FFVII – Part 40: The Manchurian Candidate

Summary: Cait Sith sacrifices either a stuffed toy or an innocent cat (still not sure which) to get us the Black Materia. Which we lose like two seconds later as Sephiroth draws on some connection with Cloud to force him to give it up. Aeris goes to confront him, and the rest of the party follows.


Clockland

-We head back to the XII door, and this time “it’s warm.” Probably a bad thing.

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT

-It’s DemonGates! Long time no see. Hope the Sealed Cave has been treating you TERRIBLY I HATE YOU.

-Not too tough a fight. Unlike the FFIV version, he doesn’t give me a countdown and instant death “Crush” hits.

-Cait Sith genuinely seems to want to help now, so I guess I’ll let his ginormous betrayal go for now.

-He’s going to read us a fortune before he goes. I’m kind of nervous.

-Aeris wants the fortune to be about “how compatible Cloud and I are.” (Sorry – I like you, Aeris, I think you’re awesome and the best, but I hope they don’t force it.)

-He says the fortune is about how perfect Aeris and Cloud are for each other, and then, under his breath, says, “Poor Tifa.” !!! And holy crap, is Cait Sith ever on board. Offering to officiate their marriage even.

-He leaves.

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Mural Room

-Cait Sith wanders in here, over the moon that he was able to regain our trust. I’m still not sure why he cares so much, or what his motivation was as a spy in the first place, or anything about him really.

-The earth starts to shake, rattle and roll.

-He gives a little farewell, “don’t forget me speech,” then solves the puzzle.

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Outside the Temple

-The temple gets enveloped by a green/black aura and shrinks to bite-size.

-We now have the Black Materia, but need a place of great spiritual energy to actually use it. The Promised Land.

-How can Sephiroth even get there if he’s not an Ancient? And what are he and Jenova anyway?

-Sephiroth: “…Ah, but I have.” The music turns ominous as he appears.

-Sephiroth: “Wake up!” ...He wasn’t talking to Jenova. He was talking to some inner part of Cloud that responds to him. It’s some kind of mind control, and Sephiroth makes Cloud give him the Black Materia.

-Sephiroth then flies away. Because he can fly.

-WTF Cloud starts beating the crap out of Aeris? How is he still mind-controlled?

-AND CAIT SITH #2 JUMPS DOWN. That was fast.

-Cloud goes unconscious. Fade to white. The lines between memory and dream are blurry for Cloud now.

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A Wood

-This must be Cloud’s dream.

-He keeps seeing different version of Aeris bouncing around.

-It sounds like she’s walking off to deal with Sephiroth herself, and leaving Cloud to recover.

Found under the Wikipedia entry for “badass.”

-Oh, I was wrong – it’s not in his head. It’s the “Sleeping Forest,” around the City of the Ancients. Or maybe it’s in his head and he’s dreaming about the Sleeping Forest? Maybe it’s a dreamscape with a specific location, only accessible by the City. Hm.

-She runs off to fight Sephiroth.

-After she runs off, Sephiroth drops down from the trees. “We must stop that girl soon.” He says this to Cloud. Probably still controlling him in some way.

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Gongaga Village

-Aeris had run off. Cloud, quite reasonable imo, doesn’t want to just chase after her to help until he gets his mind control thing solved.

-Barret decides to lay on a totally unjustified and unnecessary guilt trip, that it was Cloud’s fault for losing the Black Materia. No, dude. Not at all. He didn’t know he’d be controlled by Sephiroth.

-Barret tries to buck him up, saying plenty of people don’t know themselves and have to press on. I mean… yes? But most of those people aren’t literally mind-controlled by people they’re going after.

-Now this I like more. Outside the home they were staying in, Barret says basically that whatever happens happens. If Cloud gets mind controlled, Barret and Tifa have his back to help him out.

-Let’s go help Aeris.

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Next time: the search for the City of the Ancients.