"Who do you love more, me or her?"
Those words couldn't leave my mind. How harsh, yet pain filled, those words how sounded once they left her mouth. It surprised me that she felt that way. And I felt the same…
What was I thinking? It was nothing but was a dream. Nothing but a little world my mind created for refuge when I slept. It was the same dream every time. Terrains I hadn't seen, the same people, and a never ending fight.
There were moments of peace but they were short-lived. In those moments, we had begun to bond with each other. There were two of them; I would never understand why my mind had created them.
It seemed a better life than I the one I was living. After the destruction of Midgar from Meteor, a new town was built at the edge of the ruins of Midgar. It had the fitting name of Edge. I lived here with Tifa- an old childhood friend, Marlene-Barret's adopted daughter, and Denzel- a boy I rescued from the slums. Tifa had started a new 7th Heaven bar in Edge while I had started the Strife Delivery Service.
Life was alright until my dreams began.
They started more than a few months ago. The first dream was shocking, a huge monster plant-like monster with tentacles taller than a house coughed out fume of poison. I stood in its path of poison, frozen, not sure what was going on.
"Move!" A shout came from what sounded like a girl.
Soon after, I was pushed to the ground, out of reach of the poisonous fumes.
The pressure on my back lifted and upon looking up I saw a light pink haired woman standing above me, arms crossed.
She wore a sleeveless white coat over a brown turtleneck zipped up to the top, a metallic pauldron bearing two yellow stripes on her left shoulder. She also wore a red cape was attached to her uniform near her left shoulder blade, a long black sleeve covers most of her left arm, knee-high leather boots, and a brown mini-shirt. A black case hung off her belt, along with a red pack that hangs from her waist and is strapped to her left leg.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" She questioned before taking a gun from her black case.
She ran forward, shooting at the creature's tentacles. It swung down one of its giant arms aimed to land on her. She rolled swiftly to the side, the arm missing by several feet. To my surprise she changed her gun into a sword.
She brought down the sword, detaching the tentacle, causing the plant to squeal in pain. Changing her weapon back into a gun, she shot at the body of the monster. Lost in her reverie, it swung another tentacle from the side knocking her down.
I got up at that point, quickly grabbed a hold the hilt of my Buster Sword and dashed forward, dodging endless arms slashes, to cut through the plant's main body.
The body deflated and greenish white liquid flooded out along with the gas.
A hand latched onto my arm.
"This way!" The women ran, dragging me along with her.
The area was a topical woodland with bushes all along the ground. She kept pulling me along until she stopped outside a clearing with campfire smoking flowing upward.
There was already somebody at the campfire.
It was a girl who looked about in her late teens. She wore a blue, flower-patterned dress, black boots, and a black spaghetti-string camisole under a white sash of material that wrapped around her neck and over her yellow patterned ribbon that wrapped around her waist, and two separate, kimono-like sleeves hanging from her upper arms. Barely visual able under her brown hair was a blue beaded earring hanging from her right ear and a silver penchant around her neck. A staff with circular designs lay on her lap.
"Do you know her?" I asked quietly.
The women shook her head. "I'm taking you don't know her either."
I shook my head also. "What's the plan? Say hi or walk around?"
Already, I was acting like we were a team. I guess I was too careless, but it was dream so what could go wrong?
"She doesn't seem dangerous, but stay on guard. Who knows, she could change into a dragon in the next second." She stepped warily out into the open, letting go of my arm.
The other girl looked up quickly, fear written across her face. She started to stand up but the pink haired women held a hand up.
"We won't hurt you unless you hurt us." She said, sitting down in front of the fire.
"And I won't harm either of you as long as you don't harm me." The brunette repeated. "I'm Yuna."
"Lightning" She said shortly, staring at the fire.
"Cloud Strife." I mumbled, looking at Yuna. She smiled at me and I couldn't help smile back. That's when I noticed her eyes. Opposite colored eyes looked back at me. The left eye being a light blue while her right eye was a dark colored green.
"How did you end up here?" Yuna asked, curiosity filling her voice.
"Don't really know." I answered back.
"Same here, I just ended up here," She gestured to the clearing around us. "I hadn't thought to explore. To be truthful I was scared." She smiled bashfully. "I thought if I built a fire someone would find me. I guess I was right."
