I could barely breathe in the tense air as the Cloud that stood in front of me morphed slowly into a living mirror. I gasped as I saw his glaring eyes stare hatefully at me.
"There now, you'll see..." Jenova whispered.
Cloud's hands were stained with blood and his narrowed eyes gleamed with a blue glow. He shoved me down with one hand, his strength almost incredible.
"Who the fuck are you?" He growled, pointing at me with his gloved hand.
"What? I'm Cloud Strife!" I leapt to my feet, suddenly defensive against this blond jerk that pretended to be me.
"Cloud Strife, huh? I'm Cloud Strife!" He insisted and drew his weapon; it was the Ultima Weapon.
I panicked, realizing I no longer had my sword with me, but I felt a familiar weight on my back. I lifted my hand up and felt the handle of my sword so comforting next to me. I unsheathed my Ultima Weapon and held it out in front of me.
"What the hell is your problem?!" I shouted in frustration. Why did he want to fight me?
"Why is it that you think you've got such bad problems. You think everything's so horrible! But you'll never feel the pain I've felt!" his aggression was unmistakable.
This Cloud's appearance was much more animalistic than the first Cloud I had seen. The first one had held a deep pain and unimaginable depression masked from the world, while this one was straight out aggressive, arrogant, and self-absorbed. His hair was rugged and hung down in front of his face in most places. But if this was me...then...
"Why do you want to kill me?" I yelled in desperate confusion.
"Life's not fair, is it, Cloud?" his tone was low and threatening. Somehow these words seemed vaguely familiar to me... where had I heard them before?
"You can never defeat yourself..." Zack's voice warned in my head. I glanced over at him and Sephiroth, standing as still as statues, watching us.
"You can't even imagine the horrible things I've seen, the horrible things I've had to go through! How dare you think you know pain!!" Cloud snarled at me, his face dark with anger.
"Zack, what the hell is going on?" I yelled over to Zack. "This is me! But it's not really me! I don't act like this!"
"Maybe you do...People often see themselves differently than other people on the outside do. Did you ever think perhaps your actions were this aggressive?" Sephiroth's voice waved through the air.
I didn't dare pull my eyes away from Cloud, knowing he would take any moment of hesitation to strike, like I would.
"He is your inner demon, impossible to defeat. We all have our demons, but it is only the strong that can survive a confrontation such as this one..." Sephiroth warned me.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus my raging thoughts and silence the screaming voices in my mind.
"Okay, if this is me...Then I should know exactly what he's going to do... I should know exactly how he's going to fight..." I whispered to myself.
"You cannot predict what I am going to do. You are the weak part of Cloud Strife, while I am the strong. I am better than you, quicker than you, and more powerful," Cloud's mouth twisted into a smile that I couldn't help but mirror with my own.
"Alright...you're not real though. I am the real Cloud. I know that... You're fake..." I lowered my eyes at him and his arrogant smile remained.
"No! You're the fake! Without me, you'd be nothing! You only survive by resorting to me in desperate times!" Cloud shouted at me, tilting his Ultima Weapon menacingly.
"And I wish to rid myself of such a weak personality..." He beckoned a fight. "Without you I'd be perfect." He lashed the words out, and I shook my head. Surprisingly there was no static, but I did it out of habit now.
"Two exact opposites..." Zack's eyes locked with mine for a moment. "Which one is the yin and which the yang? Which one pure and which corrupt? Is he the demon, or are you?"
"Stop it! You're confusing me!!! Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" I screamed over at him. Zack smiled and grew silent.
I began to ponder his seemingly meaningless words when Cloud took the opportunity to strike. My eyes caught the gleam of slashing metal as the blade swung towards me.
I raised up my Ultima Weapon, catching his in a melodic clash of glowing steel. Our eyes locked and his were glazed red with anger, contrasting my cold blue Mako pools. I struggled against his strength as he forced our locked weapons closer to my face, my own sword slowly becoming overwhelmed. No, he can't possible be stronger than me!
I summoned a root of strength and shoved him away. He stumbled back a foot and lunged at me once more. I slashed upwards and quickly downwards, hoping to catch him, but he knew what I knew and easily dodged it, releasing a quick upwards slash of his own, grazing my cheek barely.
