Hello everyone! Sorry for not updating sooner but I was out of town.
Noctis followed Cloud until they reached a valley. Both of them were on cliffs, Cloud was with his back at Noctis and a waterfall separate them.
"Cloud!" Noctis shouted, but got no reply. Cloud wanted to move but Noctis's voice stopped him in mid step. "Are you going to run off again?"
Cloud turned slowly and Noctis gasped when he saw what happened to him. Black spots covered his left side of the face, his left eye was dark while the other was blue.
"So, it's you, huh? Spoiled little brat." Cloud said to him. Silence came. Noctis was looking at Cloud, looking shocked at his appearance while Cloud looked at him with his usual expression. "They sent you, huh?"
Flashback:
The members of AVALANCHE and Noctis stood in a room. Tifa was crying and Yuffie tried to console her. Vincent was resting on a wall, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Reeve was sitting on a chair, robbing his temples. Red XIII was lying on the floor, with his eyes closed as well. Cid and Barret gave Noctis death glares and Cid wanted to grab Noctis by the shirt but Barret beat him to it.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, CLOUD'S GONE?" he roared.
Noctis who looked at him with his blank face and said. "Just like it sounds. Cloud travled through time to stop Sephiroth."
"Why?" Tifa said between sobs."I though he was happy. I though he could let go of the past."
"Tifa..." Yuffie whispered.
"YOU ARE GOING TO BRING HIM BACK, RIGHT NOW! SO THAT I CAN KICK HIS ASS!" Barret yelled in Noctis's ear
"Now, now Barret." said Reeve. "Cloud got his resons. As much we don't like Cloud to go we have to let him deal with his problems. I'm sure he will be fine. He is strong and smart. He will find a way back."
"If Sephiroth could travel through time, so can Cloud. Besides if Sephiroth is not stopped, who knows what will happned. If you change the future, you change the past. If the future is change then the actions that lead to that future could change too, affecting the past." said Vincent.
"But what if it's a trap?" Cid restored.
The room fell in silence.
"It doesn't matter." Tifa said, wiping off her tears."Cloud will find a way, he always does. It's true that Cloud can't let go of his past, but we are his friends and we got to help him even if he likes it or not."
"And I think I know how." Noctis spoke."For generations my family protected the dark crystal. It's said to have magical powers, perhaps I can put it to use, though only I can use it and there's a high change that I won't even survive. I'll leave right away."
When he was about to exit the room, Tifa's voice stopped him."Noctis." he turned to face her."Thank you. And please bring back Cloud, safely."
"I will, that's a promise."
End of flashback
"Perhaps the message was too subtle, in that case let me spill it out for you." Cloud said."It's over , just leave me alone." Noctis was beyond shock, he was disturbed, his eyebrows were frowned together. Cloud let out a dark chuckle and put his hands on his hips smiling evilly. "Look at you, what's with the angry face?"
Noctis manage to speak. "Why? Why are you doing this, Cloud? and looked at him, his face didn't show any emotions. "I don't get it, what made you like this? What are you doing?"
"Why do you care what I do, it's my concern, not yours. I have my own path to follow now, and neither you or anyone can stop me. I will tell you this much, though. My days, playing hero with AVALANCHE are over."
"Zidane and Snow..."
"Everyone go! Me and this guy will hold him!"
"Yuna, Noel and Serah..."
"Everyone go! Me, Serah and Noel will handle him!"
"Tudus..."
"It's ok, guys. Go!"
"Squall..."
"You better hurry if you don't want me to tell everyone how you lost. Go already!"
"Everyone risked their lives...to come save you!"
"Well, wasn't that nice of them..." Cloud said and started to walk away.
Noctis couldn't believe what he just heard. How could Cloud mock all the sacrifices that everyone did for him. He decided, he was going to put some sense into his mind. Cloud keep walking and stopped when he saw a shadow on the ground, getting bigger. He turned and watch how Noctis came down.
