AERITH: [V-O]
Morning, sleepyhead.
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: It's all right, Cloud. All is forgiven.
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: It's not over yet, Cloud. I'm going to fix this.
AERITH: It's not over yet, Cloud. I'm going to fix this. Just leave Sephiroth to me.
CLOUD: [V-O]
Aerith, what is this place?
AERITH: This is the Sleeping Forest. It leads to the city of the Ancients.
That's where I need to go to stop Sephiroth. CLOUD: That's perfect. I can grab the others—
AERITH: No, it has to be me. Only a Cetra can stop Sephiroth now.
I'll be back when this is all over.
I'll be back when this is all over. Please take care of yourself and the others, Cloud.
CLOUD: Aerith! Come back!!
CLOUD: Aerith! Come back!! AEERRIIIITH!!
Aerith...
Aerith... What about the promise I made?
SEPHIROTH: [V-O]
CLOUD [terrified]: S-S-Sephiroth...
SEPHIROTH: Cloud...
SEPHIROTH: Cloud... if you don't
SEPHIROTH: Cloud... if you don't biggity
SEPHIROTH: Cloud... if you don't biggity-bounce
SEPHIROTH: Cloud... if you don't biggity-bounce your ass up out of this bed...
CLOUD: Huh??
BARRET: THEN I'M GONNA WAKE YO ASS UP BY KNOCKING YOUR ASS OUT!
[cheerily] Also, good morning, sleepyhead.
[♪ INTRO THEME ♪]
CLOUD: W-where am I? GRIEVING WIFE [O-S]: H-Haroooold!!
BARRET: Gongaga Village. TIFA: Listen Cloud...
Cait Sith found you unconscious in the crater where the Temple of the Ancients used to be.
Without Aerith.
So, uh, what's up with that? CLOUD: ...The City of the Ancients.
Aerith told me that's where she's going. To stop Sephiroth.
BARRET: By herself!? The hell's that flower girl gonna do to Sephiroth!? Surprise him with a bouquet full of bees!?
We gotta go after her! CLOUD: Yeah, I agree.
TIFA: Alright, then let's get ready!
TIFA: Alright, then let's get read— CLOUD: No, I... I can't go.
BARRET: What do you mean "You can't go", Cloud?
CLOUD [choking up]: I...
CLOUD [choking up]: I... I just can't.
TIFA: Hey Barret, can you give us a second, please?
BARRET: Okay, then.
BARRET: Okay, then. But if you need me, I'm gonna go check out the marvel that is Gongaga Village.
[outside] EVERYTHING'S SO SAD!!
TIFA: Okay Cloud, what's up? Why all of a sudden is it that you can't go after Sephiroth?
CLOUD: 'Cause... I'll ruin everything just like I did at the Temple.
I gave Sephiroth the Black Materia! All he had to do was tell me what to do, and I did it!
I'm scared.
I'm scared that if I get close to him again, he'll make me do something horrible to Aerith, or the group, or you...!
TIFA: CLOUD!
I'm gonna do you a solid, and make sure that it'll never come to that.
CLOUD: But...! TIFA: No "buts"!
This isn't just about getting revenge anymore!
The whole world's at stake. CLOUD: I just...
I don't think I can keep going.
TIFA: I'll be outside with the others if you change your mind.
Cloud, ask yourself:
Cloud, ask yourself: is this right?
[door shuts]
CLOUD: "Ask myself". I barely know who I am anymore...
???: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
???: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
???: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
???: [V-O]
CAIT SITH II: ...And that's pretty much everything that happened at the Temple of the Ancients.
So in summary...
YUFFIE: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIIE!!!
CID: Will you calm the f**k down!? He ain't summoned Meteor yet, so we can still stop him.
YUFFIE: Well, how do *you* know!?
CID: 'Cause I don't see a giant f**king flaming ball of death hurling towards us!!
RED: I sometimes see a giant ball in the sky and howl at it.
It taunts me.
BARRET: Tifa?
TIFA: We don't know when Sephiroth's gonna summon Meteor.
TIFA: So we better get a move on.
TIFA: So we better get a move on. CLOUD: We better get a move on.
[Everyone welcoming Cloud]
CAIT SITH: Welcome back, Cloud. We were worried that if you didn't show up,
we'd have to move all our insults to Vincent.
CID: F**K THAT!!! That dude eats people!!
