To the Morrow, For the Past

Chapter 25 – His Last Breath –

"I don't understand. Why are we here?"

Cloud sighed and looked up at Sephiroth. "Because we have downtime. And I like Chocobo races." He explained to the man, "We needed to get out of the city, we invited you, and you came. If you don't want to be here, you can go home."

He wasn't in the best of moods. They had had too much downtime lately. Not from SOLDIER missions, they were still available with some regularity, but with their own mission. Aerith still hadn't figured out what they were supposed to do, and Cloud was starting to feel a little guilty about leaving it all to her.

So when he'd heard that someone was hosting Chocobo races in Kalm, he'd suggested that they go. Zeke had been excited, he loved chocobos, and Zack had thought it would be a lot of fun. He'd brought Aerith and Sephiroth had decided to come along. Though the man seemed to be thoroughly confused as to why he did.

"It's not.. a useful pass time..." The silver haired man continued, still looking incredibly puzzled.

"No. But it's fun." Cloud countered.

Sephiroth just looked at him and shrugged. Apparently it wasn't so fun for him.

"Dad!" Zeke came snaking his way through the crowd, a huge grin on his face. "They're short a jockey! Someone got sick." He was bouncing on his feet and Cloud chuckled.

"You want to ride?" He asked and was surprised when Zeke shook his head, his grin fading slightly,

"No. I'm too short for the saddle and they won't let me bareback." He huffed before his grin came back, "But you're the right height!"

"Me?" How long had it been since he'd last been in a real race? Ten years? Almost. Well... he was here for fun, wasn't he? With a shrug, he matched Zeke's grin. "Sure. Why not?"

He turned to Sephiroth and gave him a small wave before following his son back through the crowd.

– – – – – – –

The race had been exhilarating. He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed running a chocobo bread for racing. He wasn't the chocobo's usual rider, and it showed, but he'd had enough experience with wild chocobos to have easy control. He wasn't surprised that he didn't win the race, especially when he saw who was riding the blue chocobo. Joe was definitely younger, and he didn't seem to have Teioh yet, but he was still one hell of a rider.

No, he hadn't won. But he'd come a close second. Gaia how he'd missed it.

He couldn't help the giant grin on his face as he dismounted the chocobo. He gave her a bit of a pat down before handing her off to the stable boy and retrieving his sword from Zeke. Behind his son, Zack and Aerith had massive grins on their faces.

"Woah! When did you learn how to ride so fast!?" Zack asked, bouncing on his heels.

Cloud shrugged, "Just before Meteorfall." He told him, "We'd been sent to a prison and the only way to get out was to win a chocobo race. I liked it so I went back a few times."

"You did seem to enjoy yourself." Sephiroth had joined them. He had a small smile on his face as he handed Cloud a bottle of water. The blond thanked him and drank the whole bottle.

"Yeah. Didn't realise how much I'd missed it." He told his friends, "After this is all over, I might just come back and race some more."

– – – – – – – – –

They finally had their answer. Lucrecia's words had been cryptic, but accurate. All that was needed for the crystal stasis was raw mako and a will to imprison. According to Aerith all they needed to do was make sure that Jenova wanted to live and wasn't secretly suicidal and have their desire for her to be imprisoned to be stronger. Cloud was quite certain that she wanted to live.

So with that in mind, they'd come up with a plan. They would go to Nibelheim and flood Jenova's chamber with mako from one of the tanks in the reactor and Aerith would pour her will into the mako. Cloud had no idea what that actually meant, but the woman was confident that she could manage it.

Once Jenova was in stasis, they would take her to Rocket Town and load her on to the ship. Cloud still had no idea how they were going to convince Cid to give it up, but he was sure they could think of something. He really didn't want to have to hold the man at sword point, but if that was what it took to save the world, then he would do it.

The other option, of course, had been to let Cid pilot the ship and take the escape pod back to the ground. The only problem with that was that as far as Cloud was aware, the environmental systems of the rocket hadn't actually been fully installed, which meant that Cid would die before being able to make it to the escape pod.

It didn't really matter how, all that mattered was that they had to launch the ship into space with Jenova on board.

Most of it went to plan. Most of it.

– – – – – – – –

The minute they arrived in Nibelheim, three of their party all but doubled over in pain. Jenova's soft words of 'encouragement' had become harsh screams, reaching out to nothing hearing them. It was almost deafening and Cloud felt like his head was being split open. Beside him, he could hear Sephiroth and Zeke moaning in pain. It only took a few moments for him to adapt and the screaming to die down enough for Cloud to regain his senses, but it felt like an eternity. He slowly built up mental barriers and managed to tune enough of it out that he could function. He'd been through this before, he'd known what to expect. The other two weren't so prepared.

"Fight it." He demanded of the other two, voice harsh and broken, "Fight it." He urged, "Block it out."

After another few minutes, Sephiroth managed to do so, his face pale and wet with sweat and his breath coming rapidly, but his eyes were clear. Zeke, however, wasn't as strong. The boy was curled in a ball on the floor, clutching at his head. "Zeke, buddy," Cloud tried talking to him in a comforting voice. "You can do this. Block her out. Listen to me, hear my voice. Just mine." It wasn't helping. It wasn't working and panic flooded Cloud. His little boy was in so much pain and there was nothing he could do about it.