"How can you mock all of your comrades sacrifices!" he yelled and landed on top of him, his fist raised ready to strike. He looked at Cloud's face which said 'Come on! Hit me!'. And he did it. He hit his friend. Noctis panted while Cloud looked at him with his usual face, blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. He then spit some blood on Noctis face. Noctis grabbed by the shirt and pulled him to look into his eyes.
"My comrades, huh? If I would stay with comrades like you I would have never found out the truth."
'The truth? What the hell is he talking about?' Noctis though
"I'm going to were Sephiroth is." Cloud continued
No way! Noctis must be hearing things, going to Sephiroth? "Sephiroth tried to destroy this planet, not to mention that he destroy your hometown, killed your mother and your friends and Aerith as well and you want to go to him? Have you completely lost your mind, Cloud?"
"That doesn't matter anymore. What matters to me is achieving my goal. If you insist in getting in my way, well...I guess it can't be helped." Cloud said and grabbed Noctis shirt.
"Well if you won't listen to reason, then I'll use force if I have to!"
After hearing those words Cloud began to chuckle darkly.
"What's so funny?" Noctis spat
"I remember you laughed the last time we fought."
'The last time?'
Flashback:
Noctis and Cloud stood in the middle of desert, both with their weapons in their hands, looking at each other. Suddenly Noctis chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Cloud asked
"I'm not laughing 'cause it's funny, I'm just excited, 'cause today it's the day when I'm finally beat the Hero of Midgar. I've waited for this so long..." Noctis replied with a smirk
Cloud smirked too. "Confident, are we? But you haven't beat me yet, so don't get too carried away, loser!"
"I won't be a loser after I win today, am I?"
"Then, let's do this!"
"You're finished!"
And they both lunged at each other.
End of flashback
"Remember how thrilled you were at the thought of beating me to a bloody pulp, what's wrong? Where's your smile now?" Cloud said.
"Shut up!" Noctis spat. "It's true that I enjoyed but you were different then. Even now, I..."
"I don't care about what you want!" Cloud said and got Noctis of him, slowly. When Cloud was standing he raised Noctis into the air, he was struggling but it was no use. Cloud smirked and let go of Noctis and his fist collided with Noctis's gut. Noctis coughed up blood and he was sent flying only to end up falling in the water.
'Unbelievable! He's changed. He's really not the Cloud I use to know.' Noctis though. Is this it? He came this far only to be told that nobody needs to be rescued? No, it can't be like this. He swum until he reached the shore. He looked up to Cloud who was smirking and then he rush at him. "You're crazy Cloud! Wake up, will you, before it's too late!"
Cloud dodged Noctis fist and his foot came in contact with Noctis's face making him fall into the water. "I've already woke up, don't you see. That guy who dreamed of a happy future with his friends, that was the one who was asleep. That's why I left! That's why I've gone in search for my own path! It's not the future I dreamed of anymore! Only the past... there's were my dream lies."
Flashback:
A young Cloud knocked on the of a house. A man opened it, he had a smile on his face but when he saw him Cloud his smile turned to a frown and his mouth became a thin line.
"Oh, it's you." he said in the most nastiest tone ever.
"Can Tifa come and play?" young Cloud asked
"Tifa can't come now, not later, not ever." the man said and shut the door in his face
Cloud looked down and he left the front door. "Why everybody hates me so much?" he said in a whisper
"Well, well, well, look what we have here. You never learn don't you Cloud?" said a boy's voice
Cloud turned his head to his left and saw three boys, the one in the center with red hair knew all to well. "Johnny."
"Face it Cloud! Tifa is not going to like you! Never!" the said boy told him. "I think you need another lesson."
Cloud didn't want to run but there were three against one, he didn't stand a chance. When he wanted to turn right and run for it, two more boys appeared and before he knew it he was surrounded. Two boys were holding him while Johnny was hitting him. What seemed to be a few minutes for Cloud felt like hours before Johnny pinned him down with the attempt to break his arm.
"Hey Johnny." said a girly voice.
The said boy looked up and saw the girl which he found hot. "Hey Tifa."
