Lifestream

"Cloud? Can you hear me?"

Obviously, he couldn't. Tifa kicked the ground in frustration, trying to think of another plan. Cloud sat before her, eyes closed, locked in some kind of a deep trance. She tried to pry the Black Materia from his clenched right hand, but his grip on the stone was like iron. Despite her fervent attempts to come up with another explanation, all signs pointed the conclusion that he had already began to invoke the spell. She was too late.

Her search for Cloud had taken far too long, after the chaos in Rocket City. It had taken almost a full day to secure a ride on the last surviving helicopter, even just as far as Chocobo Bob's farm. Aboard her Gold Chocobo, Dancer, she had made better time, but had incorrectly guessed that Cloud would try to reach Lifestream in Mideel, where he had personally experienced it, rather than here in the Forgotten City. Cloud had probably gotten here days ago.

Tifa thought she still felt a kind of personal connection with Cloud after their experience in Lifestream, and spoke to him softly, trying to somehow project herself back into his mind. "Listen to me, Cloud. At least hear what I have to say. I don't know what's wrong with you... what's controlling your mind. But whether it's that sword, or some kind of demon, or whatever, I know that the real you is still there."

A barrier, real or imagined, blocked her efforts to communicate. Even if it was possible to reach him this way at all, something was stopping her. She gritted her teeth in frustration. "Come on, Cloud! Let me reach you! I know that you're not yourself; I can accept that. The real Cloud... the Cloud I... I mean..." Her words were turning to toothpaste in her mouth, so she broke off. Her connection with the real Cloud was beyond the need for words. She held his head in her arms, silently trying to reach past whatever was possessing him, but his resistance only grew stronger. "Damn it! Why won't you listen to me? Why can't you help me?" Tifa, despite her best efforts to prevent it, began to give in to despair. Tears of frustration were beginning to well up in her eyes, and she allowed her face to drop to the cracked marble edge of the pool. She rose again an instant later, spinning to confirm what she'd seen out of the corner of her eye.

Jenova. She threw herself backwards onto the ground in front of Cloud to avoid its sudden attack. Jenova was here, looking as at had when she, Cloud, and Red had last faced it in the core of the planet: a skull with a thin-faced being affixed to its front, its tentacle-like arms sprawling outwards with a range of nearly twice its height. Tifa quickly rose again. Even last time, with most of its cells scattered throughout the world, Jenova had been fully reassembled in five years. This time, without such roadblocks, the Reunion had taken less than six months. Using all the strength she thought she could spare, Tifa cast a protective barrier over the inert Cloud, then spun again to face the nightmare from the skies.

Once again, Jenova's tentacle-arms cut through the air at her. Once again, Tifa was barely able to avoid them by twisting to the ground. She kicked out blindly, her left foot connecting with one of the arms on its backswing. Tifa raised her hands to call forth the power of Bahamut, and light blue plasma cut through Jenova's defenses, exploding spectacularly, but the attack did little to slow Jenova's advance.

Jenova's counterattack was a vicious fusion of red, blue, and yellow lights that seemed to cut into Tifa's mind. Her world exploded in pain, and she could sense Cloud's barrier weakening. With a supreme effort, Tifa struggled to fight her way back to consciousness. Her vision slowly returned, but she only had the time to cast a single curing spell before she once again had to avoid an attack from Jenova's arms. This time she wasn't quick enough. As she ducked the left arm, she felt the right one smash hard into her forehead. Her skin was flayed off wherever the arm touched it, and blood began to spew forth. Feeling lightheaded and dizzy, Tifa managed to jump into the path of the other arm before it could reach Cloud. A second trail of pain began to emanate from her right side where the blow had struck.

Her rage building even further, Tifa struck back, her own limbs flashing out, attacking with every martial arts technique she knew. Blow after blow connected. Sephiroth's "mother" gave an unearthly shriek of pain as hands, feet, water, and meteos rained down on its body and arms, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Still, even after weathering a blast of Final Heaven, the thing advanced. Tifa fell to the ground exhausted, and another blast of the multicolored light threatened to take the last of her life. The pain was even worse this time, and intensified as Tifa's mind fought to not give up. Even if she survived, how could she beat an immortal foe?

Calling on the last of her strength, and praying that she wasn't dooming the world, she cast her strongest Comet spell, aiming slightly to Jenova's left side. The meteos collided, making the air explode around their vicinity. Jenova absorbed most of the damage, but the force of the blasts pushed the creature sideways. For a moment Tifa feared that it wouldn't be enough, but a last explosion carried Jenova over the edge and into the pool of Lifestream.