After a moment, Zeke went still, his pained cries silenced and Cloud suddenly feared the worst. He felt on the boys neck, panic building further until he felt a strong pulse. He was alive. He was breathing normally. Relief flowed through Cloud and he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"I'm sorry." Aerith said in a shaking voice. She was stood beside him, materia in her hand. "I... He was screaming..." Her hands were trembling and Cloud realised that she'd cast sleep on him. He nodded and picked the boy up, holding him close. It was probably better this way. He wouldn't have to deal with what was to come.

He gently placed the sleeping child in the helicopter and turned to the pilot. "If he wakes up still in pain cast sleep on him." The pilot was confused and worried, but he nodded, accepting the order. Aerith handed him the materia and they stepped away.

– – – – – – – – –

The closer they got to the reactor, the harder it was to block Jenova out. Proximity made her stronger and the constant struggle and difficult hike were starting to exhaust Cloud. Beside him, Sephiroth wasn't doing much better. But they were almost there. Zack had gone up ahead to clear the path, and Aerith had stayed with Cloud and Sephiroth, attempting a verity of healing spells to help them. None had really had an effect, the pain just kept building.

They reached the top of the mountain. And the reactor. The door was locked, but Sephiroth's code worked and they made their way into Jenova's chamber.

Sephiroth had spent enough time in the labs to know how most of the equipment worked, so he was in charge of setting it up so they could flood the chamber. Zack was standing guard and Aerith was ready to heal anyone that needed it. Cloud wasn't entirely sure what his role was supposed to be, he wasn't really up for much of a fight, so he stood and watched over Sephiroth.

The man was bending over a panel when Cloud saw what was coming. A crack had been formed in the glass of the containment unit, growing larger and larger until at last it had been big enough for something to slither through. Before his eyes the writhing mass of flesh eased its way through the crack and begin to solidify into a tentacle. He knew what was about to happen and he was moving before he even realised it. He cried out a warning as his body collided with Sephiroth's, pushing it out of the way of Jenova's appendage.

But he'd been too slow. He'd been too slow and he'd left his shoulder open.

– – – – – – – – –

Sephiroth let out a grunt as he was forcibly pushed from behind. He was already in a bad mood, and turned to glare at whoever had decided to run into him. He'd expected that Zack had tripped and landed on him or something equally stupid.

What he saw when he turned around was nothing like anything he'd ever imagined.

Coming from a small crack in the containment unit was a long, purple tentacle writhing around in the air. It would have captured all of Sephiroth's attention, if it wasn't for what he saw next. Near the bottom of the tentacle, was Cloud, upright only because the appendage was still running through his upper chest. Cloud had a look of shock on his face as his hands slowly came up to touch the purple monstrosity that was protruding from him.

The world faded. Sephiroth's eyes focused on Cloud and Cloud alone. He didn't see Zack rushing at the creature, didn't see Aerith's frantic attempts to keep Cloud stable. All he saw was his friend struggling to breathe around the foreign object he'd been impaled with.

The tentacle was cut and Cloud slumped down, unable to remain upright without assistance. Within a second, Sephiroth was there, holding him up. The tentacle inside him was slowly disappearing but Sephiroth paid it no mind.

"Cloud..?" His voice trembled and broke, his arms were shaking.

Cloud offered Sephiroth a small smile, his hand reaching up to cup his face. "'s... oka..y..." The blonde man tried to form words but was having an obvious difficulty.

"Cloud!" Zack was beside them now, Aerith on the other side of Cloud, hands glowing. Tears were running down her face. Sephiroth couldn't look at her.

Cloud's hand dropped and his eyes lost their mako glow.

"Cloud..." Sephiroth was lost for words as he held the man that had come to mean so much to him.

"Sephiroth..." Aerith spoke quietly, her voice hitching with emotion, "Talk to him..." She said, " Tell him..." But he wasn't listening. His world was silent, everything but Cloud forgotten.

Zack was no longer by his side and Aerith stood and left. Sephiroth didn't know where she was going. He didn't care. Nothing registered with him except for the small body in his arms. "Cloud..." He tried to form words, to do as Aerith told him, but he found he couldn't. Dimly he realised that he was in shock, but that thought didn't mean anything to him right now.

Instead of the words that Aerith had asked of him, he found himself holding Cloud tighter, bringing the limp body to his chest and holding on as tightly as he could. It was only after a moment did Sephiroth realise that something was happening. Cloud was glowing, a pale green coming from his body as it slowly started to disintegrate. Was this what people meant when they said returning to the planet?

Sephiroth had seen a lot of death, he'd even seen some bodies do what Cloud's was currently doing. He'd been told that it was decomposition, that the body was breaking down to allow smaller organisms to feed off of it. But now... now he didn't believe it. Hojo's words seemed to ring hollowly in his memories. But Cloud and Aerith, they'd said that when somebody dies, they return to the planet to be born anew. To come back as somebody else. Sephiroth had never before felt the need for a religion, but now... now he could understand why people would want to believe. They would find their loved ones again in the Promised Land where death didn't exist. He would see Cloud again, when his own time came. He started to want to believe that.