"Can you leave that thing and go with me to the candy shop?" she asked a pointing towards Cloud.
"Sure." he said and let go of Cloud. The other boys left too.
When Cloud looked up he felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest and smacked to little pieces. This time he didn't hold back the tears.
"I was pathetic. I was so weak." Cloud said when he looked at the boy who was laying down.
"You were a kid. Don't go so hard on yourself." said the young Cloud as he stood up, dusting himself off and wiping the tears. "Still, you accomplished things that no one could ever dreamed of. You saved the planet three times! You are a hero!"
"These are nothing but empty victories when you don't know who you are or what you are." Cloud told his younger version.
"Oh, come on! Are you seriously using that emo line! You can do better than that!"
"Wha-what?" Cloud spat but then he heard some gunshots and everything became to fade to white.
"You'll understand later."
Back to reality:
Cloud was pulled out of his thoughts by gunshots. He looked down and saw Noctis charging at him again, shooting at him. He move his head in time to evade being scratch by a bullet who pasted his face. Unknown to them both is that the black spots, from Cloud's face retreated a little bit. Cloud threw a fire ball at Noctis. He dodged it by getting behind a rock. Cloud threw another one in the air and it came down to strike Noctis. Luckily he saw it in time and dodged but something was wrong after that.
'My...my body...' he thought and he looked down. He saw that he was caught in a energy circle. Then he looked to Cloud who had a passive look. "Cloud, are you seriously...?"
"Like I said, my dreams are no longer in the future." Cloud said, and sent a larger ball at him, creating an explosion.
Flashback:
Young Cloud was sitting on the water tower. Then suddenly a young Tifa came into view.
"Sorry, I'm late." she said
Silence
"So...you wanted to tell me something?" asked the young Tifa
"Coming up this spring, I'm leaving town to Midgar."
"A lot of boys are leaving town..."
"But I'm different from all of them. I'm not going to find just a job. I'm going to join SOLDIER and be the best there is, just like Sephiroth."
"Sephiroh? The Great Sephiroth?" she asked and the boy nodded. "Isn't hard to join SOLDIER?"
"I probability won't be able to come back home for a while." he said
"If you do good, you'll be in the newspaper too?"
"I'll try."
"Then, let's make a promise."
"A promise?"
"If I'm ever in a bind you'll come save me, I want to experinced this at least once."
"Huh?"
"I want to know how does it feel to be save by someone."
"Huh?"
"Come on, promise me!"
"Okay, okay. I promise."
"Just another false memory." Cloud said
"No, that not true." said his younger version. "She really cares about you."
"She liked Johnny more than me."
"That's a lie and you know it! She saved you back there, when Johnny wanted to break your arm. Did you see the look on her face? You can see that she did not enjoy it being with him. That's why she made you promise, she saved you countless times and she wants to know how does it feels like to be saved. She cares about you, even now, she never stopped caring, because you are her closest friend. You were the only one who didn't abandon her when her mother died. You are a true friend." and then everything turned white and Cloud notice that blood was coming from the corners of his mouth.
Back to reality:
Noctis charged at Cloud and punched him in the face, but Cloud only turned his head. Noctis's eyes grew wide when he noticed Cloud's smirk, it's like his punch was nothing, so he added another one. The same affect.
'Why?' Noctis asked himself while punching Cloud. 'What's wrong with him?' After another set of punches, Noctis stopped. His hands hurt and when he looked at them he saw that his gloves were having Cloud's blood on them.
"Is that all?" Cloud asked wiping his blood of his face. "If that's the best you can do, then...I guess I won't need it."
"What?"
"Come on, don't you see? I haven't drew my sword yet."
"Don't underestimate me!" Noctis said and tried to punch Cloud, but he blocked his fist.
"I don't have the strength to achieve your desires. If I would stay with guys like you..." and he threw Noctis off the cliff, following him "...I wouldn't be able to achieve..." he said while punching Noctis and gave him a kick that sent him crashing on the ground, making a hole in it "...my true purpose. Get it now? I need power in order to accomplish the will of my true mother, Jenova."