I nodded, not sure of what to say. It was strange, just being here felt real.
"Are you going somewhere?"
Without thinking I nodded and pointed at some mountains in the horizon. "I'm heading there. I have a problem I need to deal with."
"I want to go somewhere, I'm just afraid of what I might find." She glanced down at her staff, playing with a bell at the end of it.
I nodded in agreement. "I understand. Each journey we go on can have good and bad outcomes."
"I've already lost too much…" She went quiet after that, still playing with the end of her staff.
"Do you want to come with me?" I asked. This girl somewhat reminded me of Aerith. So this was my dreams were up to? Creating a false reality of what I wished would happen?
"Yes, I would like that. I'm not much of a fighter but I can do some white magic." She smiled as, I took it, a way of thanks. "Is Lightning coming with us?"
I just realized Lightning was still here, I was also guessing that she had just remembered she was here too.
Lightning's head jolted up. "Hm?"
"Are you coming with us?" Yuna repeated to her.
Lightning looked at both us than said: "For the time being."
"Alright, if we should get separated, just whistle like this." Yuna placed two fingers in her mouth and a loud whistle came out. "Then one of us will come running."
0000X0000
I awoke from my daydream of another day. I heard Marlene run through the hallway and back downstairs. She was happily talking about something I had no idea about.
I sighed, guilty of missing out on the kids' life. I don't even remember the last time I talked to either of them.
Maybe this was how life was meant to be. I would be forever distant while the rest of my friends would live happy life's. I lived in an illusion because I could never be satisfied with reality.
Really, one of the best moments of my life was in one of my dreams…How was that I was becoming a pathetic excuse of a man? I couldn't be Zack's living legacy...
0000X0000
Lightning, Yuna, and I were sitting side by side at the edge of a slightly shallow pond. We were in the middle of temperate forest close to the mountain. I was in the middle of the two, watching our reflections in the pond.
The memory of our conversation lingered in my thoughts. If we could make to the mountain, what was possibly inside, what we would do after. And that they were waiting for me to respond.
"I don't know… Never really thought about it. I guess, I would travel; explore more of this world." I shrugged.
"I would..." Yuna paused as if in thought. In my peripheral vision I see her hold her penchant to her face. "I might travel with you, Cloud, if you didn't mind…"
Lightning gazed into the abyss of the sky, watching birds fly overhead. "I might do the same as Cloud. So I guess, we're sticking together…If Cloud doesn't mind."
"I wouldn't mind." I said, smiling at our little scene. The wind blew leafs into the pond, where'd they dance in circles, causing ripples in the water. Little fish would swim up and kiss the leafs before darting back to the pond floor. It was peaceful, something I wasn't used to.
"Good, I would have followed you anyway." Lightning turned and smiled at me.
It was always outlandish when she smiled, so outlandish that it made you smile too. My own smile widened.
"Cloud, we should call you Sunshine. You're smiling like an idiot." Lightning joked, playfully punching my shoulder.
"And we should call you-"
"Light. Call me Light." Her eyes glowed with happiness. It was almost as if this place drew it out of us.
"Okay, than." Yuna tilted forward to look at both of us. "Call me Yunie."
"Yunie?" Lightning and I questioned.
Yuna smiled at the pond. "My cousin used to call me that."
"Were you two close friends?" I asked, cautiously. I didn't want to hit emotion grounds.
What was I thinking? This was dream, but still…
"Yeah, she tried her best to protect me even tried kidnapping me!" She laughed a little at the thought.
"She must have really cared for you." Lightning said silently. "Like an older sister."
"Now that I think about it, she's two years younger than me and trying to protect me. And just like you said: an older sister." She laughed to herself a bit before she continued. "I should have been the older sister figure but she was always that."
"At least you were there for her." Lightning muttered.
"More like she was there for me than I was for her. She was always there for support."
Sadness started to feel the air. The demons of our past, I felt it there. It was almost like there were real people.
"Hey!" I shove Lightning into the pond, followed by Yuna.
"Cloud!" They both said in unison.
"And you can call me Spikey!" I shouted.
