Can't you hear it?
"Strife!"
A young man with shoulder-length brown hair stood at the entrance of a dead-end alleyway in the dead of night, beads of sweat clinging to his forehead, matting his fringe, his chest heaving from running so far, and so fast. "Strife, listen!" he hissed urgently, the street-light behind him flickering.
"I can hear it," came a quiet whisper from the depths of the alleyway.
Standing by the bins, his back to the brunette, his blonde spiky hair glinting in the flickering light, a young man stood there.
He turned around, his face speckled with blood, his shirt covered in it, his hands soaked in it. His bright blue eyes stared, burning at the brunette. "I can hear it, Leonhart."
Can't you hear it?
"It's just you, Cloud," murmured the brunette, taking a hesitant step forward. Cloud turned around completely, his front drenched in blood, even a few speckles caught in his golden hair. "The noise is just you."
Cloud frowned, the street-light flickering again, his pupils, blown wide, tried in vain to contract. "It's all in my head, Leon?" he asked quietly.
The brunette, Leon, was now only just out of arm's length, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on his friend's own, his hands held up in front of him, signalling that he meant no harm.
"Yeah," he agreed softly. "We can get rid of the noise, Cloud. Just-- Listen to me."
"But--" The blonde shook his head, his spikes of gold swaying on his head. "Can't you hear it?" he asked, his eyes wide, fixed on Leon.
"Can't you hear it?" he asked again, urgently; taking a step forward.
The brunette's eyes snapped down to the knife held in Cloud's slack grip, still soaked in the blood of an innocent. "No, Cloud," he whispered, taking a slow step back, his eyes still fixed on the knife. "I can't hear it. It's just you."
The blonde took a shaky breath, his bright blue eyes snapping around the alleyway before coming to a stop on Leon once again.
"No, it's you."
The brunette snapped his grey eyes up, to see Cloud staring at him with an intent look he could not identify. "It's you," Cloud whispered again, taking a step forward, his grip tightening on his blade.
"The noise is you," he hissed.
Can't you hear it?
Before he could even move, Leon was punched across the face and he crumpled to the ground, a hand coming up to cover his cheek, which was smeared in someone else's blood, his eyes staring up at Cloud, who stood over him.
His blonde friend stepped over him, and gently sat on the brunette's chest, constricting his breathing only that little bit, his blue eyes staring down at Leon in a way that made the brunette feel like he was nothing but a pitiful, tiny insect.
"The screaming in my head is you," Cloud whispered, placing a blood-soaked hand to the ground, beside Leon's head, the metallic stench making the stunned brunette wrinkle his nose a little. Cloud hung over Leon, directly over him, more of his weight adding to the brunette's ribs, slowly suffocating him.
"Why are you in my head?" Cloud snarled, ducking closer to Leon, hunched over the brunette. "What gives you the right to be there?" he hissed, blue eyes boring into Leon's own grey ones. "Every waking hour."
The blade was at his throat, digging into the flesh. Cutting into it. "Scream for me," the blonde demanded. "Scream for real."
Can't you hear the screaming?
((END. Inspired by my mild obsession with Evil-Cloud, my want to write someone who is well and truly unhinged, and also inspired by the one and only Master. Enjoy.))