Flashback:
Zack Fair and an Shinra infantryman were walking on an mountain sight, covered by snow. Behind were Tseng and another infantryman.
Zack turned and yelled. "Yo! Don't far too far behind!" and then he turned to the man next him. "At least someone is keeping up."
"Well, I'm a country boy too." he said.
"No way! From where?" Zack asked
"Nibelheim." he replied and Zack started to laugh. "How about you?" he restored
"Me? Gongaga." Zack told him and the infantryman laughed at something really funny.
"Hey, what's so funny? Have you ever been in Gongaga?"
"No, but have you been in Nibelheim?"
"No, but there's a Mako reactor there?" Zack asked and got a nodded as a answer.
"A Mako reactor outside Midgar..." Zack started
"...Usually means nothing else out there." both of them ended it and began to laugh.
"Hey, Tseng good news! Me and..." Zack stopped because he didn't know the infantryman's name
He took his helmet off, reveling a 15-year-old Cloud. "Cloud."
"Me and Cloud are both backwater experts. Oh, yeah!" Zack said and the both of them wondered off.
"Good! Cary on then!" said a tired Tseng.
"And this is how you meat Zack." said a voice. Cloud looked behind him and saw his 15-year-old self.
"Except that I was a SOLDIER not a mere infantryman." he said
"That's not true and you know it. You know that Sephiroth is playing with and yet you allow it. Why?"
"I just...don't know."
Again everything turned white.
End of flashback
Cloud looked behind and saw that Noctis got up, dusting himself. "I hope that woke you up, now you know that I'm not messing around. Let me show the true power of a SOLDIER."
Noctis looked at him and saw how the black spots are disappearing. 'Is Cloud fighting? Of course! All I have to do is to steal some time!' Noctis smirked. "Alright, I guess I don't have to hold back either. Just watch with your Mako enchanted eyes how I'm going to defeat you!"
Cloud smirked as well and suddenly appeared in front of Noctis and kicked him in the gut, knocking him back, then he sent a huge fire ball at him, purging everything in it's way.
Flashback:
Chaos. That is the only way to describe the situation in Nibelheim. The village was on fire, bodies were lying everywhere.
"Why...why are doing this?" a villager asked a man with a black cape, silver long hair and and a long sword. As a answer he got a slash across the chest.
The man looked around. All around was only dead bodies, then he started to follow the mountain path towards the Mako reactor.
A 16-year-old Cloud Strife, was kneeling near a woman. "Mom!" he said. Tears were already fallen. He promised himself that he would stop crying, but...
"Cloud... You must... get out of here..." the woman said weakly.
"Mom, hang in there!"
"I...lov...love...you..."
"MOM!"
But it was no use, the woman has already entered the afterlife. Cloud was crying so hard...It hurt...seeing you mother lying cold-dead on the ground in a pool of her own blood...who wouldn't cry...The most awful thing was that the one who killed his mother was also the one who idolized, who respected, who admired. Sephiroth! Why? Why would he do something like this? What happened in the reactor? But all those questions didn't matter at the moment. Right now Cloud must avenge his mother. Wiping his tears, he stood up. "I won't forgive him!" and he ran towards the Mako reactor. Outside it was Tifa's father, dead. He rushed in the reactor, praying that his fears didn't come true. When he entered he saw what he feared most. Tifa, his childhood crush, lying motionless on the floor with a deep cut, from her left shoulder to her right hip and Zack, his best friend knocked unconscious. He grabbed his friend sword and entered Jenova's chamber. In the chamber Sephiroth rests his forehead on a tank. In the tank was a woman with purple skin, long silver hair, her visible purple eye and with a tag on her forehead that read "JENOVA". Cloud got behind him and stabbed him in the gut. At first Sephiroth didn't feel a thing, as he watched how the tank was cracked. He looked down at his gut and that a sword pierced it and then he felt the pain, but this pain didn't compare with Cloud's. This wound would heal, probability wouldn't left a scar, but Cloud's left a very deep scar.
