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The second tier of the Hero's Journey. It includes the road of trials, meeting with the goddess, woman as a temptress, and atonement with father, apotheosis, and the ultimate boon.

Initiation

In the road of trials the hero succeeds, fails, and makes a name for himself. It is a very large part of the journey. For Cloud, he saves Aeris, gets out of Midgar, gets thrown into prison, confronts his past in Nibelheim and continues to follow Sephiroth. Always a step right behind Sephiroth he does not realize the he is being led to a reunion. Cloud succeeds in saving Aeris the first time but later fails to save her from Sephiroth's attack in the city of Ancients. He helps to free Red XIII and returns him home, where they learn more about the cries of the planet and help Red XIII to overcome his issues with his father. In Nibelheim they come face to face with his past, but Tifa still refuses to tell him the truth. There, they are joined by Vincent who enlightens the groups with the fact that Jenova is not Sephiroth's mother - Lucrecia is. Later the group succeeds in getting the keystone from Dio but lose it to Shinra. At the Temple of Ancients Cloud succeeds in getting the Black Materia but Aeris leaves to try and summon the White Materia. He is unable to save her, though she is able to reach the planet her prayers heard. Cloud later gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth at Northern Crater and falls into himself. It is only with his friends' help that he is able to recover from Mako Poisoning and get back up. Tifa helsp him to regain his memories and the group decides to confront Sephiroth for a final time.

The meeting with the Goddess represents the hero's desire for love and to be connected with someone . Usually someone that they cannot be with, this could be Tifa or Aeris. On one hand he had been in love with Tifa since he was a child but she didn't seem to know he existed until he called her to the center of town and said he was goign to join SOLDIER. He kept his promise to look after her, though she didn't know in. Later, one could see that they are able to be together if only he would let people in. In Advent Children he is determined to live on his own to atone for his self-percieved sins. On the other hand, Aeris wanted to meet the real Cloud and insisted on sticking close by him. Certainly she was attracted to him because he reminded her of Zack, but beyond that, she genuinely seemed to care about him. He is quite unable to be with Aeris because she sacrifices herself to pray at the Ancient's Altar so that they can stop Sephiroth, though she still watches over him.

Woman as the Temptress is usually a woman who tries to lead the hero astray. Tifa unknowingly fulfills this role. In her attempts to keep Cloud close, she actually ends up causing him great harm. By choosing not to correct his reality she steers him farther from the path of being "Cloud" and keeps him in his warped reality as "Zack." Cloud's path is to stop Sephiroth, which he is unable to do as long as he believes he is Zack. Instead he is called to aid Sephiroth. Tifa could have corrected him and in doing so might have helped him reach the truth about himself much sooner. Her own apprehension kept him from realizing his true goal.

The Atonement with the father usually features a moment in which the hero faces the ultimate power. It represents where the hero started not where they are going. For Cloud, everything started in Nibelheim when Sephiroth burned his home. The atonement comes less from "father" than it does with Cloud's true self. When he falls into the life stream he and Tifa travel through Cloud's memories. They find out that Cloud was in Nibelheim - that much Cloud was right about. However, they also learn that Zack was there and they get an insight into the events of Sephiroth burning down their hometown. This is the start of Cloud's journey which sets a deep desire in his heart to stop Sephiroth. In coming to terms with this part of his life and memory is regains his sense of self and is able to get to his true purpose.

When the hero becomes the being and protector that we all want, it is referred to as the Apotheosis. For Cloud this comes when he realizes who he truly is and decides it is time to go to Northern Crater to stop Sephiroth. He needs to stop him. He will stop him, because the White Materia hadn't activated yet. If he can do that one last thing, perhaps he can undo the wrong that had happened. Cloud's defining moment is when he looks at his companions in the cave and gives them a weak "Let's Mosey" that Cid promptly chews him out for. But it his desire, his true self, his humanity and imperfections that leads them down the cave anyways.

The ultimate boon achieves the hero's goal, Cloud had many goals. First and foremost was stoping Sephiroth, next was to stop Meteor and JENOVA. He has the chance to do so and delivers the final blow with a mighty Omnislash. He stops the nightmare from his past and everyone is able to escape. The holy materia activates and stops meteor.

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