FF7AC

At the Northern Crater, The Turks are trying to retrieve something, but are attacked by unseen enemies.  Forced to leave his companions behind, Reno escapes.  Days later in Edge City, which was erected adjacent to the ruins of Midgar, Tifa gets a call in her new Seventh Heaven, which is also the office of Strife's Delivery Service.  The bar is also home to Marlene and an orphan named DENZEL, who has acquired the disease GEOSTIGMA.  Tifa answers the phone on Cloud's -- who isn't present -- behalf, and calls him on his cell phone, telling him of a commission from "Reno and them" up at the HEALIN LODGE, the new home of the remnants of the Shinra company.  However, along the way, Cloud is attacked by two silver-haired men, The effeminate YAZOO and the bulky but emotionally sensitive LOZ, who call Cloud "brother" and inquire about their "mother", and Cloud is also attacked by several creatures.  A third silver-haired man, KADAJ, ceases the assault with a gesture, much to the disappointment of the other two, after he confers with an unseen person as to the location of an unknown object.

Cloud has a brief confrontation with Reno, then Rude, up at Healin', and finds out that Rufus is still alive, but wheel-chair bound and covered in a white robe, probably to hide disfigurement. The Shinra are trying to help rebuild the world, as they are rather responsible for the mess that the world has become.  As such, they started an investigation at the Northern Crater into whether or not Sephiroth was still a danger, but found themselves under attack (Though Rufus lies to Cloud and insists they found nothing).  Rufus asks Cloud to be a body guard, as protection against the silver-haired men.  Cloud rejects, saying he is only a delivery man.  But when Reno insists that they're rebuilding the Shinra Company, Cloud gets angry and storms out.

Back in Midgar, Loz investigates Aeris' church for signs of the object of his quest, but only finds Tifa and Marlene, who had gone there in search of Cloud.  Tifa and Loz fight, and it's one Tifa seems to win until Loz is called on his cell phone  (Cue Victory theme ring tone!), and complains "It's not here.  No, I'm NOT crying!".  Loz ends the battle quickly (literally), and is about to kill Tifa when Marlene pelts him with a Materia orb that had been taken out of a case that Cloud had stored..  Loz decides to take the Materia and little girl with him.  Meanwhile, Yazoo begins collecting the Geostigma-infected children in a truck.

Kadaj goes to Healin to confront Rufus, who had lied to him about the location of the Head of Jenova.  Kadaj speaks of his need to find the Head to start the Reunion and become "normal".  It is insinuated that Kadaj then takes Rufus.  Back at the church, Cloud finds Tifa passed out, and only finds out that Marlene and his materia cache were taken before he passes out from his Geostigma-infected arm getting the better of him.  He wakes up later in Seventh Heaven, him and Tifa having been carried there by Reno and Rude.  The Turks tell him that all the orphans have been kidnapped, but Cloud refuses to act.  The Turks come back to tell Cloud that the kids have been taken to Ajit, the city of the Ancients.  Tifa pretty much bullies Cloud into going to investigate.

Back at the Ancient capitol, Kadaj entices the kidnapped, Geostigma-infected orphans into drinking contaminated water, which puts them all under his sway.  On the way, Cloud is hit by a dream of talking to Aeris in a flower field, where she practically makes fun of him for feeling bad about his feelings of guilt.  Cloud then finds the silver-haired men, AND the now-possessed children, but is in no physical or mental state to combat the three now-materia-powered fighters.  In a fierce battle, Cloud loses his cell phone in a lake, and is knocked out, but Vincent comes to his rescue and whisks him away.

Later, Vincent explains how he rescued Elena and Tseng from certain death, and that the Shinra had been after the Head of Jenova, which is now what Kadaj and his gang are after.  He also reveals that the silver-haired men are "spirit-like remnants" of Sephiroth, and that with the head of Jenova, they could possibly resurrect Sephiroth himself.  Marlene finds the two men, and after a brief argument, Cloud decides that he can't keep running from fights just because he's afraid to lose, and realizes that to be forgiven for his sins, he needs to actually TRY.

The next day, Loz and Yazoo have wrapped heavy chains around the Meteor Memorial in  Edge, and have the children surround it, so that no one can try and stop them from tearing it down.  But the citizens keep trying, forcing Yazoo to show his hand... thereby summoning several shadow creatures to attack the crowd.  Satisfied that the monsters will keep the interlopers at bay, Loz and Yazoo begin to tug at the Memorial, but are interrupted by Reno and Rude.  Apparently, Kadaj and the others have deduced that Jenova's head is being stored in the memorial, but Reno and Rude try and convince them otherwise.  Reno and Rude rush in to attack, but are interrupted when BAHAMUT SIN is summoned by Kadaj to destroy the memorial, forcing the two Turks to beat a hasty retreat.  Meanwhile, Tifa has been trying to get Denzel to snap out of his stupor, but can only cover him as Bahamut blasts the memorial to shreds, throwing them to the ground.