CLOUD: I'm the reason that Aerith ran off to fight Sephiroth on her own.
I gave Sephiroth the Black Materia, because somehow he's able to control me.
I'm not sure why, and I'm scared that it'll happen again.
But I made a promise to Aerith to never leave her side, and I'm not gonna break that out of fear of losing myself!
I know who I am!
I'm SOLDIER.
I'm Cloud Strife.
BARRET: Hold on, your last name is "Strife"!?
BARRET: Hold on, your last name is "Strife"!? That's a BADASS name.
CLOUD: So what do you say, guys? Who wants to save the world!?
[Everyone cheers in agreement]
CID: Alright, kid, where to? CLOUD: The City of the Ancients!!
CID: And where is that?
CLOUD: I. DON'T. KNOW.
[Everyone grumbles]
CLOUD: Hey, she just told me where she was going, not where it is!
Besides, we can use Red's nose to track her.
BARRET: Can you do it, best buddy?
RED: I'll give it a shot, bestester buddy.
RED: I'll give it a shot, bestester buddy. [sniff sniff]
Oh... oh my Dog. CLOUD: What is it, Red? What does your nose see?
RED: I-
RED: I-It's beautiful.
There's K-now-ledge everywhere!
[tearing up] And there's people.
[tearing up] And there's people... *helping* one another.
It's a paradise.
It's a paradise. It's a U-too-pia!
It's a paradise. It's a U-too-pia! *IT'S...*
CLOUD: *disappointed* A dig site.
RED [O-S]: SO BEAUTIFUUUUUL!!!
DIG LEADER: Hwehlcawm too dah bown veela mahn! CLOUD: Uhhhh...
DIG ASSISTANT: He said "Welcome to the Bone Village! The number one archaeological site on the planet".
CLOUD: You're the *only* archaeological site, aren't you. DIG ASSISTANT: And that makes us the best!
DIG LEADER: Wabba dabba doh...! [continues] DIG ASSISTANT: So what can we do for you?
Looking for anything underground?
VINCENT: Vacancy.
VINCENT: Vacancy. MOG: For two.
CLOUD: Sorry, I'm not here to dig, I just want to know if anyone saw a girl in a pink dress,
with a red jacket and a red ribbon, I think, and also a big staff, pass by.
DIG LEADER: Hweh dwas a gahl...! [continues] ASSISTANT: Well there was a girl that walked by here...
She was talking about some holy city or something?
CLOUD: That's gotta be the City of the Ancients! Which way she go? How'd you get there?
DIG LEADER: Deh onleh whay...! [continues]
DIG ASSISTANT: The only way to get there is through the forest, but it ain't recomended to go while it's asleep.
So you got to wake it up with the Lunar Harp.
It's buried somewhere around here, so you'll have to dig, but that'll cost ya.
CLOUD: Well, did *she* have to use the Lunar Harp to get through?
DIG LEADER: [completely unintelligible grumbling]
DIG ASSISTANT: No.
CLOUD: I'M COMING FOR YOU, AERITH!!
WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!
DID I PASS THAT TREE ALREADY!?!
Dammit, I'm getting nowhere! Feels like I'm going crazy!
CLOUD #2: Yeah, tell me about it.
CLOUD #3: Right there with you, pal.
DIG LEADER: Dey ahwlweh...! DIG ASSISTANT: They always come back to dig.
Now remember, the most important thing about archaeology...
is to *always *strategically place your workers...
CLOUD [impatient]: Here! Here! Here! And here!
[BOOM]
[chest creaks open]
[fly buzzes away]
CLOUD: Goddammit. DIG LEADER: Sho dat'll be—
CLOUD: IT COSTS THAT MUCH!?! DIG ASSISTANT: You understood what he said?
CLOUD: Nooope! But I know a scam when I hear one.
Y'know what? I don't *need* your crew! We can dig up the Lunar Harp ourselves.
[exhausted] Well, I've been digging for four hours and got nothing. How about you guys?
YUFFIE: Well, other than the mop Cid found, it's all been junk like Potions, and Ethers,
and Red's new chew toy. RED: ...om, glom, glom...
RED: What? [Lunar Harp rings out]
[footsteps]
CLOUD: Well, time to start looking.
AERITH!!!
