language of the ancients. Sephiroth stood in front of her, with his sword out and ready to fight. The others who had been trailing behind, didn't get to follow Cloud into the room. As Cloud opened the door, they all fell into a trap door. He hadn't noticed that they weren't behind him, his mind was too focused on Sephiroth.