I can hear the chorus still, singing, mocking me. "...Sors immanis, et
inanis..." Yes, my fate is monstrous and empty... because you aren't in it.
And I'm holding you in my arms, knowing you're dying, knowing I can't save
you, and praying that this is all just a bad dream, that maybe I'll wake up
at any moment. But I know in my heart of hearts that I won't wake up, that
it's not just a dream no matter how badly I want it to be. That I've killed
the one person who dared to love me.

And all I can think is: Why? Why did fate choose you to die and not me? I
deserve death for everything I did... or didn't do. I could have stopped
you from destroying Nibelheim, if I had only had the courage to stay with
you, but I didn't. I could have redeemed you from your madness, if I'd only
tried, and I didn't. I could have saved Zack from the Shinra. But I didn't.
There are so many things I should have done, but I didn't have the courage,
the will to do them.

And now you're dying, and I'm clinging to you as though my sheer will can
keep you alive, and I'm crying, because I know it won't. And your blood is
flowing from your wounds, staining my hands, soaking into my clothing, and
soaking your hair. Even now, dying in my arms, you're beautiful, your eyes
still gentle and loving even as their glow dims, your hair still soft as
an angel's wings even as it is stained with an angel's blood.

God, what I wouldn't give to keep you alive for even a few minutes longer,
to tell you I love you just once more. And you're smiling at me, wiping my
tears away, strong to the end... "I love you..." I hear you say. And then
you shudder, and make a little whimpering sound, and even as I feel
frantically for a pulse, I know I won't find one, I know you're gone...

I wipe my eyes, and kiss you once more. Your body is already so cold...
And I remember what you said to me in the temple of the ancients, as I
slit my throat with my Ultima Weapon... "So cold... I am always by your
side..." And I lie down next to you, knowing the truth in those words even
as I die... as I grow cold, I will be by your side for eternity, Sephiroth.
~Finis

OK, little author's note... yes, this fic was SephirothxCloud, although
there was just angst and sap and such in it.