He sat there, numbly staring at Cloud until his body was gone and all that was left of him was his sword. With shaking hands, Sephiroth took the hilt and lifted his face.

While he'd been distracted, the other two had somehow managed to encase Jenova in crystal. He could barely hear her influence now. He found he didn't care. Without a word, he stood, taking Cloud's sword with him and left.

– – – – – – – – –

Zack was getting worried. Sephiroth hadn't said anything since... Since Cloud had died. He'd been completely silent upon returning to the town. He hadn't said a word as he solemnly handed Cloud's sword to Zeke. All he'd done was sit beside the boy and hold him while he cried.

Zack's heart was breaking. Not only had he just lost his friend, his best friend, but his other friend looked so alone, so lost. He could only imagine what Sephiroth was going through. Cloud had pushed him out of the way. If he hadn't have done that, Sephiroth would have been the one to die. It was all so sudden, so unexpected.

He took a blanket and draped it around Sephiroth and Zeke, moving to take a coffee pouch from their field rations. He heated it and wordlessly handed a cup to each of them. Zeke may have been a kid, but he was enhanced. Zack was pretty sure that coffee would do more good than harm right now. His training had told him that people in shock need to be kept warm and drink something warm and sweet. He couldn't do much for them, but that... that he could do.

He turned to Aerith, the woman was speaking to the pilot and gesturing towards the mountain. The second part of their plan was ready to go. All they had to do was get Jenova loaded onto the winch of the helicopter and fly her to Rocket Town.

After a moment, he looked back at Zeke and Sephiroth and joined Aerith. Their mission had to be finished. It had to work. Otherwise... It was for nothing.

– – – – – – –

"How... did you convince Cid to give up the rocket?" It had been three days since Cloud's death and this was the first time that Sephiroth had spoken. He'd spent the last three days in a daze, barely moving. Zack had been doing his best to take care of both him and Zeke, but they hadn't made it easy. Neither of them were willing to eat, and neither of them were willing to talk. It had taken him five hours to convince Zeke to shower and he hadn't even bothered to try with Sephiroth.

They had left the two Sephiroths in the helicopter while Aerith and Zack completed their mission. They were both hurting, but they knew what needed to be done, there would be time to mourn afterwards. Zack had to be strong. For his friends. For their mission. For Aerith who was somehow managing to hold on, her strength shining brightly in their darkest day.

"Told him that if he didn't help us, I'd send you after him." Zack said quietly, "I told him what happened and... I think he has a pretty decent self preservation instinct. He told us how to remotely launch and..." And that part of the plan had gone off effortlessly. Jenova was in space, heading away from their planet. He only hoped that the rest of her people went along with her.

"There's... there's going to be a memorial..." Zack added quietly, almost as if he was afraid to raise his voice to a normal level. "I think.. you and Zeke should be there..."

– – – – – – – –

The memorial was beautiful. Zack wondered if Cloud knew just how many people had respected and idolised him. He hadn't really interacted with many people outside their little group, but there were SOLDIERs of all ranks there. All of them had been helped one way or another by the older man. Aerith had provided the flowers, and had insisted that the memorial be held at the church.

Zack thought that Cloud would have appreciated that. The place held a special place in his heart, and it seemed fitting that he be remembered there.

Zeke had finally allowed himself to cry. He hadn't done that since Sephiroth had given him Cloud's sword. He was shaking, trying to hold the sobs back, right up until Aerith pulled him into her arms. Once he was in her loving embrace, he let go. The sounds of his pain filled the small church and Zack felt his heart break all over again. He watched as Sephiroth reached out, placing a gentle hand on the boy's back. He was offering the comfort that he could. It probably comforted him also.

When it came to people speaking, there were only a few. Most people hadn't thought that they had a right. Aerith was first. She gently handed Zeke over to Sephiroth who took the boy without complaint, holding him close to his own chest.

"May your return to the planet be filled with love. May the planet receive you with open arms and guide you forward into bliss everlasting. May the waters of life comfort you and hold you until you can be joined by those who love you. Rest well my friend, and we will see you again in the Promised Land." Aerith spoke quietly, softly, hands clasped together in front of her heart, as she said her prayer. Her head was bowed and she was looking down at the flowers. "The first time I ever met him, he bought a flower from me, and from that day on, he never treated me with anything but kindness and love. He gave his life to save someone he loved so completely that he.." Her breath hitched, "That he died with a smile. Because-"

Zack stepped forward, an arm going around her shoulder as she was overcome with emotion. Until now, she kept herself strong but now she wept into his shoulder, her body shaking as her tears fell.

"He died a hero." Zack said quietly, "He gave his life to save another without hesitation or regret."

At this point, he became aware that Sephiroth had stood, still holding Zack. He left quickly and Zack wanted to reach out to him, but Aerith needed him too, and finally, he finally let his own tears fall.

– – – – – – – –