Author's Note: This story is ancient (and terrible - honestly). Consider it archived.
If anyone has the Advent Children soundtrack, play "Cloud Smiles" to this - it's the ending song as this scene is acting out. I went over this story over and over in my mind until I got it perfect with the music. See if you can do it.
Also, the script may be different to what you know - I have the Japanese version of Advent Children with English subtitles, and I've discovered that some versions have different translations to others. I haven't seen the English version.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes. He was in water, floating at the top. He stood up and looked around - all the children were there around him, every single one, all looking at him curiously. He looked around at them all, confused, surprised. He stopped on one little girl standing right in front of him, his eyes questioning.
"Sister said you will be coming here," she said softly.
Cloud thought for a moment, before the silence was broken by another voice.
"Welcome back."
Cloud looked up, startled. There was everyone - Tifa, Barret, Cid, Cait-Sith, Vincent, Yuffie, Nanakai and even Marlene - looking at him with smiles and approving looks on their faces. Cloud smiled lightly, and murmured "I'm home."
Nanakai stepped forward a little, looking around the room for a second, then turning back to Cloud. "There are still children whose geostigma hasn't gone away."
Cloud nodded and stepped forward. "All right."
He walked towards Tifa as she looked down at a small boy standing next to her. She leaned down and put her hands on Denzel's shoulders and whispered to him. "Here, go get it cured." She looked up at Cloud, and he walked up to them and held out his hand to Denzel.
"It's fine now," he reassured the boy. Tifa smiled andtold Denzel to do hisbest, and he nodded and walked forward to the edge of the floor, where Cloud picked him up and stepped backward, placing him in the water. Cloud took a handful of water and raised it above Denzel's head. Denzel's eyes followed his hands for a moment, before Cloud dropped the water on Denzel's forhead. The boy shook his head, startled, and lifted his hands to his head to feel the water through his hair. Cloud observed as the geostigma disintegrated into little green sparks, like his had done when the pool of water was raining on him during the fight with Kadaj. Denzel frowned slightly and dropped his arms, and looked down at the water. He saw his reflection, the geostigma was gone. His face lightened and he looked up at Cloud, who nodded slightly. Denzel smiled, then turned around to Tifa and laughed.
All of the children took this as a good sign and started to jump in the water. Cloud looked around at them all, watching the look of joy on their faces as he heard them laughing, and saying how the geostigma was gone, and it didn't hurt anymore. He looked back up to his friends, smiling, as they were jumping up and down and telling all the kids to jump in the water. Tifa smiled and looked at him, a joyful glint in her eyes. Cloud nodded, and looked back around at the children surrounding him. But something caught his eye; he did a double take by the door, where a few children were crouching, talking to a girl in a pink dress that after a few seconds he recognised...
Cloud's eyes widened in surprise as he watched the girl stand up and start walking out of the church with a spikey headed guy; she turned around to look at Cloud and giggled at the startled look on his face.
Zack and Aries smiled at him, then Aries looked over to the side of the room. Cloud followed her eyes to see a man hidden in the shadows. His eyes flickered to look back at Aries, but she and Zack were gone; but when he looked back to the shadows the man was still there. He squinted slightly, trying to see in the darkness. He saw the man's eyes widen suddenly, then they narrowed worriedly, before the man took a step forward, into the light.
Cloud panicked for a moment. He recognised the man's long silver hair, full length black overcoat, huge shining sword and deep green eyes anywhere.
"Sephiroth!" Cloud exclaimed, looking at the man in shock.
Everyone went silent, and turned to face their enemy. Sephiroth cringed and looked around at everyone, frowning fearfully. Cloud glared at him with mixed emotions. "What are you doing here?"
Sephiroth's attention was diverted to Cloud. He looked at the spikey blonde and gulped, and after a moment, he took a step forward.
"I..." Sephiroth started, "I want to be healed..."