"Who...Who are you?" the general asked.
"Return my mother to me, and my hometown and Tifa." Cloud said, his voice full of anger. "I used to admire you, but..."
"You bastard!" the SOLDIER elite growled as his sword ripped out of his gut and collapsed.
"Tifa!" the boy scream and ran to her, throwing his helmet away.
Cloud picked her up and carried her over to one side and set her down, brushing some hair out of her eyes the women awoke
"Cloud…so you really did come for me…" a small smile on his face
Cloud nodded in reply "Yeah."
"So you kept our promise, huh. You really came here when I was in a pinch…"
"I'm sorry, I was a bit late getting here." He apologized
"Not at all. It's fine Cloud." Tifa replied.
Just then there was a loud crashing sound, Cloud got up and walked over back to the stairs. There at the top of stairs sword in hand and carrying the head of the creature that was in the tank.
"By the likes of you…" Sephiroth said, pain leaking into his voice, staring directly at Cloud. "
Cloud." A voice gasped out and looking round Ino saw the man with spiky black hair from the mountain "Finish him off."
Cloud gritted his teeth and picked up the sword that was leaning against the raining of the stairs.
"By the likes of you…" Sephiroth said again.
Cloud raised the blade and charged towards the silver haired man "SEPHIROTH!"
He tried to stick but instead was impaled though the stomach of Sephiroth's blade dropping his sword
"Don't push it kid." Sephiroth then hurled the young man into the room he'd came from sending smashing into the ground before slowly walking towards him
"By the likes of you human beings... You really thought you could defeat me?" he then stabbed Cloud again and dangled him over the chasm "Remember carefully."
"My family…and my home town…you've done it all right! I will never…forgive you!" Cloud then grabbed the blade and began pulling himself down it, one his feet we back on solid ground he then hurled Sephiroth into a nearby wall before falling to his knees.
Sephiroth stared at Cloud his face twisted into a look of disbelief
"Impossible…what the hell are you?" Cloud looked up and both Sephiroth and Ino saw his eyes emitting a soft green glow.
A smile appeared on Sephiroth's face "Mother…come to the promise land with me…"
He then ran towards the edge clutching the severed head to his chest, an almost serene look on his face as he vanished from sight.
"Sephi…roth…" Cloud gasped before he collapsed.
"Do you really need more evidence that you must stop going to Sephiroth and go back to your friends?" Cloud's younger version asked
"No. I know now. I can't believe I was fooled by him."
"Well, I didn't thought you would resist. I know that memories are very important to you Cloud and words are your weakness." a well-known voice said.
"Sephiroth!"
"I guess I should have put more effort in breaking you. I thought that you were easy to break."
"Well, looks like you were wrong."
"Indeed. But... there are other ways to break you. Like your friends..." Sephiroth said, and end it with a evil smile.
"Don't you dare hurting them!" Cloud growled dangerously.
"What will you do? Stop me? You know how well that worked that time. I will make you a deal: you come to me, swear undying loyalty to me and your friends will live, or you fight me, lose and I'll put you to watch how I kill them in the most painful way, or better yet how you kill them."
"What did you say?"
"You know that I can control you Cloud. You know what I can do to your mind."
"I...I...I will do as you wish. Please don't hurt them."
"Such a good boy. Very well."
He had to. He had to obey him in order to save his friends. But Cloud was no fool, he knew that Sephiroth will break his promise and kill them. His plan was to obey Sephiroth and when his guard is down he could attack and put him into the Lifestream again.
"Here's something to keep you from doing anything funny." Sephiroth said and in a blink of an eye he was in front of Cloud and grabbed him by his left arm. He felt pain when shot through his hole body then all the pain converted into his left arm. He looked at his arm and saw what he feared most: geostigma! He got geostigma from Sephiroth! "If you try and disobey me, well... let's just say that is not going to be pleasant. Now I believe you must tell this to a friend of yours. I wish you luck."
