Cloud felt that prick in his heart and a sympathetic pulse from his own crystal. Or perhaps he imagined it. But in that moment he knew that whatever effort Jade was trying to offer wouldn't help. He stood there dumbly, his fingers still trying to staunch those open wounds as he felt the magic trying to pass through the prone man.

"Sephiroth....come on...you know you're no good at making jokes...you're too serious for that..."

He leaned back as Terra pushed her way in, waiting for the man to turn to crystal but it wasn't happening. He knew this process. He'd seen it before. It shouldn't take this long. Frantically he looked around, eyes settling on Jade .

"What's going on? Why isn't he going into stasis! What happened?" Tears began to come to his eyes, but he was too panicked and scared to cry as Terra was. The roar from Vincent broke through his haze and he looked to the man fighting for his life. He looked to Ace, who was now laying prone just as Sephiroth was.

The blood drew from his face as he realized what was happening. He tried to scramble to his feet but his numb legs didn't make it easy. "Vincent! Back off! You can't do this yourself!" He looked around frantically, trying to find where he had dropped his sword. He couldn't let him fight alone, no matter how demonic he was right now.