When the story continues, we find that Sephiroth has hidden himself away in the library of the Shinra Mansion, reading all the books contained therein, which detail the history of the Ancients, the Jenova Project, and stuff like that. He reads for days on end like a man possessed. Then one day...The scene is set by the first part of Sephiroth's theme ("Those Chosen by the Planet") playing, the part with the bell. It does a good job of setting the mood.
When we go down to talk to Sephiroth, he seems very different. Before he was sullen and downcast as he continued to learn the truth about himself, but now he's...arrogant and angry. He begins to explain the history of the Cetra to Cloud/Zack. The Planet originally belonged to them. They were a migratory people who settled the Planet as they moved from place to place, and at the end of their journey, they would reach the Promised Land. Then people who despised the pilgrim life began to appear and started to settle down, taking advantage of the benefits of the Planet without giving anything in return.
Then one day, calamity struck. The non-Cetra survived because they hid, but the Cetra were sacrificed in order to spare the Planet. It's sort of ironic how Sephiroth seems to despise the rest of the human race for this, but at this point, does he realize that the "Calamity from the Skies" who wiped out the Ancients was Jenova? You know, his "mother" and the one who gave him his powers. Just sayin'. After his discourse, Sephiroth begins to leave, declaring that he's going to see his mother, and then his theme kicks into high gear, which was a great dramatic touch right there.
By the time Cloud/Zack leaves the Shinra Mansion, the town is already on fire. Then we're treated to some awkward field models of Sephiroth tapping some people on the shoulder with the Masamune and them suddenly falling over. But then we get THE FIRE WALK, one of Sephiroth's most famous moments. For some reason, this scene doesn't do anything for me. I'm usually impressed by "cool" stuff like this, but for some reason, this particular moment kinda falls flat for me. Go figure.
Cloud/Zack runs to the reactor to confront Sephiroth, only to find that Tifa's way ahead of him and tries to attack him with the Masamune. Unfortunately, he wrests it away from her and slashes her with it, which doesn't kill her. It's kind of interesting that he doesn't kill her instantly even though he easily could have. Makes you wonder if he intended to and she miraculously survived because Zangan was able to help her in time.
Then Cloud rushes in to confront Sephiroth, who laughs at the appearance of those creatures who have come to try to take the Planet away from Mother. Cloud asks Sephiroth about their shared sadness, but Sephiroth laughs it off, asking what he has to be sad about. He's been given the task of taking the Planet back. His misguided Messiah Complex is pretty interesting, really, because he's not a true Ancient and neither is Jenova. Yet the special circumstances of his birth granted him the ability to far surpass what the Ancients were able to accomplish. Part of me wonders why Sephiroth only took Jenova's head when he left. Perhaps the documents in the library mentioned something about the Reunion, so maybe he had some understanding of it?
The story suddenly ends because Cloud can't remember what happened when he fought Sephiroth. In typical Barret fashion, he claims to understand nothing. He says he's "going,
going,
going,
going,
gone!"
And he's leaving the thinking to us! Tifa asks Cloud how bad she was hurt when Sephiroth attacked her, and he said he thought she was a goner. Very perceptive question, and again, we'll get back to that soon enough!
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