Back to reality:
Cloud stood there. This cannot be happening! He thought that he could stab Sephiroth behind his back and end all of this, but it looks like he saw that one coming, huh? Now, what could Cloud do? He knew Sephiroth was watching and he could not waste time, after all the stigma was killing the victim slowly and painfuly, unless Sephiroth changed it. So his options were low. Noctis was hiding behind a tree on his right. He couldn't believe he traveled through time to save only to find his hopes crushed. Cloud didn't want to hurt his friends but he couldn't lose them either, so he had to. He had to break his bonds with them until Sephiroth was in the Lifestream again, hopefully this time for good.
"Come out now." he said to Noctis.
When Noctis came out of hiding he and Cloud looked their gazes for a moment. It was in that moment when Noctis saw a change in Cloud. His eyes were now focused, like he was aware of what he was doing, unlike before when his eyes were dull, and lifeless.
"Are you going to fight me for real now?" Cloud asked him and used Blade Beam. Noctis jumped to dodge it, but Cloud, who was above him, swung his blade downwards and slammed Noctis on the ground, while he landed on a tree. "You will never defeat me, playing around like this." he said and use Meteorian. Noctis dodged all meteors coming at him but he couldn't dodged or blocked Cloud's fist connecting with his face. Noctis got up and wiped himself of the dust off his clothes."You are weak. You're not even worth my time."
"Fine then, now I am serious."
Cloud attacked him Climhazzard. Noctis blocked the attack, dodge a round kick from Cloud and kicked him in the gut. Noctis attacked Cloud but he couldn't land a blow on him. Cloud tried to cut Noctis's legs off but Noctis jumped over him, equipped his shotgun and shot Cloud in the back. The blond warrior lunged at the dark haired warrior. Noctis was having a hard time blocking Cloud's hits and when his guard was down he got a kick in the gut and one in the face. Cloud used Blade Beam again while Noctis used a beam of his own, but Cloud's beam was far more powerful than his and he was sent flying. Cloud got his friend by the leg and slammed him on the ground, then he punched him a few times in the gut, hard and then with one kick in his chin he knocked him back. For a moment Cloud looked at his hands, he didn't plan to punched Noctis so hard but things turned a different way. Looks like the geostigma was giving him power, Sephiroth's power, the stigma was suppose to weak the organism not give him power. Maybe there wasn't a clock on his life either? And then time froze for a second. Looks like he spoke to soon. He felt a huge pain in his left arm that only lasted for three seconds. Then he looked at Noctis who hasn't moved after all this time. Cloud was thinking to go and help but Noctis helped himself up. He gave Cloud a look that could kill. Cloud felt guilty, very guilty but he had no choice. He had to do this in order to protect everyone he loves. Noctis charge at Cloud, with his sword pointed for his head. Cloud narrowly dodged it and wandered why Noctis did that, he thought that he wanted to knock him out not kill him. It was then when he realized that Noctis was gone that his previous attack was a decoy and he only wanted to slammed Cloud on the ground. He got distracted. When he got up Cloud was greeted by a knee in the gut, and a round kick. Once again he got up and he notice a bit too late the little white orb that came down. When the orb touched him Cloud was covered in ice. And when the ice broke Cloud fell on the ground. When he tried to get he was slammed on the ground, again. He got up in time to avoid getting stabbed in the leg and he locked swords with Noctis. Cloud quickly performed Finishing Touch on the dark haired man and followed by Cross Slash which finished the job. Cloud checked Noctis's unconscious form. He looked fine, just a few bruises and scratch and the slash across his chest wasn't too deep. He'll live. But he can't stay in the open field, you may never know when a beast would come and eat him, and Grand Pulse was extremely dangerous. He healed him a little bit to make sure that the smell of blood would attract any predators. Cloud remembered that Noctis said something about his comrades, maybe they were nearby? Cloud threw a fire ball in the sky to get their attention. He knew that the predators would get attracted but he had no choice, his time was running short. He turned to leave when a voice stopped him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Cloud turned and he was shocked by what he saw. Noctis stood up covered by a dark aura. His wounds were healing and his hair was light blue and his eyes blood red. Those eyes hold bloodlust, Cloud could see it.
