Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Search is Over ❯ Perversion of the Truth ( Chapter 5 )

Note: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

A/N: Suggestions of rape in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Perversion of the Truth

 

Tifa opened her eyes and gazed at the familiar cream color that was painted on her ceiling. She blinked a few times to orient herself to her surroundings. She was back in her room lying naked on her bed with a comforter tossed over her body protecting her skin from the cold air. She didn't remember going to bed or even what day it was. She stared at the ceiling slightly confused realizing that she never went to bed completely nude.

 

The last thing she could remember was being at Aeris's memorial for a reason she couldn't recollect. Tilting her head to the side, her eyes landed on the clock beside her bed. The bright red numbers read 3:00 a.m. She should be asleep, but Tifa didn't feel physically tired, only mentally exhausted.

 

She walked to the bathroom hoping that a hot shower would clear her mind. Her legs felt like jelly and she almost lost her balance as she took her first step out of bed. Her eyes caught the sight of a thin trail of blood running down her legs. Maybe it's that time of the month again. She silently thought to herself as a justification for her state of confusion and slight fatigue. Somehow that thought wasn't convincing enough as a part of her swore that she still had a week before her period.

 

Tifa finally made her way to the bathroom and the cold floor tiles gave her body a sudden jolt. She quickly turned the facet on and anxiously waited until the water was at the perfect temperature before entering the shower. Hot streams of water ran down her body, washing away all the dirt and grimy residue on her skin. She scrubbed rigorously at her thighs to remove the congealed blood on her legs.

 

The shower should have calmed her, but Tifa only felt empty inside as her chest heaved with her choked sobs. She was crying and she didn't know why. She wanted to talk to someone and ease her worries. She thought about calling Cloud, but a nagging feeling in her body told her that Cloud didn't want to talk to her. Her head ached with a dull pain as she pictured her childhood friend.

 

Somehow the only memories that would surface were bitter ones. Tifa had always been patient with her childhood friend, but an image of her snapping at Cloud surfaced among her memories.

 

“You're always thinking about yourself, Cloud Strife! You sit around all day sulking over Aeris's death and don't even consider my feelings or anyone else's!”

 

“No Tifa! You're the only one thinking about yourself! I've been working hard to keep the peace around the Midgar Ruins and finding a way to bring back a woman who saved the planet. But what have you been doing? Just whining to me about how I'm not paying enough attention to you! You're being the selfish bitch Tifa!”

 

Tifa instinctively brought her first forward and punched Cloud square in the face. “How dare you call me a bitch!”

 

Cloud held back his hand that wanted to slap Tifa across the face. Instead of voicing his anger, the man held an icy gaze with the martial artist and stormed off in silence.

 

That was the last conversation she had with Cloud. The rest of her recollections pictured Cloud packing his things and leaving her because of their bitter argument. Tifa thought that this memory couldn't possibly be real and was only a nightmare: something that her worst fears were imaging. But like how her skin could feel the ache in her legs and the hot water running down her body, her knuckles could still feel the burn from punching Cloud. She was not having a nightmare; everything she remembered had to be real.

 

She wanted to talk with someone else, to confirm that her memories were really true. She first thought of Yuffie whom she had become close friends with during there journey to stop Meteor. Suddenly Tifa's head ached with a dull pain. She clutched her head and clenched her teeth to fight the headache. After the pain had passed, another strange memory surfaced.

 

“Hey, Tifa! You know how Sephiroth's all dead now and we've finally finished fighting?” the young ninja spewed her words out ecstatically.

 

“Yeah?” Tifa inquired with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Well . . . I was thinking that you won't be needing your materia anymore and since I happen to like them, would you mind giving them to me, huh? Would ya? Please, please please!” Yuffie practically begged.

 

“Fine, take them. Just stop pestering me,” Tifa said as she threw her materia at the young ninja.

 

“Jeez, watch it with the attitude. I thought you were much friendlier than that you know,” Yuffie said annoyed while picking up the orbs of materia that fell on the floor. “Too bad Aeris isn't around anymore. She would have just handed me her materia without throwing them at me.”

 

“Don't compare me to her!” Tifa shouted.

 

“Why not? Because you know that you'll never be able to be with Cloud unless he pays you like the whore you are?”

 

Tifa swung around and slapped Yuffie in the face harshly. “Don't you dare call me a whore you little thief. I gave you my materia because you begged me to give it to you, not out of my own accord. And I would never stoop so low as to sell my body unlike you.”

 

“How dare you strike me! How dare you insult the Princess of Wutai! You should have been the one who was killed by Sephiroth, not Aeris. Don't ever come to Wutai again if you value your life you stupid ho!” Yuffie screamed before running off to nurse her hurt cheek.

