"Cloud? Cloud! Hey. Hey! Wake up!" A voice called out to him in his sleep.
Cloud shook his head. Five more minutes. He was so exhausted. He wanted, no needed, more sleep. It was an escape from the torment.
"Come on! Wake up! Cloud!" A hand shook him with more urgency. And then the blonde realized that someone was undoing the chains? Heart racing he opened his eyes. The sudden alertness sent him into a blind panic.
"Cloud, it's me!" Hands steadied his face and he was forced to look at Noctis. Cloud tensed, pulling away.
"Hey, I'm the real deal. Would Ardyn bother with making an illusion of everyone else?" Noctis motioned to the other three. Prompto and Gladio were the ones undoing the chains.
"... Right." Cloud mumbled, still trying to process all of this.
"So how did you end up here?" Ignis asked as they helped the blonde swordsman to his feet. His legs felt weird and shaking.
"Actually, that might have been my fault." Prompto bit his lip.
"It was bound to happen eventually. Don't blame yourself." Cloud waved off, and tried to take a step on his own. His legs almost gave out and hands helped him to have him lean against someone. He looked up to Ignis.
"We got caught together out in the snows. He and Sephiroth were fighting off Magitechs. And I distracted them."
"What did I just say? You're not to blame for what happened."
"But he did you worse than me."
"And? Sephiroth was worse than him back in the day." Cloud would rather it have been his old nemesis he dealt with, but he didn't want them to know that Ardyn was worse.
"You can barely walk." Ignis could feel how the blonde swordsman couldn't put a lot of weight on his feet.
"So what do we do now? He's hardly a threat. And it looks like he's not in league with Ardyn." Gladio turned to Noctis.
"What about Sephiroth?" The prince asked.
"He was trying to avoid us getting caught by Ardyn." Cloud was honest.
"So a baddie fleeing from another baddie?" Prompto frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Do you know what caused that rift between them?" Ignis inquired as he tried to help Cloud begin to lean more on his own feet. The blonde swordsman shook his head.
"We should look for a place to rest up for a short while."
It took a grueling while to find a room of bunk beds. Soon as Cloud hit the mattress he was out. It didn't matter that the springs were uncomfortable and a little small for him. Anything was better than being suspended by chains.
When he awoke he still felt like shit. But he was able to move on his own. Cloud stood up. He couldn't hear anyone talking but he knew they were beginning to awaken as well. He tried to reach out to his former nemesis again.
"You trying to sense where he is?" Ignis caught on.
"I can't find him. It's... Unnerving. All this time I could feel him. No matter where I am. No matter the distance. Guess I kind of got used to sensing his presence in the back of my mind."
"Just to clarify, why would you seek him out after all he's done in the past?"
Cloud considered his words a moment. He knew the others were silently watching.
"In a sense, our lives are tied together. Meaning if one of us dies, so does the other. And Ardyn is after some kind of powers we have. I think he's after whatever kind of power we used to destroy Gaia."
"Do you know how to use this power?"
"No. I wasn't even aware I had it. I thought it was something Sephiroth had me use to destroy our planet. But now I'm beginning to think that it was something that didn't come to us before we became bound together."
"So you mean to tell me we have to work with that asshole that should be rotting twelve feet under?" Gladio shook his head.
"I don't care either way if I die. If it comes down to it, then we take him down. But, we could use his help against Ardyn. It'll save us from being too exhausted taking down both at the same time or one after the other."
"He has a point." Ignis didn't like this either, but it was the most sensible option. "But do you think you can sway him from turning against us?"
"I don't think that will be a problem. Ardyn caused enough damage to make his blood boil."
"Then let's go."
Some floors later they were almost to the very top. Cloud paused, suddenly sensing the tingle of a familiar presence. He glanced around, searching. His movements were erratic and immediately the others noticed and they looked around too.
"I see you reunited with them." The voice made them turn.
Cloud took one step towards him when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned with a whirl and he stared at a second Sephiroth. The five of them stood back to back, unsure how to proceed.
"He's the imposter." One Sephiroth spoke with venom in his voice.
"Such illusions are against me."
"How the hell we gonna do this?" Noctis turned to Cloud beside him.
The blonde tried to reach out to Sephiroth mentally, but once again it was blocked. He bit his lip. How was he supposed to tell them apart? Then an idea came to him.
"What's the name of our planet?"
"Gaia." Both said at once.
Okay. Cloud looked from one to the other. What else did Sephiroth share with the enemy?
"Where did we meet?"
"Nibelheim." Their voices echoed.
"The girl you killed?" Cloud was running out of ideas.
"Aerith." The synchrony was eerie.
"Something personal, only you and Sephiroth would know." Ignis whispered. The room was so intense as the two Sephiroth's paced slowly.
Cloud inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. When he exhaled he opened them again. He has the million gil question.
"What's my name?"