The green plasma suddenly reacted, crackling into the air, surrounding Jenova. The tendrils of Lifestream fell again, as Jenova's sickly red plasma began to flow in clots, beginning to contaminate Lifestream with its virus, threatening to do to it as it had done to the Cetra, so many ages ago. The green glow Lifestream was slowly pushed away. But then it rebounded, rushing at Jenova. The air crackled, and the traces of red slowly faded, as, convulsing and sputtering, Lifestream enveloped Jenova. Then the plague from the skies was gone.

Tifa used her little remaining magical power do as much curing as possible. The pain faded somewhat, but it was still all she could do to keep from passing out. The flow of blood from her forehead and right side was beginning to slow, but showed no signs of stopping. Managing to raise her head, she saw that Lifestream was not unaffected by the destruction of Jenova. It seemed to swirl around in circles, building up speed, trying to hold the energy that was being released into it. For a second she thought she saw the blurred shapes of faces flashing by within the stream. Then there was a face, clear and distinct amidst the raging swirl of green.

-Tifa!- Aeris called. -Don't delude yourself!-

Then she was swept away by the current of souls.

The remaining supplies from her sack had further restored Tifa's strength, but she was still nowhere near a hundred percent... or even twenty-five percent. Dazedly, she continued to search for the meaning of Aeris's message. "Don't delude yourself..."

She had considered the possibility that Aeris was taunting her. She might be confident of Cloud's success in his insane attempt to reach her, and be telling Tifa not to fool herself into thinking she had a chance of stopping him. But Tifa had soon dismissed that possibility. She didn't want to think that of her friend, and Aeris had never done anything to suggest that she would go along with something like Cloud's plan. Tifa had seem Lifestream as it rid the world of Jenova, clearly at great effort and with pain to itself. No, Tifa had soon concluded, Aeris was trying to help her save Cloud and the Planet from disaster. She just needed to figure out what Aeris was trying to say.

Tifa's train of deductions had hit a rail-block somewhere around there. How was she deluding herself?

Eventually, she decided to get back to getting through Cloud's trance, her other problem, hoping that time might have let her come up with some new ideas. But the case soon proved as hopeless as before. Tifa tried to apply Aeris's warning to everything she thought of, but nothing fit. Finally, head pounding, she weakly kicked at a stone before sitting back, no closer to a solution than before. She guessed it had been a few hours since the battle with Jenova, and wondered how much time she had left. It would probably take another day or so for Cloud to complete his call for Meteor, if last time was any indication. She smiled grimly. She could probably hold out here for that long, unless she slowly bled to death first.

Another thought crossed her mind. If she couldn't find another way to stop Cloud from calling Meteor, would she have to kill him? Tifa's skin crawled at the very thought. She started to push the thought aside, but then decided to face it. If she would have to kill Cloud to save the Planet, would she be able to do it? She didn't know. Another gnawing fear told her that she might not have the strength to do it. Sensing that she was close to passing out, she tried to muster up her determination again. She wouldn't have to make that choice, because there would be some way to reach Cloud. There had to be!

Pulling herself back up, Tifa again cradled Cloud's head in her hands, and started from the beginning. Something in Cloud's mind had driven him crazy, causing him to leave Nibelheim, murder Reeve, and steal the Black Materia in an effort to summon Meteor. This would likely wipe out life on the Planet, but would break the barrier between living and dead, allowing him a brief time to be with Aeris. Aeris, presumably not as enthusiastic about this possibility as Cloud was, had given Tifa one hint, "don't delude yourself." Tifa was still trying to come up with a way to get in touch with Cloud.

She sighed, running a hand through her blood-stained hair. Maybe she was deluding herself by thinking that she could get through to Cloud this way. Maybe she'd be better off trying to figure out what had caused Cloud to snap. Whether it was some monster she didn't know about, or that damned sword, or...

It clicked. "Don't delude yourself."

Once again she reached out to Cloud's mind, this time trying to articulate her thoughts. "I'm having trouble believing it, but... something that's a part of you caused this, didn't it? It's not a sword or a monster that made you do these things; you did them. I still can't believe that you'd do something like this, with your own will... but, well... I can't help it. I still love you, Cloud, no matter what happens. We still have time. Will you listen to me?"

As before when trying to reach him, Tifa felt like she was surrounded by blackness, with a dark barrier before her. This time, a small, almost intangible slit opened in the barrier for her.

Something inside Cloud awoke.

On to Chapter 5.

Back to Lifestream.