Nearly twenty years had passed since Cloud and his friends had defeated Sephiroth. Yet, despite how long it had been, Sephiroth still haunted Cloud and the phantoms of the past had progressively gotten worse over the years.
He had started out hearing Sephiroth's taunting voice growing ever louder in hid mid twenties. At first, it was easy for Cloud to ignore. But when he was alone, he pulled out his buster sword, striking at the empty air to silence the imagined voice.
The illusions seemed to respond to Cloud's actions and fought back. The ones that had him fight were few and far between at first, but as the increased in number and frequency, Cloud had to move from his haven at Tifa's bar – where he had finally settled down about five years after that final battle – to his own place near the Midgar city limits, so he could fight Sephiroth whenever he appeared in the illusions.
Until that point, Cloud's friends had wondered and had suspicions about Cloud's erratic behavior. At first, they thought it had been an after effect of the Geostigma, but none of the other victims had suffered any hallucinations of any kind, so that theory was ruled out. Another thought had occurred to them, however. Perhaps Cloud's fate being tied to closely to Sephiroth's had affected him psychologically.
It didn't matter by the time their theories had proven true. By that time, Cloud realized he was getting worse and distanced himself further from his friends and further from other people.
"We meet once again, Cloud."
"Another round of battle Sephiroth?"
"You should know better by now Cloud. You've been losing strength and I can easily tell."
"Shut up and fight, Sephiroth!"
"That's why you've taken to solitude. You've lost the strength to protect what you cherish and I will take that away from you."
"That's enough!"
Blow by blow, the man and the illusion fought. The buster sword and the imagined katana's blades crossed again and again. The tide of battle flowed seamlessly from one side to the other. Soon, it appeared that Sephiroth was gaining the upper hand. Cloud fought back relentlessly, but was still being beat back.
Then, in a flash, Sephiroth was gone again.
It was like that every time they fought, and the battles never seemed to come to a definite end. Cloud noticed that the battles were increasing in number. But he didn't notice that the flashes signified him losing consciousness, and that he almost always lost to his illusions.
It wouldn't be much longer now.