Sephiroth had no intentions to let this filth keep his hands on Cloud. He pushed with all his willpower for control. He was met with some resistance, but after having so much of the Starscourge inflicted upon him, Cloud was too weak to fight.

His eyes opened. Bright green with slits irises burning with hatred. Soon as he tried rising the redhead pushed him down. Sephiroth glared, and with satisfaction he noticed how the man grew more wary. Good, he had some fear of Sephiroth.

"What are you?"

"The Calamity." Sephiroth kicked him away. He searched for First Tsurugi. While he had no love for the blade, he knew better than to leave it with this man.

He ran to grab it. While the blade wasn't Masamune, Sephiroth was just as skilled with other swords. A blade struck the wall next to him, and in a flash of red his opponent was there next to him.

Sephiroth raised First Tsurugi to block. He grabbed a smaller blade to reach over and strike. His opponent parried, laughing.

"Your movements are a little clumsy. You wield a different weapon, don't you?"

Taking a risk Sephiroth placed First Tsurugi on his back. Soon as his hands were free Masamune materialized. He wasted no time to attack. There wasn't a lot of room in the aircraft. Soldiers were scared, a few that tried to intervene were immediately cut into pieces by Sephiroth.

He had his opponent on the defense. But he wasn't his main objective. Masamune began to cut and slice the aircraft. And to his surprise his opponent didn't immediately notice. It wasn't until Masamune pierced through something important that panic swirled around them.

"You're just full of surprises. I love it!" In a blink of an eye the redhead pinned Sephiroth against a wall. He raised Masamune, but a hand full of darkness grasped the arm wielding the blade. Sephiroth glared while he refused to make any pained noise.

"So prideful. I can understand what you mean now. We are cut from the same cloth. So how about it? Shall we work together?" His eyes burned yellow, and his skin so pale he would be mistaken for death.

Around them the aircraft was spinning downwards. Men yelled as they frantically tried to get the machine under control but to no avail. Sephiroth felt the Starscourge spread even more. It was difficult to keep hold of Masamune.

"What's in it for me?" He had a feeling what this man wanted.

"Name it. What is it that you want in return to help me torture Noctis?"

"What I want, you can't give." With that Sephiroth pushed him back. When his arm was free he took aim. Somehow the other anticipated it and tried to dodge. The blade still pierced through his right shoulder.

Suddenly they made impact on the ground. Sephiroth wasn't the only one to collapse from the shuddering of metal, some parts weakened from his sword collapsed. Miraculously Sephiroth narrowly missed being squished by a piece of the opposite wall. The aircraft rolled with a groan. The movement sent the redhead to crash on top of him.

"Get off," Sephiroth snarled and tried to push. Suddenly both wrists were caught by hands full of darkness.

They rolled one more time. The twisting made the aircraft split. The tear was two feet away from them. And the grip on his wrists loosened enough for Sephiroth to send him flying with a kick. When they finally stopped Sephiroth stood on shaking legs.

He caught sight of the other man stumbling back on his own feet. While Sephiroth was uninjured he took his chance and sprinted away as fast as he could.

xXx

Noctis and his friends saw the aircraft falling. Ignis sped up to try and follow from the road. When it crashed they pulled over and ran. They had a feeling that somehow Cloud was involved.

As they closed in they caught sight of someone fleeing.

"Cloud!" Noctis yelled. He recognized the sword on his back. The figure didn't stop. But the prince caught sight of a long blade that he recognized as Sephiroth's.

"That's Sephiroth!" He warned the others.

Movement caught their eyes. It was Ardyn stumbling out of the destroyed aircraft. Sephiroth had disappeared from sight so the group made their way to Ardyn.

"What happened?" Noctis asked, almost feeling stupid. All around them was the result, but he meant what transpired to cause all of this.

"He went mad from Starscourge. I tried to help him. Well, as you can see, that didn't go so well." Ardyn had a hand over his bleeding shoulder. Behind them the engine explodes, and they moved further away from the danger.

"When did he draw the long blade?" Noctis was too detailed. A sense of panic in his voice was very noticeable.

"Soon as he woke up." Ardyn answered, eyes watching the prince. So he knows about the different men? "Care to explain? I'm afraid I didn't get much information out of him before he started attacking."

"His name is Cloud. But an evil entity named Sephiroth is trying to control him."

"Then I'm afraid that's already happened." Ardyn thought over the names. Sephiroth was a unique one, and something about it made him pause. Ardyn made a mental note to research later.

"Will you be all right?"

"Don't worry about little old me. Go worry about your friend. To be frank, I'm a little too afraid to cross him while he's mad from Starscourge."

"How bad was it?"

"Last I saw it spread all over his left arm, and probably down his chest if I had to guess."

"It advanced that fast after a short time?" Ignis questioned with a frown. The group shared a glance. Something wasn't adding up.

"To be fair, when he drew the long blade it spread more noticeably." Ardyn added. It was too soon for them to see him as an enemy.

"So Sephiroth causes it to spread faster? We don't have a lot of time, then."

"Let's go find him."