"Dammit!" I yelped feeling hot blood rush down my cheek. So this WAS real... how could I bleed if it were all an illusion? "No..." I didn't want to believe it.
"Believe it, Cloud!" He spun around, swinging down his sword. "There's no more need for you anyway!"
I stepped back from the swing, countering with one of my own. He ducked below the blade and my sword sliced through his spikey hair, cutting off a spike.
He reached for his blond spikes and noticed the yellow clump of hair on the floor.
"Whoa! What the hell was that for? You stupid useless dumbass!" he screamed, enraged, tenderly stroking his now short spike.
I was breathing heavy from the fierce attack, my arms aching from the weight of my Ultima Weapon. "I'm NOT useless..." I spat bitterly.
"Your useless to me and to Tifa. Tifa hates you anyway!" He laughed.
My heart nearly stopped with his words and I felt the weightlessness creep through me, by mind opening into a white oblivion of inexpressible anger. How dare he say anything about Tifa!!
I felt my anger bite through my sword and my adrenaline fueled my muscles as I lifted the heavy weapon above me, wanting nothing but to see the blood flow from Cloud's face, to make him feel pain.
He glanced up from his fallen blond strands and paused for just a split second, seeing me peaked in the air, the blade waiting to taste his blood and splice through his flesh. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
I swung my Ultima Weapon down on him for that fateful moment of hesitation he held. His clear blue eyes suddenly filled with such fear and horror that I saw my own reflection in his blue pools. I was a demon in his eyes. ...The demon in myself.
I struck Cloud down, watching him crumble, his weapon clattering uselessly to the floor, the hand that once held it dead. I drew my sword from his corpse and his blood pooled thickly around him, my inextinguishable anger was now satisfied with his death.
I smiled at my own dead body, blood sinking up along my boots. I sheathed my Ultima Weapon happily, the blood dripping from the blade.
I had done the impossible- I had defeated myself. I smiled, pleased with my own actions for once.
Then I heard a cry, more like a moan of sorrow. I turned and saw Tifa running through the black scene towards the fallen Cloud, her eyes full of tears.
"Tifa..." I called softly, but she seemed not to hear me.
No, she's just an illusion... she's not real...
"Oh Cloud!" she cried and knelt besides the freshly massacred body, not caring about the blood soaking up around her knees.
"Why did this happen, Cloud? Why!?" She screamed out, trying to wipe the tears mercilessly running down her cheeks. She gently ran her hair through the deceased Cloud's golden spikes.
"Tifa! I'm here! It's me, Cloud!" I called to her, but she still couldn't see me. She was blind to my appearance. I felt as though I was watching a horrible movie.
"Cloud...I loved you. You never knew it, but I loved you so much. If only I had told you sooner," she paused to sob and held Cloud close, gently caressing the bloody strands of blond hair away from his face.
I stood not knowing what to make of all this.
"Listen, Cloud..." Jenova advised me softly.
"I loved you and I never even got a chance to tell you how much you meant to me!" Tifa sobbed.
"That's not the Tifa I know. The Tifa I know hates me now..." I sighed, sadly.
"Why did this have to happen? If only you were to just stay alive for another moment, I could have told you how much I love you, but now you're gone... I can never hear your voice again or feel your comforting hug...I can never wake every morning knowing I am safe when I am with you. Oh gods..." Tifa trailed off, bending close to the bloody body.
"I...I don't understand this..." I trembled to see Tifa in such emotional pain.
"You don't see how much she loves you?" Jenova asked.
"But that's not the Tifa I know. Tifa hates me, she'll never forgive me for my sins..." I turned away from the scene, my eyes filling with sorrow.
"You just never saw it from her point of view. To her, you are dead. The Cloud she knew is dead at least..." Jenova informed me and I turned back to Sephiroth and Zack.
"Why are you showing me this? What do I have to gain by slaying myself?!" I shouted at them, the stress in my mind mounting and my eyes burned with angry tears.
"Maybe you could learn from it...Learn more about yourself..." Zack commented softly.
"Get me away from here..." I shut my eyes.