 

Tifa's eyes widened as the memory faded. She never thought that she was capable of being so malicious to anyone, especially Yuffie, who had become her surrogate sister. Yuffie wasn't the jovial ninja Tifa remembered but a spoiled brat who sounded furious with her biting words. Those words replayed in Tifa's mind as each syllable dug a little deeper into her heart. I couldn't have done that to Yuffie, could I? But she must have because the memory was as clear as day.

 

Her thoughts wandered to all the other AVALANCHE members only resulting in another bitter memory to resurface, memories that she could swear she never had before. They were all different but ended with the same result: everyone hated her.

 

Tifa cradled her body as she slunk in the shower stall, letting her tears be washed away from the hot water. She felt alone and delirious. She wanted to ask someone, anyone if her memories were false or not, but she had no one she could turn to whom she didn't think despised her.

 

Tifa sat in the shower crying and hoping that the pain in her heart and body would eventually go away and leave her in peace. Unfortunately for Tifa, she would find no peace tonight as a voice inside her head echoed the same words over and over again.

 

“Go to the Northern Crater.”

 

Tifa remembered that was what Aeris wanted her to do. She mentally asked Aeris's voice if what she remembered was true, but the only response she received were the same five words.

 

“Go to the Northern Crater.”

 

Tifa covered her ears in the vain hope it would stop the voice, but the voice only got louder and louder.

 

“Go to the Northern Crater.”

 

Tifa turned the knob to shut off the shower and stood listening to the voice and the slow dripping of water on the tiles. Her body felt helpless and her mind broken as she finally gave into the request of Aeris's voice.

 

“Ok, I'll go.”

 

* * *

 

The sun blazed against the scorching rocks of Cosmo Canyon. The rays of light occasionally danced along the rocky walls as Cloud maneuvered his chocobo towards the small rocky town of Cosmo Canyon. It was a peaceful day to ride out and the scenery only added to the tranquility.

 

He remembered the first time he visited the Canyon when they were riding Dios's dune buggy. It had broken down along the outskirts to the city. They had been quite fortunate to find Nanaki's village. He couldn't fathom traversing as far as they did on their quest to defeat Sephiroth without the help of Bugenhagen, Nanaki's grandfather.

 

Bugenhagen was also the one who taught Cloud about the lifestream. If it weren't for his knowledge and guidance AVALANCHE would never have learned of Holy's power or how to defeat Meteor after destroying Sephiroth. AVALANCHE knew that Bugenhagen had mentioned that his time was drawing near, but none of them expected it to come as soon as it did.

 

Nanaki took his grandfather's death the hardest as they only spent a few weeks together after celebrating the destruction of Meteor. Cloud also mourned for the wise man's loss. He knew that the planet lost a library of knowledge through Bugenhagen. Despite his death, Bugenhagen had worn a smile until the very end and entrusted Nanaki with all the knowledge and wealth that Cosmo Canyon had to offer.

 

That was one of the main reasons why Cloud was traveling to Cosmo Canyon today. The entrance loomed over the horizon and Cloud could see some of the eager, younger inhabitants of the Canyon racing towards Cloud as he trotted into camp on his golden chocobo. Cloud smiled as the children gathered around him and asked to help him unload his luggage.

 

Cloud knew that his heavier bags were going to be too much for the young children, so he opened up one of the bags containing jars of samples and handed each child a jar.

 

“Make sure that these jars get to Nanaki's laboratory, understood?”

 

“Yes, sir!” they all replied in unison before running in all different directions to get to Nanaki's laboratory the quickest.

 

No sooner after the children had run off with the samples did Cloud catch sight of his old friend and companion, Nanaki.

 

“Cloud, it's good to see you again,” the sentient creature said as he lowered his head in a bow.

 

“The same goes for you, Nanaki. I'm glad to see that you've trained your pupils well,” as Cloud returned the bow.

 

“Yes, children are always enthusiastic to learn as long as you make learning a game. But please, sit around the Cosmo Candle with me so we can discuss what you have brought me and also what I have learned.”

 

Cloud watched as his friend's face fall in concern. Cloud sat in front of the Cosmo Candle letting the warmth of the fire ease his mind. The last part of that sentence was what he dreaded the most. Nanaki had finished his research on the distortions in the Northern Crater. The pair didn't want to break the solace and peace the candle gave them, but the fate of the planet was more important and Nanaki knew that the information he was about to tell Cloud could forecast imminent doom.

 

“Are you ready to hear what I discovered?”

 

“As ready as I'll ever be, but judging from your expression. It's not good news,” Cloud said while turning towards Nanaki to give him his full attention.

 

“You assumed correctly. I've been monitoring the energy fluctuations that have been recorded at the Northern Crater and they have not held any distinct pattern or appear to infringe on the surrounding areas. The energy also doesn't appear to power anything that I can determine. Though this may sound disconcerting, I did some research on the type of energy being released and appears to be radio waves.”