'Is this really Noctis? I've never seen him like this!' he thought.
"What...What are you?" Cloud asked
"Your friend!"
"What?"
"That's why I keep saying I'm not going to let you go to Sephiroth! I'll break every bone in your body if that will stop you!" Noctis said and used and Aero spell that paralyzed Cloud and did minimum damage to him. Noctis teleported in front of him and delivered a few punches in the gut and one kick under his chin that sent Cloud back. When he got up he saw how Noctis's foot came down on his head. The prince grabbed his friend by the head and lifted him to punch him in the gut again and sent him flying right through some trees. Cloud crashed into a tree, Noctis got behind with the bazoka in his hands, swung it at Cloud sending him crashing into another. Noctis fired a projectile at Cloud, who dodge it easily but what surprised Cloud from the projectile appeared many little projectiles. Cloud mentally cursed because he didn't have enough time to dodge them all.
There was an explosion.
Squall, Zidane, Tidus and Yuna had just finished taking care of the Cie'ths and started to follow Noctis. They were worried because they saw a fireball in the sky. Maybe Noctis sent it to alert them or to sent them his location. And then an explosion was heard.
"What...what was that?" asked Yuna.
"Don't know, but we got to hurry!" said Squall and everyone moved faster. 'Hang in there.' Squall thought.
'Am I too late?' she thought. 'No! I have to make it!'. Then she heard the explosion and stopped. 'This is bad. I must hurry!' and then she started to move again, faster this time.
Cloud was in pain, anyone could tell. He got scratches and bruises all over his body and his shirt was teared in some places. He got up using his blade as a support.
"What's wrong? Are you tired?" he heard Noctis's voice coming from above. He looked up and saw Noctis on a tree branch. "Looks like you haven't awaken, then... let me help you!" he said and got behind Cloud and swung his spear at him. Cloud blocked every attack and dodge a kick aimed for his face. He jumped on a tree branch to avoid behind cut but Noctis teleported behind, got him by the middle and threw him into the air and then he grabbed Cloud again and slammed him on the ground. Dust raised and no one could see what happened. When the smoke screen cleared Noctis was on top of Cloud and grabbed him by the shirt. "Now are you awake?" he asked.
Cloud slowly opened his eyes and closed them again. "Shut up." he said in a low voice and he opened his eyes again. "How would you know how I feel? It's not like you ever lose anyone dear to you. How would you know how it feels like to be alone?! Huh?! You always had everything you desire and people always loved you! So how can you say that you know how it feels like to be hated?! The one you admired never betrayed you and took everything you love from you, so stop acting like you know me!" he said and kicked Noctis off him and the both of them landed on a tree branch.
"It's true that I don't know loneliness, or how it feels like to lose something dear to me. But those people who 'love' me they love my money and not me, and some of them really hate because of that. The thought of you going to Sephiroth, knowing that you will never come back alive it hurts me just like it hurts everyone else, and I discovered how it feels like to lose someone who you care about." Noctis said.
"Why, Noctis? Why go all this way for me?"
"Because you're one of the few friends I got who doesn't care if I got money or not. You are one of the few who like me for who I am and I feel like there's a bond between us and that's why I got to stop you!"
"You're late Noctis." Cloud told him while he took of the bandages off his sword. "You're just too late. I can't go back now." he said and got off the tree branch. Noctis did the same. "Come Noctis!"
"Why? Why do you want to go to him. After all he did to you? I just don't get you. But like I said if I must I will drag you back by force!"
