It's not fair, but it will be
"This isn't fair… it's not fair!!!" Cloud cried at the top of his lungs, tears cascaded down his pale cheeks and down his neck with Aerith in his arms; her body is so light, so fragile… "Why… why did you have to go?" He hugged her closer to him, burying his face in her hair, which flowed down her shoulders freely, no longer tied by the pink ribbon. It happened again. Every single important person in his life always dies… The first to go was his father, then her mother, then Zack, and now… Aerith, too? No, this can't go on any longer… It has to stop. He can't afford losing anything anymore. "It's not fair…" He mumbled. "What about me? You can't just leave like this. I haven't even told you how I feel about you yet…"
"Who would have thought, the puppet has feelings too?" Sephiroth mocked from above, his single wing fluttered in the air.
"Aerith, I'll come to you soon." Cloud whispered, and then turned back to his nemesis "Sephiroth…" He muttered.
The silver-haired psychopath smirked in amusement. "What's wrong? She's only a little ancient."
Cloud's eyes narrowed with hatred and pain. "I'll kill you!"
Sephiroth laughed at his statement. "Kill me? Don't be foolish, Cloud. You're just a puppet. You can't even save the little ancient."
The blonde-haired swordsman turned silent, pondering his adversary's words. He then gently lowered his beloved onto the ground and took up the Buster Sword. "That may be true… But I can still avenge her!"
"You can certainly try." Sephiroth waved his hand in dismissal.
"And I will. Until the day you perish."
Cloud jumped up and crossed swords with Sephiroth.
"You'll never beat me, Cloud." Sephiroth smirked, as he slashed the Masamune at Cloud, pushing him back to the ground.
Cloud remained silent, straining his muscles to block the lethal strike, jumping backwards.
"What's the most important thing to you in your life? Grant me the pleasure of taking it away from you." Sephiroth pressed on, taking every opportunity and causing minor wounds on the ex-SOLDIER's skin.
Cloud sneered," You've already taken the most important thing in my life. There's nothing left for me to lose." He jumped forwards, bringing his Buster sword down from above and forcing Sephiroth to raise Masamune in to defend himself. Before the silver-haired can counter, he brought the Buster sword back and sliced across, catching Sephiroth off guard and leaving a shallow would across his chest, enough to draw blood and caused the man to gasp. Not wasting the chance, Cloud charged at him once again and forced him backwards, increasing his own power after every strike, holding nothing back. Sephiroth quickly recovered from his mistake and jumped away from the strike.
"You can't beat me, Cloud." He stated once again, losing a little confidence.
"Who said I ever tried to beat you?" The ex-SOLDIER retorted back, before lunging towards him again.
Sephiroth's eyes widened in realization:" You're trying to get yourself killed." He stated, instead of a question. He raised the Masamune over his shoulder with both hands, and walked forwards preparing for a thrust.
Cloud smirked, "maybe." Instead of dodging the thrust, he ran his body into it, letting the thin blade pierce through his chest, right next to his heart. He didn't even twitch from the pain, having been stabbed in the exact same spot years ago. In return, he slashed the Buster sword across his nemesis' shoulder and across the chest, leaving a deep gash in its wake. Sephiroth found himself unable to remove his sword from Cloud's body, so he just twisted the handle of his blade, trying to cause as much pain as he can.
Cloud cringes at new-found pain and of blood vessels twisted by his nemesis' blade, but now isn't the time to give up, forcing himself further along the 12-feet-long blade, he stabbed the Buster sword into Sephiroth's stomach, ignoring the amount of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, mixed with tears. Sephiroth coughed up blood, feeling the Buster sword thrust deeper into his stomach, he grabbed onto the Masamune with both hands and used all his strength to cut into more of Cloud's chest. He was awarded by Cloud twisting the hilt of the Buster sword, sending more pain through his body and causing critical damage to his internal organs.
Both of them gritted their teeth and tried to do as much damage as possible to the other by twisting their plunged weapons, the Masamune in Cloud's chest and the Buster in Sephiroth's stomach.
Cloud let out a small laugh, using all his strength, he removed the sword from Sephiroth's stomach, letting the blood pour out, and plunged it right into his heart, dealing the killing blow. Sephiroth's eyes widened from the impact, before losing their focus and falling to the ground with the Buster sword still plunged in his heart.
Cloud staggered backwards with the Masamune still plunged next to his heart, he knew he's going to live through this, but he didn't want to. "Aerith, wait for me." He whispered, as he tore the 12 feet sword from his chest, letting the blood gush out.
Out of the corner of his eyes his peripheral vision registered the rest of AVALANCHE running towards him, he smiled, lifted his right arm up and waved, ignoring his significant blood loss and collapsing on the ground soon after, right next to Sephiroth. I'm coming, Aerith…
Cloud's vision faded, and was welcomed by a smell he knew too well. "Aerith…" He whispered out her name as he opened his eyes again. He was welcomed by a scene of a field of flowers and in the middle of it, the woman he fell hopelessly in love with. They ran towards each other and captured themselves in each other's embrace. "Cloud… You're here."
"Yes, Aerith. I'm here."
They moved back slightly to gaze into the other's eyes, and moved their lips lightly against the other. That was their first kiss, in the promised lands.
"I love you." Cloud whispered, as they stopped for air.
"I love you too." Aerith replied, before resuming their lip-lock.
"Okay, you love birds, take this somewhere else." The blonde and the brunette turned towards the sound of the familiar voice.
"Zacks?" (I prefer to use the original Japanese spelling) They turned their heads towards the sound of the voice, but not loosening the embrace.
"Yeah, it's me." They were greeted by the optimistic face of the young teen, his blue-ish black hair in its normal style.
The 1st Class was quickly welcomed by a hug from each of them.
"Guess what, Zacks?" Cloud smirked at him.
"What?" Zacks looked questioningly at him.
"We're both older than you now." Aerith finished for him, also sporting a smirk on her delicate features, referring to the fact that you can't age in the promised lands.
Zacks scowled at them before they laughed together.
In the distance:
Sephiroth stood in front of Lucrecia:" Mother?"
Lucrecia smiled warmly at him, before capturing her son in a heart-warming hug. "Welcome home, Sephie."
Sephiroth scowled at the use of his new nickname, earning a giggle from his mother, before relaxing into the hug. And for the first time in years, he smiled, "I'm home."
After some quick decisions, the members of AVALANCHE finally decided to bury its two heroes in the abandoned church near the slums, with the Buster sword resting beside their graves.
But the peace doesn't last forever…
FINISH
I'm considering if I should write a longer sequel for this. REVIEWS!!!
First One-shot ever written.
PCBA
