Last Thoughts of a Green-Eyed Warrior

By LastCetra

"I feel like this won't go away,
No matter how hard I try to
Squeeze my eyes shut so I can't see
The pain in you, this pain in me"
"Take it" by Staind

I saw him flying at me, in a vortex of air that I had somehow summoned. I still didn't understand my power, or how to use it, it just came automatically. All I knew was that I was strong. I was very strong and I would be even stronger when meteor hit. I would be God.

My only obstacle was him.

He was the only one who had come to the reunion that I hadn't killed. Him and his stupid sidekicks. He called them "friends". They were only puppets. This was between me and him. He wouldn't be here if it weren't for them. I would have killed him long ago. I would have killed him because he was weak. He let his emotion control him. Emotion makes you weak. I forgot emotion a long time ago. I don't feel anything anymore. Happiness, sadness, anger, guilt, anything. Even remorse. I did not feel remorse for killing the girl. She was an obstacle. She needed to be stopped and I stopped her- permanently.

He loved her. An emotion that also shouldn't be shown. I saw it in his eyes. He was screaming at me. And I didn't care. I had never experienced love. She just became more energy for me to use to become God. I would control her power.

I unsheathed my sword, long, silver, perfect, sharp and deadly. Capable of taking anyone's life in an instant. It was amazing that so small a thing was able to decide someone's fate. I remembered Nibelhiem. The boy's hometown. I remembered burning it to the ground. I remembered watching his mother burn. And I watched, with a smile on my face. Everybody I killed felt so good; my sword slicing through flesh, and bone. I saw the pain in his eyes. The look of helplessness as he surveyed the damage I had done from the cobblestone street where he was lying. I should have killed him then. But instead I walked away. The silly mistakes you could make sometimes. It didn't matter though. what was in the past was in the past. I would kill him here and now.

He landed on his feet and drew his sword quickly. He looked around. There was nothing much to see. It was black everywhere you looked, even beneath you. It was cold as well. A whipping wind sent a chill through you like the chill you can get up your spine. His eyes eventually turned to me. His face was as hard as stone and his eyes were as cold as ice. He had a firm grip on his sword, The Ultima Weapon. It shone silvery-blue in the deep blackness, and resembled his eyes somewhat. All his muscles were tense, expecting me to strike, but otherwise he looked calm and ready.

Our eyes locked. All I could see in his eyes was rage, or was it revenge? It could very well be. After all, I had killed his mother, his love, burned his hometown to the ground and left a beautiful scar on his brunette friend. Not to mention the scars I had left on him; pain, anguish, suffering, misery, torment and death. The list was endless. Anyone would want revenge for that. Hell, I would have. Yes, it was revenge.

I smiled coolly and beckoned for him to attack.

An orangey-yellow light shone all around him, like fire. Even without attacking, I had pushed him to his limit. That was something I had never seen before. That such power could be brought on so willingly.

"Bring it on, Cloud Strife," I thought. "Come meet your doom. The light of day will never shine on you again, for your grave will be made in these dark depths."

"Omnislash!" he yelled into the dead silence. It echoed all around me. Could it be? The legendary Omnislash? The most devastating sword attack in the world. Even I had not come across as precious an attack as this. I raised my sword into a defensive position. Every attack he would make would hit my steel perfection.

I was wrong.

His first attack penetrated my usually rock solid defence and made a long gash on my lower abdomen. My masamune was torn from my grip, and clattered to the floor, useless. The gash spewed forth blood. It was strange. It was strange because I wasn't used to seeing my own blood. Every movement of his sword seemed to take an eternity to finish. I could see his graceful movements as he me again and again and again. I was utterly defenceless and I took every blow head on. Every slash he made brought forth a gash that would at least need stitching. But by the last strike, number fifteen, I knew I wouldn't get it. I knew I was going to die.

For the first time, I was scared. I didn't know what was coming. All I knew was that I was going to stop existing here. That thought itself was terrifying. Would I be nothing after this? Would it just be black? Would I not think, see, hear and feel again? Was there anything to look forward to? There had to be something there, on the other side. I just couldn't, stop.

I looked at my killer. He just stood there, looking at me, his face expressionless. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Did he feel anything? Was he free of my control?

I suddenly thought of how I must look. I couldn't let him see me fall. No matter what, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of me feeling pain. I could feel my blood running down my face. It was warm, almost pleasant. I smiled at Cloud. He could never forget me or the things I had done to everyone- to him. I had made him doubt himself. I might not exist in the next minute, but I'd never leave him. I'd haunt him forever.

I looked down on my body. A white light shone brightly in my stomach. It grew larger, and exploded outwards. I couldn't remember anymore. All I knew was that that was dying, and it wasn't so bad.

I awoke in a room. It was like a box of lifestream, the green particles swirling all around me. There seemed to be no entrance or exit, which meant there was no escape. I raised myself to my hands and knees. The ground I was staring at was like solid lifestream. This was all so strange. Was I dead? It didn't feel any more different from living.

