(We are at the Mako Reactor in Mt. Nibel. The group approaches the stairs up
to the entrance.)
Tifa
"We finally made it.
We sure took the long way though."
Cloud
"Tifa, you wait here."
Tifa
"I'm going inside
too! I wanna see!"
(Sephiroth climbs halfway up the stairs, then looks over his shoulder at Tifa.)
Sephiroth
"Only authorized people
are allowed in. This place is full of Shinra's industrial secrets."
Tifa
"But!"
(Sephiroth turns to the guard.)
Sephiroth
"Take care of the
lady."
(Cloud and Sephiroth climb up the stairs and enter the reactor. The guard blocks Tifa's path in.)
Tifa
"Mm, man!"
(She turns away and angrily plants her hands on her hips.)
Tifa
"Better take real
good care of me then!"
(We see Cloud following Sephiroth into the Mako reactor. Look at the
picture... look familiar? Cloud follows him through a door. The next room
is bathed in red light. There are many metal pods in rows, each with a clear glass
portal to look into. Sephiroth is standing at the top of the stairs leading
though the middle of the rows. There is a door by him. Above the door is
a plate with one word engraved on it- Jenova....)
Cloud
"This is...... Jenova,
right? The lock won't open..."
(Cloud follows him partway back down the stairs, then stops. Sephiroth
examines one of the pods.)
Sephiroth
"This is the reason
for the malfunction. This part is broken."
"Cloud, close the
valve."
(He walks to another pod. Cloud closes the valve on the first pod, then walks to Sephiroth.)
Sephiroth
"Why did it break...?"
(He jumps up and peers into the viewport of the pod. He speaks to himself.)
Sephiroth
"...now I see, Hojo."
"But, even doing this,
will never put you on the same level as Professor Gast."
(To Cloud)
Sephiroth
"This is a system
that condenses and freezes the Mako energy... that is, when it's working
correctly."
"Now, what does Mako
energy become when it's further condensed?"
Cloud
"Uh, umm...... Oh
yeah! It becomes a Materia."
Sephiroth
"Right, normally.
But Hojo put something else in there. ...Take a look."
"Look through the
window."
(Cloud hops up, peers into the pod and sees... a hideous, unnatural monster. He lets go
of his handhold below the portal and lands sitting on the floor.)
Cloud
"Wh... what is this!?"
Sephiroth
"Normal members of
SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with Mako."
"You're different
from the others, but still human."
"But what are they?
They've been exposed to a high degree of Mako, far more than you."
(Cloud gets to his feet.)
Cloud
"...Is this some kind
of monster?"
Sephiroth
"Exactly. And it's
Hojo if Shinra that produced these monsters."
"Mutated living organisms
produced by Mako energy. That's what these monsters really are."
Cloud
"Normal members of
SOLDIER? You mean you're different?"
(Sephiroth clutches his head, trembling.)
Cloud
"H... hey, Sephiroth!"
(He puts out his hand.)
Sephiroth
"N... no...."
(Sephiroth stops trembling.)
Sephiroth
"...Was I?"
(He draws his sword and begins furiously attacking the pods. Cloud jumps away.)
Sephiroth
"...Was I created
this way too?"
(He slashes at the first pod.)
Sephiroth
"Am I the same as
all these monsters....."
(Cloud interrupts.)
Cloud
"...Sephiroth."
(Sephiroth just continues attacking the pod with his sword... then after a long moment, he stops, his shoulders heaving.)
Sephiroth
"You saw it! All of
them.... were humans...."
Cloud
"Human!? No way!"
(Sephiroth stops and turns towards Cloud, his sword still drawn.)
Sephiroth
"....I've always felt
since I was small..."
"That I was different
from the others. Special, in some way."
"But... not like this...."
(He looks down, shaking his head. Suddenly, there is a loud noise and
he jerks his head up. FMV sequence. One of the pods explodes with a hiss of steam.
The front half falls foward,
revealing another monster, like the one Cloud saw. It lies there on the overturned dome of
metal, not fully
formed, twitching..... repulsive. The screen fades to black.)
Am I... human?
I didn't quite understand
what Sephiroth was saying at that time.
I was even more surprised
by that fact that Shinra was producing monsters.
(The scene changes back to the inn at Kalm.)
Barret
"Damn, Shinra! the
more I hear, the more I hate 'em!"
Tifa
"......who would have
ever thought the Mako Reactor held a secret like that."
Red XIII
"That would seem to
explain the increase in the number of monsters recently."
"I think we should
listen carefully to Cloud. Don't you think so Barret?"
Barret
"(Why you talkin'
to me!?)"
<CHOICE>
Save game and take
a rest
Keep talking
***Cloud
Save game and take
a rest
Barret
"Yeah, mebbe so. Wanna
take a breather here?"
(The PLAYER can save the game)
***Cloud
Keep talking
<//>
(We are in the inn at Kalm.)
Aerith
"Tifa.... You were
waiting outside then?"
Tifa
".....Yes."
Cloud
"We returned to Nibelheim.
Sephiroth confined himself at the inn. He didn't even try to talk to me."
Tifa
"Then all of a sudden
he just disappeared, right?"
Cloud
"We found him inside
the biggest building in Nibelheim."
Tifa
"The villagers used
to call it Shinra mansion."
Cloud
"Long ago, people
from Shinra used to live in that mansion..."
phoenixgenesis@game-developer.com
Continue to Part 4 Scene 42