Cloud drifted through unconscious dark, unsure of the difference between life and death, or where he was in the void between them.
When the light filtered through his eyeslits, it brought pain in spasms, and he fled back into the softness of sleep. But when he did come to, he found himself surrounded by what he thought were pearly-pink stuffed animal bears, until they moved.
"Gyahh!" he gasped, but Tifa grabbed him.
"It's alright! They're Moogles."
Cloud blinked. The puffy teddies were alive with big red ball antennae on their heads, and made squeaky noises when they blinked back at him.
"You're awake, kupo! We thought you were a gonner for sure."
"Motzkin had a place picked out for you in the statue garden, kupo, next to the lawn gnomes."
Tifa touched his head.
"You were afflicted by a Petrify mote when we attacked Sephiroth. No magic could heal it in battle. But we were lucky to be in the Moogles' forest. They brought you here and stitched you up."
"A Gold Needle, kupo. Only place in the world they are is here. You were very lucky. You were on your last number. Any later and you'd be a fossil."
Cloud grabbed his head. His whole body felt like cinder blocks as he tried to sit up.
"It will take a while for the sickness to come down all the way. You're welcome in our village, and if you need to save your progress, talk to any one of us with a big book."
"…Uh…Thanks."
The Moogles left the tent and Tifa helped Cloud dress.
They walked out into a quaint little village of straw huts and windmills. Wildflower patches were tended to in groves of golden poppies with thick growing spines. Gold Needles. Some of the huts had signs above them displaying pictures of either swords, shields, potion bottles, or maps. A huge bellow came from the hut with the sword sign.
"Whaddya mean you gots no ammo? This a weapon shop and y'all don't make bullets? What do I look like a samurai?"
Tifa cringed. "We better go see what's up with Barret."
"You go. I'm sure he's got a handle on it."
"Cloud—"
"I'm lightheaded as hell. That's the last thing I want to deal with. I'm going to walk around for a while."
"Okay. Meet back at the Inn though."
He nodded and she ducked over to the weapon shop.
Cloud meandered around the little village, down the packed sand paths where little Moogles puttered about like kittens. At the edge of the settlement was erected a lone stone windmill that had lost its blades. A wooden sign of a waterfall hung above its threshold. Cloud entered.
Inside was a cool blue glow emanating from a pool in the middle of the room. Low stone walls enclosed a wellspring fount that threw dancing light off the walls in a calming lull. Cloud's headache eased as he approached. He knelt to dip his hand in the fizzing water, and felt all his stats and health replenished like a refreshing drink. A calm aura flowed throughout the quiet null of the fount, inviting and friendly, until the looming light on the walls grew dark, and Cloud smelled smoke.
He whipped around to see billowing plumes of Chaos flowing in purple tentacles climbing the walls. Cloud reached for his sword. It was back at the Inn.
The main plume of Chaos filled the doorway, blocking escape, and from the mist stepped the silver phantom in his enigmatic black long coat.
Cloud's blood ran ice as his hand still grasped the handle of a sword that wasn't there. As the creature stepped forward, he stepped back, into the waters of the wellspring. He retreated to the middle, hands balled to fists and steadying shaking. The man in the black coat pursued across the cobblestone floor in a floating sweep, onto the stone wall surrounding the fount, where his billowing tentacles of smoke wrapped around the spring's edge like a veil. Cloud stepped back further into the spring, but his pursuer did not follow, did not tread into the glowing holy liquid that came up to Cloud's boots in cold sputters. For a long while, the darkness flowed frustrated around the edge but never further. Cloud realized the truth with a small smirk.
"You can't cross the water."
The silver daemon paced in haunting steps around the edge of the fount, his gunmetal coat tails flowing in darks wings, and a gleaming daikatana strapped to his back like a promise.
"Who are you?" asked Cloud.
And a deep voice responded, slow and melodic, reverberating off the blue stone of the fount in soft harmonic resonance.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the light and the dark, the few and the many. And I have come for you. For alone, we are no one, but together, we are Legion."
"No! You're Sephiroth! The hero of Shinra, my Commanding officer, and my friend. Don't you know me? Don't you remember?"
He stopped. With dead eyes and a small smile that knew something Cloud didn't, he looked at Cloud as if peering into his soul.
"Do I remember? Yes, I remember you, Cloud Strife. But the real question is do you remember?"
Cloud froze. The answer to that hung in the negative space in his mind, blank as a whiteboard. Sephiroth could know already and be feeding him answers, or he could not. Cloud had to tread delicately.
"Why are you trying to kill me?"
"Kill you? I would never harm you, Cloud Strife."
"That big sword in my face says otherwise."
Sephiroth took floating, taunting steps along the edge of the fount.
"You are mistaken, Cloud, my dearest friend. I am trying to protect you."
"Pfft, what?"
"You are surrounded by enemies, Cloud. Many have tried to claim your life as of late, have they not? I hunt those who hunt you."
"You're lying. You're messing with my head."
"I have had many opportunities to annihilate you. The fact that you are still here living should be a testament to my intentions. I wonder what it takes to earn your trust."
"You tried to turn me into a living statue back there!"
"The only way to bring you to this village, and to this place, where we could truly talk."
Now Cloud was tripping, second guessing himself. He sensed Sephiroth's words as genuine and that scared him. But if he wasn't trying to kill him…
"Aerith. Why are you trying to kill Aerith?"
"The Goddess is your enemy, Cloud."
"BULLSHIT!"
"Ifah is your bane. She will betray you. Her intentions are invalid. It is not you for whom she cares."
"If you hurt her, I swear on Jenova I'll kill you."
Clouds words vibrated the waters in the stillness of the fount. A pause from Sephiroth showed they hit home.
"Allow me to prove myself to you. Here. Take this in good faith. Use it around your friends, and see. See for yourself who is true."
The Chaos swirled around Sephiroth's outstretched hand, and from his palm materialized an umbral ability gem of dark energy. Phosphorescent sheen shimmered off its smoky surface, a Materia orb Cloud had never encountered before.
"What is it?"
"A gift…On my honor as SOLDIER."
That hit Cloud different. He didn't yet see his old friend and comrade in the dead, veiny eyes of the entity before him, but he felt compassion wafted his way like burnt incense. With slow hesitation, he lifted his hand, and the orb floated to him across the wellspring. The Chaos billowed and effloresced at the border of the fount.
"See, Cloud. See the truth. We will speak again."
Sephiroth retreated into the mist, which evaporated like steam.
Cloud stood shivering in the water, holding a dark Materia orb in his hand.
[Received Gold Needle]