Cloud used Blade Beam and Noctis blocked it. But this was a decoy so that Cloud could get behind Noctis and with one swing he sent him flying. Noctis landed on a tree and Cloud tried to attack him from below but missed as Noctis leap into the air. Knowing that he didn't have much time left he was determined to finished this with one last attack. He jumped after his friend and gather all his energy into his sword and clashed it on Noctis's. The two looked in the eyes for two second until Cloud's swords surrounded him. Cloud attacked him from all directions and got up above him and then dived down for his final strike. And after that was a huge blast. The sky was turning gray and all the sudden it started to rain. The world was crying. Cloud got up using his blade as a support. He looked around at the devastated area. Trees have been ripped apart, the ground had immense holes, his blades were scattered and he saw Noctis lying on the ground motionless. He went to him to see if he was alright. When he checked his pulse and he had none. Immediately he began to use Rise. It took him two minutes to bring him back and he started to heal his major injuries. Cloud never wanted to go this far but Noctis wouldn't stop. After he stabilized his friend he put all his swords on his back and began to walk, more like limp, away. After he got a little far Cloud stopped to heal his wounds, a decision that he will regret soon.
Lightning arrived were the explosions came and what she saw shocked her. The area was almost destroyed and there was a person lying on the ground. When she took a better look at him she saw that was Noctis and hurried to his side. She checked his pulse and was glad that he had a normal one and no major wounds.
"Come on! This way!" a loud voice said.
Lightning recognized the voice of her ally, Tidus and was relieved, but something was missing or more likely someone. She hasn't seen him anywhere so she went to look for him. She wasn't worried about Noctis, he was fine and the others were almost there to take care of him. After a while she came she saw a figure who had spiky blond hair. It was no mistake it was Cloud healing his wounds. But why wasn't he with Noctis? That was odd to her so she approached him.
"Cloud." she said in a low voice so that only he could hear.
Cloud was working on his injuries for five minutes now. Noctis really did some damage and his energy was running low. After he was done he tested his leg to see if it still hurts. When was about to leave a well-known voice stopped
"Cloud." the voice voice said.
He mentally cursed. This could not be happening. He thought that she wasn't allowed to leave Valhalla and he really hoped that he wouldn't have to face her but it looks like fate wasn't so kind with him. He turned with an emotionless face. "Hello, Lightning." he said
"Cloud what are you doing?" she asked
'Saving you for the moment.' he wanted to say it out loud but instead he said. "It's none of your concern. I have my own path now and no one will stop me. Not even you." he said and drew out the Main Blade.
"I don't know what are you talking about but one thing is certain: I'm not going to let you leave!" she said and drew her gunblade as well.
Cloud knew his chances to win were slim. He was out of energy and her comrades were on their way to back her up but he had to try. Cloud threw three fire balls at Lightning, which had a hard time blocking them and quickly used Finishing Touch. However this didn't knocked Lightning out. With an incredible speed Lightning sent Cloud flying and threw three Ruin orbs at him and one Ruinaga orb. Cloud dodged the three orbs by jumping in the air but he couldn't dodged the fourth and it exploded in his face sending him crashing on the ground. The blond warrior had a hard time getting up. He was beyond exhausted.
"What's wrong? Is that the best you can do?" Lightning tauted him.
Cloud used Blade Beam who was blocked by Lightning's shield and then lunged at her. The pink haired ex-soldier dodged the attack easily and wounded Cloud's leg, making him fall on his knees and then she quickly put her gunblade at his throat.
"I win." she said.
"You're sure about that?" he asked her and grabbed her arm and put her on the ground. He was on top of her and his sword was on her throat. He stared at her icy blue eyes. Damn, he loved looking into her eyes! She had the most beautiful eyes in the world, maybe even in the universe.
"Points for trying." she said and kicked him of her, snapping him out of his dreams. And she started to attack him with some slashes, and some kicks and then she leap into the and did a vertical slash that finished the job. Cloud couldn't believed that he had lost. He had lost protecting everyone he ever loved but for some reason he didn't feel sad, he felt like he was happy? He fall on his back and before he blacked out he heard an 'I'm sorry Cloud.'
Finally I'm done with this chapter. This is the biggest chapter I've ever done so far. Maybe I'll make one big chap later, perhaps the final one. But one thing is certain, the next chap won't be this big.