Final Fantasy VII Web Novels

The Story

The five of them, Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aeris and Red XIII were split up into three different cells. Barret with Red XIII, Tifa with Cloud and Aeris on her own. The cells were close enough for them to talk to each other. Barret can be heard talking about how he was going to recruit more members for Avalanche. Aeris would be one of them. Cloud was surprised that Aeris was in the cell next to them when he heard her voice. She was happy Cloud came to save her. Not knowing Tifa was in the same cell, she whispered about their deal about a date. Tifa pricked up her ears as she thought she knew why Cloud cared so much about Aeris.

Putting that aside though, she asks Aeris if the Promised Land really existed. All she knew was that the Cetra was born from the planet and they could communicate with it. When they died, they would reach the Promised Land were they would have supreme happiness. It was something that not even words could describe. Tifa continues asking what does the planet actually say. Aeris answers it's full of people and noise so she can't make out what they're saying. She couldn't hear it from where they were now but she can when she's in the church. She was planning to leave Midgar someday so that she could find her Promised Land. There was nothing else they could at the time being so they decided to sleep.

It wasn't long before Cloud woke up. His cell door was open. Who could have left it open? Something was wrong. Walking outside, Cloud found a dead guard. He rushed back to wake up Tifa then they both went to wake up the others. Red XIII decided to go scout ahead. Barret was going to stay behind a bit to clean up the mess while Cloud went with the others.

Outside the corridors and where the glass chamber was, dead bodies were everywhere. A large trail of what looked like blood lead from the container where Jenova was to the small elevator. The container looked like it was smashed open. Red XIII followed the trail up as did Cloud and the others. It was leading all the way up the stairs to where the president was.

Upon arriving in the room, the president laid there dead with a long sword stuck in his back. It looked like Sephiroth was here. Only him could yield such a sword. A plump figure appeared from behind one of the pillars. He was Palmer, one of the executives from the meeting earlier. He tried to get away but Cloud and Barret grabbed hold of him. He confimed it was Sephiroth. While he was here, he said something about not letting the Shinra have the Promised Land. Not knowing Sephiroth, both Barret and Tifa wondered if he was a good guy.Cloud was very sure he was not. He was up to something else. Either way it seemed it was the end of Shinra to Barret.

Just then, a helicopter was hovering outside. Palmer broke free and ran outside. It was the vice president Rufus, the president's son. After hearing what happened here, he introduced himself as the new president. While his father controlled people with money and it look as if Shinra was there to help them, he was going to do things differently. He was going to control everyone with fear. Cloud had no time for this and told Barret to get everyone out of the building while he took care of Rufus. The real crisis was just starting. Rufus said that Sephiroth was an Ancient too and he was looking to unlock the way to the Promised Lands. Cloud wasn't going to let that happen but before he could get to Rufus, he got away on his helicopter.

Tifa was waiting for Cloud at the elevators. Together they went down to meet up with Aeris, Barret and Red XIII again. They were surrounded at the entrance. Just then, Cloud thought of something and disappeared. Tifa signalled the others to follow her down to the parking lot where they got onto a truck. Cloud came zooming down the stairs on a motorbike. Together they smashed through the glass and landed onto the highway. The Shinra soldiers were hot on their pursuit. Cloud did what he can to fend them off away from the truck until reached the end of the highway. They managed to escape. Now that Cloud found out Sephiroth was alive, he had a score to settle with him. Everyone else decided to join him for their own reasons. Barret and Tifa wanted to help save the planet, Aeris wanted to know more about her race and many other things. On the other hand, Red XIII was going to go back to his hometown but he was going to travel with them until then. Barret decided it was too dangerous for them to travel together so they split into two parties and headed for the town of Kalm in the northeast.

Arriving at the inn in Kalms, everyone was waiting to hear Cloud's story about Sephiroth and what he had to do with what was happening. Long ago, he had wanted to join Soldier and become like Sephiroth. After he joined Solider, it wasn't long before they became war buddies as the trust between them grew. Soon after the war, it was Soldier's duty to wipeout any of Shinra's resistance. This happened five years ago when Cloud was only sixteen...