Cloud's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly. His past life involving Sephiroth flashed before his eyes... the previous day when he was fighting against Sephiroth for his life and the lives of all the children... two years ago when he defeated Sephiroth as he was trying to destroy the planet... Five years ago, in Neibelheim, as Sephiroth burned his hometown to dust and disappeared without a trace... Hatred rose within Cloud as he thought back to the Sephiroth that did all those horrible things to him and his friends. But then he looked back even further, to SOLDIER, to cadet training in the Shin-Ra Army... and he felt mixed emotions. What if Sephiroth wasn't the horrible man that everyone knew him to be? What if the Sephiroth standing before him now was the Sephiroth he used to know... used to love?
Something deep told Cloud to give the man another chance. Cloud closed his mouth and nodded to Sephiroth. "Come, into the water."
Sephiroth hesitantly took a step forward towards Cloud, who was now holding a hand out to him. Sephiroth raised the Masumune and thrust it deep into the floor, then took Cloud's hand and lowered himself into the water. Cloud watched as Sephiroth glowed green for a few moments, then ducked his head under the water. He looked like a giant body of green under the water for a few seconds before he came back up for air. Sephiroth took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then re-opened them and looked at Cloud. Cloud looked into the taller man's green eyes, and had a flashback.
Sephiroth stood in front of Cloud, smiling.
"I'll always be there for you at the end, Cloud Strife," he said, laughing. "Remember that."
Cloud looked into his reassuring green eyes and nodded, smiling, then hugged Sephiroth tightly.
Cloud frowned slightly, watching Sephiroth's eyes. "Your eyes... aren't little slits anymore..." he murmured.
"It doesn't hurt anymore, either," Sephiroth agreed, smiling lightly for a second.
Cloud's feelings were playing tricks on his brain. Old memories of SOLDIER and training had popped into his mind, as well as old emotions, ones he thought he'd have lost long ago. Before SOLDIER, with Sephiroth. Before SOLDIER, with Sephiroth. After Neibelheim, and the confusing mix of emotions that followed without Sephiroth. He thought that by now, the love and sadness would have been replaced with hate and anger, never to come back; but here they were, back again to nudge Cloud back in the direction he used to be travelling in - with Sephiroth.
"Cloud," Sephiroth said quietly, stirring Cloud from his thoughts. "Cloud... I'm just... I'm so sorry..."
Cloud looked up at Sephiroth sadly, and saw truth and fear behind his eyes. Cloud thought for a moment, turning everything over in his mind, before letting his feelings make his decision. His eyes flicked over to Vincent, who nodded to him, smiling. Cloud had told Vincent two years ago, before his final battle with Sephiroth, exactly what his thoughts and feelings were on the matter, and Vincent had helped him through it. It made perfect sense to Cloud that Vincent was smiling now. Cloud nodded back, then his eyes returned to Sephiroth's, who looked confused.
"I'll forgive everything, Sephiroth," Cloud started, watching as Sephiroth's face lit up like a light bulb. "On one condition."
"Anything," Sephiroth breathed heavily, watching Cloud in awe.
Cloud waited for a moment, eyeing Sephiroth closely, before setting his condition. "You come back to me," he murmured, "and we live the way we used to, seven years ago."
A look of calm disbelief washed over Sephiroth's face as he thought back, all those years ago. SOLDIER... he and Cloud were one entity back then; and after all the chaos, pain and suffering he had caused Cloud over the time, the blonde still wanted him back.
Sephiroth breathed out a heavy sigh and shook his head, smiling. "Oh Cloud... of course."
Cloud sighed and grinned, throwing his arms around Sephiroth's neck and pulling him close. Sephiroth's arms made their way around Cloud's torso, and the two men met in the middle. Cloud pushed himself against Sephiroth, and Sephiroth responded in kind, pressing his lips to Cloud's. His eyes blinked shut, and he held Cloud close. Cloud felt tears falling down his cheek as he kissed Sephiroth, his dream come true, for the first time in seven years.