Title: Beyond
Author: monitorscreen
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
Characters: Cloud Strife, Sephiroth
Rating: G
Word count: 280
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is the creation of Square Enix, not mine.
Summary: "I will... never be a memory."
Authors's notes: Fic #26 for LJ comm Ficlets on Demand's Fic a Day June Challenge. Request: Aftermath by keire-ke.
Beyond
by monitor screen
-o-
I will... never be a memory.
Cloud shots up, wild eyes taking in the dim outlines of his bedroom. Tifa turns in the next bed, snuggling further into the covers. Cloud breathes a sign of relief - so that is only a dream; they are all safe now, and Sephiroth has gone on to the beyond...
A breeze blows in, fluttering the curtains softly. Cloud's gaze shifts to the silvery glint on the windowsill; he remembers Sephiroth basking in similar glow, back before all those horrible things happened, when he had been the general Cloud held in awe. Sephiroth was magnificent, powerful and so brilliant, it took his breath away.
He still is. Cloud has been too focused on the outcome of their battle to care at the moment, but later, after people come down from the exhilaration of surviving another crisis and go back to their lives, Cloud has the time to review their encounter. And he is overwhelmed by the mere presence of Sephiroth. Cloud has managed to push it to the back of his mind in the two years following Sephiroth's defeat, but he has not forgotten. Vengeance or no, Sephiroth's prowess is undeniable. He had been everything Cloud wanted to be. Continues to want to be.
If only Sephiroth could let go of this madness. Perhaps if...
The breeze gently ruffles Cloud's hair. He can almost catch words in its murmur - that is impossible, he must be more tired than he thinks. Cloud slides back under his covers, brushing off the flash of green as a meaningless flux of his fatigued mind.
In the silent room, the whisper slowly dies.
... never... a memory...
-o-