Everything went downhill after losing Cloud. Ardyn started playing his mind games and made Noctis push Prompto over the edge of the train. Prompto was beyond hurt, but he needed to get back to them.

He found some weird base and learned of his origins. As he escaped with Aranea they passed something that caught his eye. Magitechs were approaching, but they had a different target?

"Wait! Turn back!" Prompto wasn't sure if he imagined that or not.

"Okay?" Aranea turned the bike around. He told her to slow down and she did. They looked around towards the direction of where the Magitechs landed.

Sounds of swords clashing caught their attention. Aranea followed the sounds and they came across Cloud and Sephiroth fighting off the cloned robots. While this was an odd site indeed, the gunman was still delighted to see his friend.

"Cloud!" Prompto got off the bike.

The swordsman glanced over, distracted. A Magitech took the advantage and attacked. Sephiroth's blade twisted around to pierce the armor. Cold green eyes glared at the gunman.

"Enough with the distraction." Sephiroth stated darkly.

"Look who's talking." Cloud countered as he began a barrage of attacks.

"Excuse me?" If only looks could kill.

"You're a bigger distraction than him." The blonde swordsman cut down a Magitech that was about to attack Prompto, who quickly went into action of covering his back.

"You okay? Where's the others?" Cloud asked when the fighting was over and done with.

"I'm good." The lie was easy to detect. "Oh, but where are my manners? This is my friend Cloud. And that's Sephiroth. This is my friend - "

"The name's Aranea Highwind." She eyed them over curiously.

"Highwind?" Cloud was taken aback.

"So care to tell me how is it you two are out here in the snow without winter gear?" Aranea asked.

"Now isn't the time. We need to go." Sephiroth sensed him nearby.

"Wait, Cloud, please come back with me! Please?" Prompto held out his hand. His voice was shaking and on the verge of crying.

Cloud stared at the hand. He wanted to take it. But he knew he couldn't. Not after what happened to make him leave the group. It would cause more harm than good. Yet it was hard to watch his friend being hurt. What had happened?

"Don't - " Sephiroth moved to snatch Cloud away when suddenly darkness enveloped the three of them. Aranea leaped back and she watched as the three men disappeared into thin air.

"Fuck." Feeling terrible Aranea got back on the snowmobile and continued onward.

xXx

Cloud wished it would stop. Sometimes it was Ardyn in front of him, demanding to surrender his powers. Sometimes it was Sephiroth. Or perhaps it was Ardyn disguised as him. He suspected that Ardyn could disguise himself when he woke up to Noctis standing before him.

"Huh?" Cloud blinked his eyes.

"Listen, he's got us all imprisoned. We can't leave unless you give him some special powers. I don't know what he's talking about. What exactly does he want?"

"... Fuck off." Cloud glared. "You're not Noctis."

At first Noctis stared at him in shock. Then an evil smirk appeared on his face. In a blink of an eye Ardyn replaced the prince. And Cloud felt his skin crawl at the laughter that filled the room.

"I have to hand it to Sephiroth, he did inform me he liked to torture you. But I didn't think you would be this hard to crack. So, think you'll hand me your powers anytime soon?" Ardyn leaned closer, and Cloud pulled away as far as the chains allowed.

"I still have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Even if I did, I wouldn't hand anything into your filthy hands." Cloud put up a brave face, but even his voice was beginning to shake.

Sephiroth? He tried to reach out. Cloud couldn't believe himself. His once enemy, and he was reaching out to him for help in place of another piece of shit.

"Nice try. But I've blocked all magic within you and Sephiroth. So the little mind link is closed." Ardyn chuckled, raising a hand to trace the jaw line.

Cloud felt his insides freeze at the touch. He tensed as the hand neared the bottom of his chin. When it was within range he snapped at the fingers. At the taste of blood in his mouth Ardyn laughed, and suddenly the other hand was at his throat. His vision darkened and he let go of the digits between his teeth.

"You're such a treat! It's no wonder Sephiroth enjoyed toying with you! But now it's my turn to divulge to cracking you open. I'll have those powers, whether it be from you or Sephiroth, it won't matter." Ardyn loosened his grip on the throat and Cloud gasped.

So that concluded that Sephiroth wasn't in on with this torture. He tried to reach out in his mind again even though he knew it was in vain. This really was ironic. After the way he left Noctis and his group, he wasn't so sure they would be willing to get him out of here as fast as they would with Prompto.

As Ardyn left, Cloud wondered what exactly did he want? He didn't understand what he meant by destructive powers. As far as he knew he didn't have the Black Materia on him. So then what gives? Cloud felt his body succumb to sleep and he didn't bother fighting it.