CLOUD: AERITH!!! BARRET: AERITH!!! RED: [HOWLING]
CLOUD: AERITH!!! TIFA: AERITH!!! YUFFIE: AERITH!!!
CLOUD: AERITH!!! CID: AERITH!!! VINCENT: AERITH!!!
CLOUD: Where are you...?
CLOUD: So... anything...? TIFA: Nah... nothin'...
YUFFIE: Guys, you're not gonna believe it, but I JUST SAVED THE WOOORLD, YOOO!!
Check it! I found the Meteor Materiaaa!
TIFA: Actually, that's the Comet Materia. Totally different.
YUFFIE: Fine! I saved the city then! WOO! GO YUFFIE!
CLOUD: [big yawn] Alright, let's go back and hit those roads...
TIFA: What we should be hitting are these beds, and getting some rest.
YUFFIE: Dibs on bottom bunk! TIFA: There aren't any bunk beds here.
YUFFIE: Not with that attitude there, eh!
[POP] CLOUD: Tifa, we can't rest now.
Any time we spend not looking for Aerith— TIFA: —is time that she could be in danger. I know.
But it's not gonna help anyone if we find her in trouble, and we're barely able to function.
So, come on. You need your rest.
YUFFIE: I'm turning this bunk bed into a racecaaaaar! CLOUD: ...I'll try.
???: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
ZACK: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: [V-O]
CLOUD: [V-O]
AERITH: [V-O]
[AERITH'S V-O DISTORTED] CLOUD: [V-O]
SEPHIROTH: [V-O]
TIFA: Cloud? You're awake?
VINCENT: Were you having nightmares about
[deep and menacing] HO-O-O-O-O-JO-O-O-O-O
[calmly] experimenting on you too?
CLOUD: I know where she is.
TIFA: Cloud... CLOUD: I... I need to see her.
TIFA: We'll be here.
BARRET: You ain't scared that he'll lose himself?
TIFA: He won't.
TIFA: He won't. He can't.
TIFA: He won't. He can't. Not to her.
CLOUD: Aerith...
CLOUD: Aerith... what did you mean by "good-bye"?
Ugh!! I... agh...!! SEPHIROTH: End it.
*****: AAAGH.
TIFA: CLOUD, NO!!
TIFA: CLOUD, NO!! YUFFIE: NONONONONONO!!!
TIFA: CLOUD, NO!! YUFFIE: NONONONONONO!!! CID: DON'T BE A F**CKING NUMBSKULL!!!
YUFFIE: NONONONONONO!!! CID: DON'T BE A F**CKING NUMBSKULL!!! CAIT SITH: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!
CID: DON'T BE A F**CKING NUMBSKULL!!! CAIT SITH: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?! VINCENT: Noooo...!
CAIT SITH: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?! VINCENT: Noooo...! RED: Bad Human, drop it!
VINCENT: Noooo...! RED: Bad Human, drop it! BARRET: DON'T F**K UP!!!
RED: Bad Human, drop it! BARRET: DON'T F**K UP!!! ???: Cloud...!
*****: I...!!
*****: I...!! I'm sorry...!!
AERITH: [V-O]
CLOUD: GAH!
Aerith... I—
AERITH: It's alright, Cloud.
All is forgiven.
CLOUD: AERITH!!!
Come on,
Come on, come on,
Come on, come on, get up!
Come on, come on, get up! Please,
Come on, come on, get up! Please, please,
Come on, come on, get up! Please, please, get up!!
All is forgiven, right...?
All is forgiven...
SEPHIROTH: ...hh...heheheheheheheheh...
SEPHIROTH: heheheheheheheheh... CLOUD: First my mom...
CLOUD: First my mom... then my home...
...and now Aerith.
...and now Aerith. You...
...and now Aerith. You... you took them all away from me.
SEPHIROTH [venomous]: What hurts more, Cloud?
Holding another dead loved one in your arms...
Or breaking your promise to her?
CLOUD: ...the only thing I'm going to break...
CLOUD: ...the only thing I'm going to break... is your neck...!!
And I don't care if you can control me.
And I don't care if you can control me. I'm going to get free and take you out myself...!
And that's a promise that I am *going* to keep!!
SEPHIROTH: A heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...
Very well. You will find me at the Reunion.
SEPHIROTH: [V-O]
TIFA: Cloud— CLOUD: The Northern Crater. That's where we're going.