[[*Much more to come, I just don't have the time to write it all tonight. I'll wrap up the story soon, I know it's getting kind of long*]]
"There now, you'll see..." Jenova whispered.
Cloud's hands were stained with blood and his narrowed eyes gleamed with a blue glow. He shoved me down with one hand, his strength almost incredible.
"Who the fuck are you?" He growled, pointing at me with his gloved hand.
"What? I'm Cloud Strife!" I leapt to my feet, suddenly defensive against this blond jerk that pretended to be me.
"Cloud Strife, huh? I'm Cloud Strife!" He insisted and drew his weapon; it was the Ultima Weapon.
I panicked, realizing I no longer had my sword with me, but I felt a familiar weight on my back. I lifted my hand up and felt the handle of my sword so comforting next to me. I unsheathed my Ultima Weapon and held it out in front of me.
"What the hell is your problem?!" I shouted in frustration. Why did he want to fight me?
"Why is it that you think you've got such bad problems. You think everything's so horrible! But you'll never feel the pain I've felt!" his aggression was unmistakable.
This Cloud's appearance was much more animalistic than the first Cloud I had seen. The first one had held a deep pain and unimaginable depression masked from the world, while this one was straight out aggressive, arrogant, and self-absorbed. His hair was rugged and hung down in front of his face in most places. But if this was me...then...
"Why do you want to kill me?" I yelled in desperate confusion.
"Life's not fair, is it, Cloud?" his tone was low and threatening. Somehow these words seemed vaguely familiar to me... where had I heard them before?
"You can never defeat yourself..." Zack's voice warned in my head. I glanced over at him and Sephiroth, standing as still as statues, watching us.
"You can't even imagine the horrible things I've seen, the horrible things I've had to go through! How dare you think you know pain!!" Cloud snarled at me, his face dark with anger.
"Zack, what the hell is going on?" I yelled over to Zack. "This is me! But it's not really me! I don't act like this!"
"Maybe you do...People often see themselves differently than other people on the outside do. Did you ever think perhaps your actions were this aggressive?" Sephiroth's voice waved through the air.
I didn't dare pull my eyes away from Cloud, knowing he would take any moment of hesitation to strike, like I would.
"He is your inner demon, impossible to defeat. We all have our demons, but it is only the strong that can survive a confrontation such as this one..." Sephiroth warned me.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus my raging thoughts and silence the screaming voices in my mind.
"Okay, if this is me...Then I should know exactly what he's going to do... I should know exactly how he's going to fight..." I whispered to myself.
"You cannot predict what I am going to do. You are the weak part of Cloud Strife, while I am the strong. I am better than you, quicker than you, and more powerful," Cloud's mouth twisted into a smile that I couldn't help but mirror with my own.
"Alright...you're not real though. I am the real Cloud. I know that... You're fake..." I lowered my eyes at him and his arrogant smile remained.
"No! You're the fake! Without me, you'd be nothing! You only survive by resorting to me in desperate times!" Cloud shouted at me, tilting his Ultima Weapon menacingly.
"And I wish to rid myself of such a weak personality..." He beckoned a fight. "Without you I'd be perfect." He lashed the words out, and I shook my head. Surprisingly there was no static, but I did it out of habit now.
"Two exact opposites..." Zack's eyes locked with mine for a moment. "Which one is the yin and which the yang? Which one pure and which corrupt? Is he the demon, or are you?"
"Stop it! You're confusing me!!! Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" I screamed over at him. Zack smiled and grew silent.
I began to ponder his seemingly meaningless words when Cloud took the opportunity to strike. My eyes caught the gleam of slashing metal as the blade swung towards me.
I raised up my Ultima Weapon, catching his in a melodic clash of glowing steel. Our eyes locked and his were glazed red with anger, contrasting my cold blue Mako pools. I struggled against his strength as he forced our locked weapons closer to my face, my own sword slowly becoming overwhelmed. No, he can't possible be stronger than me!
I summoned a root of strength and shoved him away. He stumbled back a foot and lunged at me once more. I slashed upwards and quickly downwards, hoping to catch him, but he knew what I knew and easily dodged it, releasing a quick upwards slash of his own, grazing my cheek barely.
