Disclaimer: That Cloud and Sephiroth are not mine is something that I despair of on a daily basis. In other words, Final Fantasy VII (c) and its characters are the property of Square Enix, they are not mine, and I am making no money whatsoever from this work of fan fiction.

A/N: This is a fanfiction net specific edit of the story I originally posted on adultfanfiction net last year under the author's name 'TemenNiGru'; as such, the two versions are slightly different. The original version of the story carries an NC-17 rating, where this edit is lower, working up to R by its completion.

Hi all, and a very warm welcome to "Darkness Falls." This story is a Cloud/Seph pairing, so if you don't like, don't read! If you have the time to leave it, feedback will be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy the story.

Darkness Falls

Part 1

To begin with, there was brilliant white light, so strong that Cloud instinctively closed his eyes against it. Then, he seemed to fall into darkness so thick and crushing that he was momentarily paralysed. Fragments of speech and scattered images played through his mind even in the absence of his physical awareness.

It's not over yet! This isn't the end yet!

He simply refused to give up. Even as his nemesis had floated before him, suspended by some dark and unknown power in the air, the light of Holy portrayed him in stark relief against the black depths of the Northern Cave. He was but one man.

To the settling of everything!

Cloud remembered his cry of defiance, of strength, as he faced Sephiroth for the last time; it still seemed to ring in his ears. Landing painfully after executing the omnislash, his final limit break, his body slumped against the cave floor. He closed his eyes and waited for the world to stop its wild spinning, the chill of the rock against his cheek helping, gradually, to bring him back to himself.

Slowly, he pushed himself up into a crouch, blue eyes hesitantly searching the scene before him for some sign, for any mark or presence to explain what had just happened – but there was nothing; nothing save the jagged walls of the cave that stretched upwards, perhaps meeting the light at some point far beyond his perception.

He had done it. Sephiroth was gone.

The masamune, too, seemed to have disappeared in the explosion of white light that had consumed its owner's body. He should have felt elated – in his own words, everything had been settled, resolved; but all that Cloud could conceive of was a deep and dark nothingness, a void in his soul to rival that of the cave itself. Whilst killing was a necessity for any SOLDIER, Cloud had never found a way to ease his conscience after the event. Monsters were one thing, but Sephiroth...
Sephiroth had been both a monster and a man, he mused, powerful and almost godlike before the demon from the skies had enslaved, and then consumed his mind and body.

Jenova.

The name left a bitter taste in his mouth as he pushed himself to his feet, though his exhausted frame protested at the movement and he swayed briefly on the spot. Running a hand through his hair, Cloud was shocked, when he brought it back in front of his face, to see it trembling still. He shook it fiercely, making a fist as it fell back to his side, nails digging into the skin far enough to draw blood.

I killed the enemy. I saved the planet. So why does it feel so...wrong?

He bowed his head, eyes closing once more under an onslaught of emotion that he couldn't begin to understand.

"I'm sorry"

It was a faint whisper, one quickly lost in the heavy silence of the Northern Cave.

But not before someone had heard it.

There was only the slightest change in the current of cold air around him, but Cloud felt it anyway and, heart pounding, he jerked his body to the right and swung the reassuring weight of his sword into a defensive stance. For a few moments, he heard nothing but his own shallow breaths, saw nothing but their vapour, condensed in the thick air in front of him. There was another shift in current to his left, but as he turned this time, Cloud felt his anger rising, a reassuring feeling that smothered the fear which had begun to consume him.

"Who's there?" He demanded; his front of anger and control betrayed by the slight, yet discernible, tremble in his voice. As a low, cruel laugh came to his ears his blood ran cold, and the last of his confidence disappeared into the heavy darkness.

"I killed you."

The statement hung between them for a moment without a response, though Cloud was still unable to see his tormentor.

"I am a God. You cannot kill me!"

Suddenly aware of a presence behind him, Cloud turned, but only a second later – and a second too late - did he realise his mistake. The blunt edge of the masamune caught him in the back of the head, with the full power of its owner behind it, and his world exploded into bright, hot pain before it collapsed again into nothingness.

TBC