The Turks fight the silver-haired men, but it's not a battle they can win, and eventually are forced into a stand off under the office building where Kadaj and Rufus have settled on the top floor of.  Bahamut searches the crater it made in the ground, but doesn't find anything.  Denzel wakes up, and blindly charges at Bahamut in rage, but he's stopped by a mechanical hand, which morphs into a gun-arm and blasts the summoned dragon.  It's Barret!  Quickly inquiring to the now-awake Tifa about Marlene, Barret charges at the retreating dragon, but ahead of him zips Nanaki, with Cait Sith riding on top.  Barret blasts the dragon again, gaining its attention, and ends up being saved by Yuffie, who also joins the battle.  Several shadow creatures jump at Tifa and Denzel, but they're saved by Cid, who takes a moment to introduce his new airship, the SHERA, before charging into the fight.  Vincent then arrives, followed by Cloud, who seems to have gotten his groove back, much to Tifa's approval.

The other AVALANCHEers hold Bahamut off until Cloud can join the fray.  He single-handedly knocks the giant summon DOWN INTO THE GROUND.  But this only pisses Bahamut off, so it flies high into the sky.  Content not to let the beast escape, Cloud jumps, and is lifted and thrown by his friends higher and higher into the air while Bahamut charges up a blast in its mouth.  Cloud is too late though, and Bahamut fires a gigantic blast, which Cloud flies right into.  Cloud starts losing momentum, and the large blast of plasma begins to get to him, when suddenly, everything goes white, and he is assisted once again, this time, by a certain flower girl ;)  Cloud flies through the blast, and rips his sword all the way through Bahamut's back, destroying it.

Kadaj laughs this defeat off, and wonders what to summon next, when, inexplicably, Rufus stands up and tosses away his white cloak, revealing not only himself, but a small container he had been holding the entire time: The head of Jenova!  Basically calling Kadaj a moron, Rufus adds injury to insult by nonchalantly TOSSING THE HEAD OFF THE ROOF!  Kadaj gets so pissed that he shoots a magic bolt at Rufus, who doges the attack so scarcely that it actually catches onto and tears off one of his bandages. However, this sends Rufus off the edge of the building, though he doesn't actually care that he's falling; he's too busy whipping out and aiming his shotgun!  The blast that Kadaj had made just moments earlier hits SOMETHING volatile, creating a gigantic explosion which Kadaj only avoids because he suddenly dives out the window, not out of self-preservation, but to grab the free-falling head-in-a-box that he thinks is his "Mother".  Rufus's aim is lousy, and he can't hit Kadaj, but DOES manage to break the Jenova container, sending lime kool-aid everywhere.

Cloud sees all this and hops on his bike, getting to the scene asap.  Tseng and Elena fire off grappling hooks with nets, catching Rufus safely while Kadaj lands like a cat a few feet away from Reno and Rude.  Kadaj turns to face them, but sees off in the distance Cloud about to catch up.  Kadaj quickly gets on his bike and takes off, with Cloud in hot pursuit, who incidentally starts being chased by Loz and Yazoo.  The trio fight, but Cloud manages to speed away from Loz and Yazoo, who in turn end up riding right into a trap set by Reno and Rude, allowing Cloud to catch up to Kadaj.  The pair clash and fall off the end of the highway, right into the remains of Sector Seven.  Kadaj lands a hit and is able to get away, while Cloud inspects his near-wound.  When he does so, we see the extent of Cloud's Geostigma, and that he too wears the same pink ribbon that we had already seen on all his friends.

Kadaj ends up in the church, and looks at the Jenova container, only to find the large gash that Rufus's shot had put into it.  This sends Kadaj into a crying fit, but he's interrupted as Cloud arrives.  Kadaj gets up into the rafters, and attacks Cloud with a large blast of magic, destroying the flowerbed.  Cloud narrowly avoids the attack, but his Geostigma kicks in, making it hard to move.  Kadaj senses his opportunity and is about to fire another blast when suddenly, the lifestream erupts from the crater in the ground.  Getting soaked in the water cures Cloud's Geostigma, and incidentally becomes painful to Kadaj, who makes a hasty retreat.  Aeris' voice then says "Let's go, Cloud!", prompting him to give chase.

