As they approached deeper to the centre, they suddenly find themselves in Nibelheim. It must be an illusion Sephiroth made. They were at the scene when Sephiroth first just arrived in Nibelheim. He was laughing just like the last time when Cloud was telling his story. But behind him wasn't Cloud. It was someone else with long spikey black hair. They didn't seem to see Cloud's party as they walked on into the village. Cloud wasn't surprised at who was with Sephiroth as he was sure it was another of his tricks.
The scene flashes by and Nibelheim was in flames again. Tifa was getting a little anxious as she told Cloud not to pay attention to anything that was happening. She seemed scared and worried about something. Cloud was still calm believing it was all just an illusion.
A man came out of the Shinra mansion but again, it wasn't Cloud. It was the black haired man from earlier. He was doing everything that Cloud said he done. The man went over to help Zangan search for survivors. Cloud had enough of Sephiroth's illusion and calls out to Sephiroth. He knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to tell him that he wasn't in Nibelheim five years ago. But Cloud was sure he was just trying to confuse him. He knew in his heart that he was really there.
Sephiroth appears before them laughing. He tells Cloud that he was showing him what really happened five years ago so that he can know his true self. Cloud was just a puppet. A puppet that handed him the Black Materia and who's memories were filled with illusions. Cloud was really a failed experiment, Hojo created. He was created after Nibelheim was burnt. He was a puppet made of vibrant Jenova cells, her knowledge, and the power of Mako. An incomplete Sephiroth-clone. What's more, he wasn't even given a number because he was a failed experiment.
Cloud still wasn't convinced but he was having some doubt in himself now. He asks Tifa about the memories they had together to reassure himself but she hesitates in answering him. Sephiroth tells Cloud there was no need to blame Tifa. Jenova had the power to change looks, voice and words. It had merged with Tifa's memories to create the Cloud that Cloud remembers himself as.
Sephiroth walks over to the man that supposedly took their picture long ago and handed it over to Cloud. If Cloud really was there then he would be in the picture but he had his doubts since they were still in Sephiroth's illusion after all. Just as he thought, he wasn't in the picture. It was the black haired man.
Cloud tries to remind himself of what happened five years ago when he arrived at Nibelheim. He was sixteen and was excited about his first mission as a first class Soldier. But he couldn't remember when he joined Solder.
Meanwhile, Rufus, Hojo and Scarlet and gotten off their airship. They were amazed all the Materia surrounding the crater. They believed it was the Promised Land rich in Mako but Hojo thought otherwise. Something moves inside the Materia. A large eye blinked as it looked at them. Hojo recognized it as a Weapon, something that was written in Professor Gast's reports long ago. They were monsters created by the planet that would appear to destroy everything when the planet was in danger.
Back where Barret and the others were, everyone was worried about Cloud. Suddenly, a thick green wind blows by and Barret is isolated. He hears Tifa's voice calling out to him saying Cloud was in trouble. Barret rushes in the direction she points to. Tifa lets out an evil laugh and morphs back into Sephiroth.
As Rufus and the others were still admiring all the Materia, Cloud's party suddenly finds themselves at the same spot as they were. Barret also arrives at the scene. Cloud thanks Barret for coming and takes the Black Materia from him. Then he apologizes to everyone. Especially to Tifa. He was grateful at how good she had been to him and was sorry he didn't live up to being the "Cloud" that he was supposed to be to her. On the other hand, Hojo was joyful that one of his experiments made it to the Reunion but that joy soon disappeared when he found out Cloud never had a number. He was one of his failed experiments. Cloud begs Hojo to give him a number so he could be somebody but Hojo didn't care about failed experiments.