* * *

On the truck, Cloud was very excited about the mission. It seemed something big and he had some new Materia to try out. Sephiroth was with him on this mission and gave him a briefing. They were to investigate a Mako Reactor in Nibelheim that was malfunctioning for some reason. It was generating some vicious creatures in the area and they were to clear them out then try and solve the problem. Nibelheim was a name familiar to Cloud. It was where he was born. Suddenly, something crashed into the truck. It was one of the monsters. Cloud was amazed at Sephiroth's strength as he defeated it in a flash.

Soon, they arrived at Nibelheim. Sephiroth wondered how Cloud felt being back in his hometown. He was curious because he didn't know how it felt being back since he had no hometown. He said his mother was Jenova who died after giving birth to him but he didn't continue.

* * *

Barret interrupted and remembered the specimen they saw at Shinra HQ. It was also called Jenova. He was going to ask more questions but Tifa stopped him so that Cloud could continue.

* * *

It was a quiet town. No one was around. Maybe they were afraid of the monsters... or them. Sephiroth suggested that they get some rest early since they were going to leave at dawn. He also let them visit their friends and families.

Cloud decided to get some rest early and went inside the inn. There he met a man named Zangan. He was a fighter that taught pupils around the world how techniques on how to fight. Tifa was one of them in this village. Cloud went upstairs to find Sephiroth gazing out the window. He said the scenery here looked familiar.He suggested Cloud go get some sleep since they had an early start. They had hired a guide to lead them there in the morning.

Next morning, Cloud was the last to get up. Moments after he joined Sephiroth again, the guide arrived. It turned out to be his childhood friend Tifa. Cloud was worried and didn't want to her to be any danger. Sephiroth assured them it would be all right. Cloud could look after her. Just before they set off for Mt. Nibel, a fan of Sephiroth's asked for a picture to be taken. After he took a picture of Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth together, they departed.

The mountain air was cold and the high areas looked very dangerous. Tifa was leading them across a rope bridge when it suddenly snapped. Everyone fell down but seemed to be all right. A soldier was missing but Sephiroth had no time to search for him. They made their way through the intertwining caves in the mountain. They were lit by a light which Sephiroth recognised as Mako energy. Mt. Nibel was so abundant that it was the reason why a reactor was built there.

Before long, they came across a Mako fountain too. Tifa was mesmerized at its beauty but then a thought came to her. If the Mako reactor continued to extract the Mako here, the fountain would soon dry up. Sephiroth walked over and explained how Materia was made by condencing Mako energy. It was rare to see it in its natural form. But Cloud was puzzled at how magic could be used by making use of Materia. Sephiroth explains that the Materia contains the knowledge of the Ancients. It's said that when the knowledge from the Materia is used, the user can make use of the planet's power thus calling up magic.

Soon they finally make it to the reactor. Tifa also wanted to go inside but Cloud didn't want her in danger. Sephiroth didn't let her in either because of the many Shinra secrets that laid within. Tifa wasn't happy as a guard was told to watch over her.

Deep inside the reactor, they found a doorway with the word "Jenova" above it. The door wouldn't open. An eery red glow was everywhere and rows of blue cylindrical tanks labelled "Gospel" surrounded both sides of the stairs that lead to the door. Sephiroth looked around and said one of the lower tanks were broken. As Cloud was ordered to turn off the valve, Sephiroth wondered why it broke. He peered into a nearby tank and found out what Hojo was up to but he said Hojo would never get to the level of Professor Gast.

The tanks around them were responsible for condencing the raw Mako energy in the mountain and Sephiroth gave Cloud a little test to see if he remembered what happened when the enery was further condensed. Cloud remembered he said it would become Materia. That was what would normally happen but something else was in the tanks. Sephiroth let Cloud see for himself.

Cloud peered into the window and saw an onimous looking face staring back at him. He fell down with a fright. Sephiroth goes on to explain that members of Soldier were humans that were exposed to Mako. Cloud was one of them but he was different. He was still human. The ones inside the tanks were exposed to a much higher degree of Mako. In other words, the monsters that were out there were really organisms that were mutated by Mako. Hojo was conducting experiments this way.

Suddenly, Sephiroth realized that he too could have been created the same way. Anger burned in him as he slashed away at the tanks.

* * *

Everyone was surprised that the Mako reactors held such a dark secret about them. It explained why there was such an increase in monsters lately. It didn't make Barret like the Shinra any more than he already did. Tifa remained quiet.