 

“Radio waves? What's significant about that?” Cloud asked.

 

“They're the same energy that we use to transmit signals from our PHS and other various telecommunication devices. These waves have also been theorized to be the same waves people with psychic powers generate.”

 

“How could that be possible? Nothing should even be alive in the Northern Crater after the lifestream exploded and filled the crater up like a lake.”

 

“Yes, I agree with you about that. But I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a strong possibility that our old enemies may have survived the battle over half-a year ago. Would you like me to tell you my theory?”

 

“Tell me everything,” Cloud said with a grave look.

 

“I'll start from the very beginning. Based on the data and information I could gather on the Jenova Project from Hojo's old files, Sephiroth had been injected with Jenova cells at birth. This granted him the power of Jenova and also allowed his body ample time to develop those powers so his body didn't have the drastic physical side effects as Hojo's other experiments.

 

“I still haven't determined what Jenova is, but the creature seems to hold some telekinetic power and internal magic source which I deduced by our battles with the creature. If this is correct, it would explain the radio waves we detected.”

 

“So Jenova is still trying to stir up trouble? This is not good. What about Sephiroth?” Cloud inquired.

 

“This is where is gets a little complicated so please bare with me. Jenova has the ability to control her own cells that exist outside her body as I'm sure you're well aware of,” Nanaki stated as he watched Cloud nod in agreement.

 

“As you well know, Sephiroth has been injected with the most of her cells, technically making him Jenova's son if you wish to put it into words. This grants the General those same abilities that Jenova has, though he's not as strong with them as his mother. But I also learned from Hojo's notes that he had done some alterations with Sephiroth's genetics so he wouldn't become another mindless Jenova spawn.

 

“I tested the cells we collected of Sephiroth and compared them with the cells of the Jenova spawns that Vincent had killed and found an interesting discovery. Apparently Hojo's alterations had made the Jenova cells give the General some healing abilities.”

 

“Healing abilities?” Cloud said confused.

 

“Yes, when I put the thriving Jenova cells next to Sephiroth's cells, Sephiroth's cells would conjugate and multiply,” Nanaki said seriously.

 

“Does that mean Sephiroth could still be alive?”

 

“I'm afraid so. When we killed Jenova and Sephiroth, we left them both in the Northern Crater. Even though you killed him, it's possible that Sephiroth's cells are being healed by being near Jenova's body.”

 

“How do we stop him if he's just going to be revived by Jenova?”

 

“I'm glad you asked. In my various experiments, I learned that Jenova cells can live up to twenty-four hours outside a host body, but after that interval is up, the cells eventually die. If we can extract the cells from Jenova's host or kill the host body, within twenty-four hours Sephiroth will have no means to regenerate his body and we can destroy him.”

 

“Twenty-four hours! That's a long time to wait. Is there a faster way to kill Jenova?” Cloud asked hopefully.

 

“I thought you might ask that,” Nanaki chuckled. “In fact there is.”

 

Cloud breathed a sigh of relief as he listened to his friend.

 

“As you know, Sephiroth dropped various pieces of Jenova's body for us to fight. During these fights, I observed how fire would destroy the living Jenova cells. I also experimented with some of the samples Vincent provided and proved that fire indeed will destroy the cells instantly.”

 

“Then there is still hope for us yet. Do you think Sephiroth has taken physical form yet?”

 

“It's highly probable. Given the amount of time he and Jenova have spent in the Northern Crater together, yes. I think it's time to let everyone else know about our findings,” Nanaki said cautiously.

 

“With Cid and Shera's wedding coming so soon, I'm not sure if we should. Have you already told Reeve?”

 

“Yes, and he shared the same concerns as you did about the wedding. Though I understand both of your reasoning's, I also fear what Sephiroth may be doing or has already done.”

 

“I know what you mean Nanaki. A part of me wants to go to the Northern right now, but the other part knows that if this is Sephiroth we're dealing with, we should enjoy as much of our waking hours as we can . . . because they could be our last,” Cloud said with a heavy heart.

 

“Very well put my friend. Then we will wait until after the wedding. I'll keep monitors posted around the Northern Crater to make sure nothing changes.”

 

“Thank you Nanaki. I'm certainly glad we have your knowledge to guide us,” Cloud said warmly. “Though this time, I hope you're wrong.”

 

“I also hope I am, but unfortunately the facts and data say that I'm not.”

 

“Then we're going to have to prepare for the fight of our lives, and this time we're going to finish it,” Cloud stated with conviction.

 

The pair spent the rest of the evening planning out the ensuing battle that they would have to fight and calculating the probability that the radio waves being emitting from the Northern Crater were not from Jenova. However, their hearts knew that the creature and her son were still alive. They knew that it was only a matter of time before a new threat arose after the fall of ShinRa and the destruction of Meteor. They only wished that it hadn't come so soon.

(continued…)