Lightning and Yuna shared a knowing look with each other than nodded with a smile. Lightning quickly reached out and grabbed my left leg and Yuna grabbed my right leg, with that they pulled me into the pond.
I lied on the pond floor, watching as the girls laughed their heads off. I changed my position into a crouch, leapt up though the surface causing an enormous splash!
I shook my head rapidly, water from my spikes going everywhere. Yuna and Lightning had their hands trying to block water from their faces from my attack. Laughter erupted from us, laughter I never had while I was awake.
This is what I wished my real life was like. Laughter even though all the pain and fighting. A sign that we would survive, not the ever pressing question of: "Can we make it?"
0000X0000
I stared out my bedroom's window at the thriving world around me. My thoughts kept wandering to what was making me give it all up.
"Cloud?" Tifa whisper broke through my trance. She entered my room, silently shutting the door behind her. "Is everything all right?" Her eyes held concern. I was sure she thought I was depressed. It was all because of those stupid dreams I keep having!
I lived my life for them now! As soon as I got home from deliveries I would immediately go upstairs and start trying to doze off.
Anger at them built in my chest.
"Cloud? Did I do something?" Tifa voice broke through my rage. I realized she was still waiting for an answer and my fist were clenched.
I shook my head slowly while I relaxed my fists. "No Tifa, it's not you..." I mumbled.
"What then? You barely leave your room! You've haven't spoken to Marlene and Denzel in months! You don't answer your phone! I thought we were a family!" Tifa silently shouted at me.
My eyes widened. "I'm-"I began but was cut off.
"I don't want your 'sorry'! I want you here, if not for me than for the kids!" At that she slammed the door.
Tifa's angry steps boomed through the walls to my ears.
I sat there in shock after that. That wasn't Tifa. I never remembered Tifa all of a sudden bursting out in anger at someone. I guess I was a special case, she must have mad at me for a long time…
I slammed my fist down on the window ledge. Hatred at what I was doing to everyone began to flame. What was so special about my dreams to give up what I already had and loved!
0000X0000
We had finally reached the mountain and were at the entrance to a cavern on a cliff. Yuna had fallen asleep while both, Lightning and me, kept watch. She sat in front the entrance with me across from her.
"Do you know what's in there?" After an hour of silence Lightning spoke. She was staring at the ground as we sat on cold rock.
"No, all I know is something important is in there." I responded in a hush tone, trying not to wake Yuna up.
"Do you think it's safe?" Lightning sighed. "Cloud, I have a bad feeling about this. Like this won't end well."
"It will, I promise."
"You shouldn't go around making promises you can't be sure to keep." Lightning snapped.
"I'll keep this one. You can count on it." I countered.
At this Lightning looked up and stared me in the eyes with her blue-green ones. It was like she was searching for something within me.
"What would you do if one of us died?" She whispered
My eyebrows rose at her question. "I would be…miserable." I answered truthfully.
Lightning kept my stare, never blinking. "Would you be more miserable over one than the other?"
"Why does it matter?" Aggravation entered my voice, and my eyebrows morphed into a furrow.
Fury corrupted Lightning's face. "Who do you love more, me or her?" At the end word Lightning pointed at Yuna, who slept to her right.
I didn't answer. I loved both of them. How could I choose?
I turned my back to Lightning and tried to fall asleep.
0000X0000
I had fallen asleep soon after dinner, much to Tifa's disproval. She had shot me glares the whole time while Marlene and Denzel ignored me. Such a wonderful little family…
I was asleep with my face pressed to the cool cliff surface. Yuna waited patiently while Lightning paced back and forth for me to wake up.
"Hey, sleepy-head." Yuna smiled at me as she saw my eyes flutter open.
"Hmph. Tell sleepy-head to it hurry up." After the words were spoken, Lightning ran into the cavern.
"What's her problem?" I mumbled incoherently.
Yuna shrugged. "She's been like this all morning." She grabbed my hand and helped me up. "C'mon before we get left behind!" Yuna took off with me following behind.
Strangely the cavern went straight forward with no turns, cross roads, or obstacles. Yuna commented on how it had an eerie feeling to it. I couldn't disagree with that.