The pair end up at the base of the old Shinra tower.  Cloud questions Kadaj about what he's going to do now, and Kadaj realizes that he knows nothing, and that he, like Cloud once was, is a puppet.  The pair clash, with Cloud having the upper hand for the most part.  The Shera comes in, and the party contemplates whether or not to help.  Vincent reveals that Kadaj is a "larva" of Sephiroth, and is destined to become the infamous SOLDIER, forcing Barret to concede to "Give him ten minutes" before they interfere.  As the Shera turns away, Cloud allows himself a grin, and redoubles his assault on Kadaj.  The larva jumps at Cloud, who combines all of his swords and literally hits a homerun, sending Kadaj flying.  Kadaj becomes dismayed that his sword flies off where he can't retrieve it, while he himself hangs onto a ledge for dear life.  Suddenly, Cloud appears before him.  The two exchange glares, when suddenly Kadaj lashes out; Cloud swipes, but realizes too late that he was not hitting Kadaj, but has just opened the Jenova container.  Kadaj jumps after the head and grabs it, pulls it out of the box, and as he falls, taunts Cloud and mentions "His reunion".  At that, Kadaj absorbs Jenova's head into his chest, and lands on top of a large pipe.

Cloud leaps after Kadaj and tries to slice him down the middle, but something gets in the way; Cloud is astonished to see a very, very long sword appear to block his own weapon, and is so distracted that he fails to see that Kadaj has transformed.  Only the words "It's been a long time, Cloud," in a hauntingly familiar voice forces Cloud to look into the eyes of his NEW opponent:  Sephiroth!  Sephiroth knocks Cloud all the way back up to where he and Kadaj had been fighting before.  

Sephiroth gives a speech about how those who died with Geostigma helps to infringe on the Planet, which would allow him to take it over.  With a gesture, he summons these diseased spirits as something of an anti-lifestream, darkening the sky, and causing those with Geostigma to start dying at a quicker rate.  Cloud and Sephiroth clash, but unfortunately for Cloud, this isn't a pre-programmed throw away battle, nor does he have his Knights of the Round materia, so he gets his ass handed to him (Tossed into a building, has a part of a building thrown onto him...).  Cloud escapes and tries to regroup, But Sephiroth finds him, kicking him around like a rag doll, and finally impaling our hero in the shoulder.  Sephiroth taunts Cloud, asking Cloud what is most important, so that Sephy can have the happiness of taking it away.  Cloud thinks of Tifa, Marlene, Denzel and his friends, and gets his second wind.  Declaring that nothing isn't important, he takes a page from the playbook of Sonic the Hedgehog, grabs 50 rings and double-jumps, only to become Super Cloud!  His sword separates into all of it's different parts, which float around Sephiroth as Cloud dashes to each one, each time making sure to zap right through his enemy.

This sends Sephiroth packing.  He wraps a newly formed black wing around himself and dissolves, revealing Kadaj, who falls to the ground rather undignifyingly.  Kadaj tries to attack Cloud, but stumbles into Cloud's arms.  It then begins to rain, with Aeris's voice telling Kadaj to just let go  The rain causes the silver haired man to dissolve into bits of energy, as Cloud's friends look on from the Shera, cheering him on.  Tifa realizes that Aeris had been helping out the whole time (How she garnered this by seeing a drop of water is beyond me).  The rain falls all over Edge city, curing all the Geostigma infected who happen to be outside.  Unfortunately, Kadaj and Yazoo show up, shooting Cloud from behind.  Cloud, pissed as hell, charges the weakened and deteriorating Remnants, who counter with the load of materia in their arms.  Unfortunately (again), the energy overload causes them to explode, incinerating not only themselves, but apparently Cloud as well.

Cloud floats through a white void, where he is healed, and overhears a pair of familiar voices talking about how he doesn't belong there, so he's sent away, and finds himself floating in a pool of water, surrounded by children.  Getting up, he finds himself in Aeris's church, where his friends and the citizens of Edge have also gathered.  Apparently, "she" told them all that Cloud would appear there, and lo and behold, he did.  Nanaki points out that some children still need to be cured of the Geostigma.  Cloud nods, and brings Denzel into the pool, and splashing the boy's face with water, Denzel sees his infection dissolve, causing a celebration to ensue.  Cloud looks around, taking in the celebratory mood, seeing people thanking him, and is about to face his friends when WTF pink dress?!?!  In a scene reminiscent of a certain glitch in the original game, Cloud is astonished to see a familiar figure kneeling and talking to two children.  She gets up, and starts walking away.  Cloud literally forgets the rest of the world, watching the woman head to the door, where HOLYCRAP Zack is waiting.  The woman turns around, revealing Aeris, and she tells Cloud that he's okay now.  The deceased duo turn away and walk into the light, and knowing that he is not alone, and that his sins have been forgiven, Cloud finally allows himself a genuinely happy smile.