"Dammit!" I yelped feeling hot blood rush down my cheek. So this WAS real... how could I bleed if it were all an illusion? "No..." I didn't want to believe it.
"Believe it, Cloud!" He spun around, swinging down his sword. "There's no more need for you anyway!"
I stepped back from the swing, countering with one of my own. He ducked below the blade and my sword sliced through his spikey hair, cutting off a spike.
He reached for his blond spikes and noticed the yellow clump of hair on the floor.
"Whoa! What the hell was that for? You stupid useless dumbass!" he screamed, enraged, tenderly stroking his now short spike.
I was breathing heavy from the fierce attack, my arms aching from the weight of my Ultima Weapon. "I'm NOT useless..." I spat bitterly.
"Your useless to me and to Tifa. Tifa hates you anyway!" He laughed.
My heart nearly stopped with his words and I felt the weightlessness creep through me, by mind opening into a white oblivion of inexpressible anger. How dare he say anything about Tifa!!
I felt my anger bite through my sword and my adrenaline fueled my muscles as I lifted the heavy weapon above me, wanting nothing but to see the blood flow from Cloud's face, to make him feel pain.
He glanced up from his fallen blond strands and paused for just a split second, seeing me peaked in the air, the blade waiting to taste his blood and splice through his flesh. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
I swung my Ultima Weapon down on him for that fateful moment of hesitation he held. His clear blue eyes suddenly filled with such fear and horror that I saw my own reflection in his blue pools. I was a demon in his eyes. ...The demon in myself.
I struck Cloud down, watching him crumble, his weapon clattering uselessly to the floor, the hand that once held it dead. I drew my sword from his corpse and his blood pooled thickly around him, my inextinguishable anger was now satisfied with his death.
I smiled at my own dead body, blood sinking up along my boots. I sheathed my Ultima Weapon happily, the blood dripping from the blade.
I had done the impossible- I had defeated myself. I smiled, pleased with my own actions for once.
Then I heard a cry, more like a moan of sorrow. I turned and saw Tifa running through the black scene towards the fallen Cloud, her eyes full of tears.
"Tifa..." I called softly, but she seemed not to hear me.
No, she's just an illusion... she's not real...
"Oh Cloud!" she cried and knelt besides the freshly massacred body, not caring about the blood soaking up around her knees.
"Why did this happen, Cloud? Why!?" She screamed out, trying to wipe the tears mercilessly running down her cheeks. She gently ran her hair through the deceased Cloud's golden spikes.
"Tifa! I'm here! It's me, Cloud!" I called to her, but she still couldn't see me. She was blind to my appearance. I felt as though I was watching a horrible movie.
"Cloud...I loved you. You never knew it, but I loved you so much. If only I had told you sooner," she paused to sob and held Cloud close, gently caressing the bloody strands of blond hair away from his face.
I stood not knowing what to make of all this.
"Listen, Cloud..." Jenova advised me softly.
"I loved you and I never even got a chance to tell you how much you meant to me!" Tifa sobbed.
"That's not the Tifa I know. The Tifa I know hates me now..." I sighed, sadly.
"Why did this have to happen? If only you were to just stay alive for another moment, I could have told you how much I love you, but now you're gone... I can never hear your voice again or feel your comforting hug...I can never wake every morning knowing I am safe when I am with you. Oh gods..." Tifa trailed off, bending close to the bloody body.
"I...I don't understand this..." I trembled to see Tifa in such emotional pain.
"You don't see how much she loves you?" Jenova asked.
"But that's not the Tifa I know. Tifa hates me, she'll never forgive me for my sins..." I turned away from the scene, my eyes filling with sorrow.
"You just never saw it from her point of view. To her, you are dead. The Cloud she knew is dead at least..." Jenova informed me and I turned back to Sephiroth and Zack.
"Why are you showing me this? What do I have to gain by slaying myself?!" I shouted at them, the stress in my mind mounting and my eyes burned with angry tears.
"Maybe you could learn from it...Learn more about yourself..." Zack commented softly.
"Get me away from here..." I shut my eyes.
[[*Much more to come, I just don't have the time to write it all tonight. I'll wrap up the story soon, I know it's getting kind of long*]]