To make it more eerie, it ended in a small circular room. Lightning stood in the middle of it, observing anything of use.
"It's a dead end." She stated. "Let's head back."
"So it was all just a waste of time." I said to myself.
Yuna placed a hand on my arm. "No, it was a journey where we created a friendship."
"Thanks for making it sound cheesy!" I teased.
She smiled and nodded. "You're welcome."
"Will you two stop messing around and look at this!" Lightning snapped us.
I sighed mentally, wondering if her attitude had anything to do with last night.
By my side Yuna gasped in shock, tightening her grip on my arm. In front of Lightning was solid stone where there had once been a doorway.
"So what's the plan now, Cloud?" Lightning crossed her arms, waiting for my answer.
"We break through the rock. That'll do it."
We all nodded in agreement before we attacked the rock. After what seemed like forever, we took a look at our work.
"We didn't even leave a mark." Yuna murmured with disappointment.
I exhaled in frustration and walked away from the rock.
Why couldn't my dreams have given me materia? Or a bomb? I couldn't think of another way out of here.
"CLOUD!" Two feminine screams called out.
I spun around in a heartbeat to see Lightning and Yuna getting dragged into two separate black holes. At the rate they were at which they were disappearing if I did go after one, the other would vanish.
My mind repeated "Who do I go after? Who do I save?" Both were special to me, I couldn't just save one. I had to save both.
I reached out with both my arms, trying to grab their outstretched hands. But my help had come too late. Both were gone. No trace remained of either.
I stared at where they'd once been. I'd, yet again, failed to save my friends. Even in a dream I couldn't save them.
"Haven't you learned your lesson, Cloud?"
This dream had just officially turned into a nightmare.
Behind me footsteps sounded before stopping a few feet behind me.
I turned around rapidly, facing the one man I hated more than anyone. "What lesson? That I can't escape you? Even when I'm asleep?"
Sephiroth chuckled. "Not quite. That you destroy everyone you love."
"Shut up!" Without thinking I grabbed my heavy blade and swung at him. He disappeared.
"This was a test. And you failed." His voice reappeared behind me. "And for failing, there's punishment."
The worst physical pain I've ever experienced pulsed through my left arm. What looked like a giant, purple bruise spread on my arm with black liquid beginning to seep out of it like a cut.
I sneered at him while holding my bruised arm. "You're nothing but some nightmare my mind has created. As soon as I wake up all of this will be gone!" I said through the pain.
Behind me Sephiroth laughed quietly. "Cloud, this isn't a dream. It never was. Those girls, they're just like you. When you wake up my mark will still be there. "
My vision started to grow dimmer, I knew this dream was about to end.
"Cloud, you can't escape me. No matter what you do or where you go, I'll always be there, right behind you."
0000X0000
I jolted upright in my bed, gasping for air. My arm felt sore, but I must have been sleeping on it. It was still dark outside and in my room.
I reached over and turned my lamp on to find black stains all over my white blanket where my left arm was.
"No…" I whispered before inspecting my arm.
Just like in my dream it was covered in what appeared to a big purple bruise.
"This isn't a dream. It never was." Sephiroth's words mocked me now. Was it really possible that all that hadn't been a dream? That Lightning and Yuna had been actual people, not illusions? If so, what happened to them? Were they people like me too? Someone who had found themselves in a world they thought was a dream?
I shook my head to regain my mind. No more questions.
I sprung off my bed, got dressed, and covered my arm with a rag left on a dresser. I would need new clothes soon; nonetheless I had to leave here.
Sephiroth was right. I destroyed everyone I cared for. I was ruining Tifa's life, Aerith and Zack died because of me, and now I might have just killed two girls I think I loved.
I wasn't sure anymore. I couldn't tell the difference between reality and illusion. What was love exactly anyway?
I snuck downstairs, stepping lightly on the stairs, through the bar and out the door to Finrir, the custom motorcycle I had fixed. I walked her down the street before climbing on and starting her. I didn't want to tip-off Tifa or that would be something to be scared of.
I wasn't sure where I was headed, just anywhere away from here before I destroyed someone else. Maybe I couldn't escape Sephiroth but at least he wouldn't be here.
As for Yuna and Lightning, I would never forget them.