A man appeared. He was dressed in white, a startling contrast to the green around him. Light shimmered all around him, and enhanced his tanned complexion and black hair. He gave out a sense of supreme power and authority, something you rarely see in a man so young. He looked in his mid-twenties or so.

"Sephiroth," he said. His voice was deep and held no emotion. "No last name."

"Where am I," I asked, confused. "What, what am I doing here?"

"You are being judged," he replied, somewhat a matter of factly.

"Am I dead?"

"Of course. You wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Who are you?"

"I am Eclipse," he said. "Ruler of the lifestream. My wife Corona, you won't see her, is ruler of the Promised Land. We judge the people who die and decide weather they receive happiness, suffering, or, in some rare cases, another chance at life. People in your world call it incarnation. The other two are known in your world as heaven and hell. Now stand up please. You can't stay on your hands and knees forever."

I got to my feet. It was best to just get this over with.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"Come here. I need to see your life. Mind reading is much faster than files and a lot more efficient."

I walked over slowly. He placed his hands on my head and looked into my eyes. I was shocked to see that his were exactly like Clouds'. I could see images of my life flash inside my head. Everything I had done, said and thought. He saw my early life with Hojo, rising through the ranks of Soldier to become general of the Shinra army, the Midgar-Wutai war, Nibelhiem, right up to the moment he yelled "Omnislash!"

"My," said Eclipse, taking his hands away from my head. "What a life. You were some sadistic manic, that's for sure. It's a pity things weren't better for you. All those people that suffered and died under your hand." He shook his head slowly. I could see where this was going. It wasn't good.

"You killed one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two people Sephiroth. Do you know that?"

To be honest, I didn't. I knew I had killed a lot, but never that many. I was a monster. Or as he so nicely put it, a sadistic manic.

"Does that even register who many families have suffered because of you? That so many people got a knock on their door and were told that their husband or wife or children or parents were dead and never coming back. That they were never to see their loved ones again. Can you imagine the shock they must have felt? And even worse, their loved ones were murdered? Can you even get it now that you are a murderer? Sephiroth, you killed innocent people. Just because you felt like it. That sickens me. How do you feel?"

I had never been told that I was a murderer. It hit me like a ton of bricks. An awful feeling swept through me. I had no idea at what caused it, but I wanted it to go away.

"That's guilt Sephiroth," said Eclipse, reading my mind. "It just goes to show that you are human. I'm thankful for at least that. I'm glad Corona isn't here. If she was, you would be spending an eternity of damnation for killing the last Cetra. I, however, saw your suffering in your early life and I think that if you hadn't gotten that, you wouldn't have killed all those people. I'd go as far as saying that you wouldn't be dead now. Believe me Sephiroth, your early life has saved you from an eternity of damnation. But your early life does not justify the fact you have killed all those people. You cannot go unpunished. So here is my sentence. Are you ready for it?"

I wasn't, for I knew it was going to be bad. But I nodded anyway.

"You will have one year of suffering for every person you killed. And you will have an extra ten for killing the Cetra. That is one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two years in hell. Afterward, you may enter heaven, for you will have atoned. Do you understand?"

I nodded, numb at what I was hearing. I felt so dirty, bile was growing in the back of my throat. I felt so sick and guilty. Who would have thought "The Great Sephiroth" would know suffering?

"Very well Sephiroth. You have been judged." He put his hand on my shoulder and sighed."Good luck." He waved his hand and was gone.

Chains lashed out at me from nowhere, and I was shackled and bound in an instant. I tried to move but I couldn't. The chains held tight and fast. The green lifestream turned from liquid beauty to a barren wasteland. I could smell all around me a stench all too familiar. The stench of death. And suddenly there they were. The bodies of all they people I had killed, stretched out along the wasteland, blood spewing from their wounds. Their faces were so clear, staring at me lifeless, pale and cold. And clearest of all was the face of the Cetra, so pure and innocent in the face of her destruction. They were haunting me. I tried closing my eyes, I tried to shut them out. They wouldn't let me. The sun baked down mercilessly on my body and I was burnt within seconds. I was thirsty, but there was nothing to quench my thirst. I took a deep breath. The chains were bound so tightly that I could barely get enough air into my lungs. It was nowhere near fresh, full of dirt and smoke. I was on the verge of suffocating which was strange as I was dead anyway. They wouldn't let me fall limp in the chains as that would be allowing me rest. They kept me straight and I was soon exhausted. The shackles became red hot from the sun and burned my flesh like a child being made keep his hand in the fire. It was pure torture. I wasn't able to sleep. There was no night in this place. Far away in the distance was heaven. I could see it, like a beautiful oasis in the desert of misery. The only thing that could ever keep me going was that in one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two years I would be free from this hell, this prison.

One thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two years was a long time.

The End.

A.N. Hey, I like Sephiroth, despite the fact that I wish I could strangle him myself for killing Aeris. He is the best villain in ff, no doubt. Feel free to tell me what you think. Bye for now.

LastCetra.