Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or any of the characters
A/N: This is my first ever fic so be nice?
This is not happening
He's running, running as fast as his legs will let him. The wind bites into his face like tiny needles, and he can smell the smoke behind him, hear the crackling of the fire.
The sounds of his home burning to the ground.
It's not real.
He keeps thinking, hoping, that if he believes it, it will become true.
But Cloud knows that's not going to happen.
He can see the tower in the distance now, that great grey skyscraper that's the cause of all this.
It can't be him.
Before he knows it, he's running up the steps, his heart pounding in his chest and begging that it's all wrong, just a terrible mistake.
He sees something out of the corner of his eye, a figure, and one that he recognises.
"Tifa!" he yells running towards her. She's not moving as he pulls into his arms and for a moment, one terrible moment, he thinks she's dead. But then she's moving, opening her eyes and looking up at him.
"Cloud. You came"
A wave of relief washes over him when he realises she's alright.
But he has to know.
"Who did this to you?" He asks, but he has a feeling that he already knows the answer.
"Sephiroth" Is the answer, and he feels as if his heart has just broken in two.
How could he? Why would he? After all they'd been through together, after all that was between them.
I thought he loved me.
"Cloud," Tifa's voice brings him back to reality. "You have to stop him. He's crazy! Zack tried but…" She points to a far corner of the room and Cloud can see Zack's beaten and battered body.
He lowers her gently to the ground and walks to where Zack's sword fell.
It feels heavy and unnatural in his hands, as though it's not meant for him. He knows it's true. He'll never be a SOLDIER. Knows he's not strong enough.
He hopes he's strong enough to do this.
Sword in hand he walks slowly, quietly up the stairs, through the broken twisted door.
He can see him standing in front of Jenova, hands against the glass, long silver hair behind him
I always loved that hair.
"Mother," Sephiroth whispers to the hideous thing behind the glass. "It's all right now."
Before he knows it, Clouds running up the stairs, sword in hand.
The sword slices through his back easily, like a hot knife through butter. It makes a sickening sound as it tears through both flesh and muscle. The tip of the blade hits the glass encasing Jenova, and a crack spreads across the glass like the legs of a spider.
Sephiroth stares at the blood soaked sword protruding out of him and his fingers scratch at the glass.
"You bastard." He gasps
Clouds crying now, the tears making salty tracks down his face.
"I trusted you!" he sobs, and hands are still on the sword, shaking. "Don't you remember? Don't you remember us?" And he's yelling now, trying to contain his anger but failing, as he roughly pulls the sword out. Sephiroth falls to the ground into a pool of his own blood.
Cloud wants to comfort him, drop down beside him and tell him that it's going to be all right, just hold him in his arms onemore time.
But he knows he can't. Sephiroth doesn't love him anymore. Not now, not after all this.
Instead he runs back down the steps, away from that horrible sight of Sephiroth, his Seph, dying on the ground.
He goes back to Tifa, to make sure she's all right, and she can tell from the look on his face and tears in his eyes, what he's done.
"I'm sorry Cloud." She whispers.
But there's a crash behind them that makes them turn, startled, and Sephiroth is there, stumbling out the door, Jenova's head in hand.
"By the likes of you." He growls, hunched over, his free hand covering his wound.
"Cloud," the voice is Zack's, so quiet he can barely hear it. "Finish….him off."
"By the likes of you" Sephiroth repeats, disgust layering his voice.
Now Cloud knows for sure that it's not standing in front of him. Not the man he knows.
Not the man I fell in love with
He charges up the steps and brings the sword down hard. But Sephiroth's already there, blocking his sword with his own.
"Don't push your luck!" He yells, and Sephiroth's sword slips past his own and plunges into his chest.
The pain explodes in his chest and spreads to every part of his body. He can see Sephiroth standing in front of him, smiling, before he's thrown across the room.
He hits the ground hard, and the pain becomes so intense that he thinks he might explode. His mind is screaming at him, 'get up! Get up!' But he finds he can't move.
"By the likes of you human beings." Through his blurry vision, he can see the towering form of Sephiroth standing over him.
"You really thought you could defeat me?" And before Cloud knows it, the sword's back in him, the pain intensifying until it becomes unbearable. Sephiroth lifts the sword up, so he hanging in the air, and he knows he's going to die.
But somehow he finds the strength to say something. "Sephiroth…don't you..remember?
Don't you… remember…. us?"
The look on Sephiroth's face is enough to tell Cloud he doesn't.
Tifa. My family. My home.
Suddenly, Cloud's not sad anymore. All of it turns to rage. "You've done it alright. I will...never forgive you."
And somehow he grasps the sword with two hands and starts to pull himself along the sword. It hurts like hell, but somehow he manages to plant both of his feet back on the ground.
He doesn't know where this new strength has come from; all he knows is that he's glad for it. He swings the sword around, and Sephiroth goes crashing into the wall behind him.
"Impossible." Sephiroth groans hunched over in front of him. Then suddenly, it's like Cloud isn't there, and Sephiroth smiles, looking down at his mother.
"Mother…come to the Promised Land with me." Without warning, Sephiroth picks up Jenova and jumps off the ledge.
Cloud leans over, watching as the darkness engulfs him, swallowing him whole.
"Sephiroth." He gasps, before his own world turns to black.