* * *

After the incident in the reactor, Sephiroth locked himself up inside the biggest building in Nibelheim. It was an old mansion that people from Shinra used to live in. Cloud decided to go inside and see what he was doing.

The mansion was an old building full of creaking floorboards with bearly any light getting through. Everywhere had thick layers of dust on them. Sephiroth was no where to be seen. Cloud went headed upstairs and found one of the soldiers there. He said he saw Sephiroth go into one of the rooms but he disappeared. The room was like the others in the mansion, lots of old unused furniture but a round cylindrical wall caught Cloud's eye. Inspecting it, a secret passage opened up. A long spiral, dangerously old looking staircase lead all the way down. Cloud made his way down.

There he found an old laboratory with lots of aparatus and bookcases. Sephiroth was there pacing around reading something out loud.

"...an organism that was apparently dead, was found in a 2000 year old geological stratum. Professor Gast named that organism, Jenova..."

"X Year, X Month, X Day. Jenova confirmed to be an Ancient ..."

"X Year, X Month, X Day. Jenova Project approved. The use of Mako Reactor I approved for use..."

Sephiroth remembers his mother was named Jenova. Could it just be a coincidence? Cloud tried speaking to Sephiroth but he wanted to be left alone. For days he continued reading all there was in the underground laboratory.

Soon, Cloud decided to go check on Sephiroth again. As walked through the passage he heard Sephiroth laughing. He had found out more about the Jenova Project and the Ancients. The Ancients were an itirinate race who would migrate to a planet to settle things before moving on. They would reach the Promised Lands as their harsh journeys closed to an end. But there were those who stopped migrating and chose to settle on this planet by making use of what the Cetra (or Ancients) made. Those were Cloud's ancestors, Sephiroth claimed. Eventually, a disaster struck the planet and only those ancestors survived because they hid. After the planet was saved by sacrficing the Cetra, the number of Cloud's ancestors increased significantly.

Sephiroth now fully realized he was part of the Jenova Project. The organism found was an Ancient and was used to produce beings that had the same power as them. The result of Dr. Gast's work was Sephiroth.

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing. Before he could stop Sephiroth, he was already out to see where his mother, Jenova was. Everyone was a traitor in the eyes of Sephiroth now.

As Cloud raced his way out of the building, he was greeted by the village in flames. Zangan was there helping the wounded. Dead bodies of both villagers and Shinra soldiers were lying about everywhere. Just as Zangan and Cloud goes off to check the other buildings for survivors, Cloud catches sight of Sephiroth in the distance. He watched helplessly as Sephiroth slayed the villagers he found one by one before disappearing again. Cloud knew where he was headed.

At the entrance of the reactor, Cloud found Tifa crying next to her father. He was dead with Sephiroth's long sword lying next to him. Crying out with hatred picking up the sword and running into the reactor. Inside, Sephiroth was just about to enter the door. Tifa cries out at him for killing his father and the villagers before charging towards him with the sword. But she was no match for him. Sephiroth easily caught hold of her hand before retrieving the sword and slashed Tifa with it. Tifa went tumbling down the stairs. Sephiroth enters the next room where Jenova was as Cloud arrives at the scene.

He walks up to the heavily injured Tifa and carries her over to one of the tanks so that she could sit in a more comfortable position. Tifa reminds him of the promise they had. How he would come for her if she was in trouble. Cloud walks on into the room where Sephiroth was.

Inside was a room full of canisters and wires everywhere. In the centre was a steel statue with wings. Sephiroth stood in front of it speaking out to it as if it was Jenova. Cloud bursts in angrily as he shouts at Sephiroth for destroying his hometown. But Sephiroth didn't seem to care. He continues talking to his mother and then rips away the steel statue. Behind lay the real Jenova preserved inside a glass tank. He was ready to help his mother take back the world from the traitors.

Cloud trusted Sephiroth but now only rage and sadness filled him. He dashed towards Sephiroth.

* * *

And that was all Cloud could remember. With his skill, he couldn't have killed Sephiroth but it was reported in the newspapers that he was dead. On the other hand though, Shinra controlled the press so they could write whatever they wanted. Something didn't make sense though. If Sephiroth got to Jenova, how did it end up in the Shinra building? Why did he decide to take it now? Cloud also wanted to know why Sephiroth didn't kill him so he was keen to press on and find him.