Chapter Eight:

Memories on the Mountain (Can get a little graphic in this chapter)

In Zanarkand, Cloud awoke from a nightmare. This time, Sephiroth was in it. He was grinning, and his sword, his blade, it was covered in blood. Cloud gazed at the blade of his own sword, then sheathed it, and got up. It was still as cold as it had been in that room.

The violet ribbon had been erased by the morning sun, and he could only see miles of rubble and destruction. His boots clattered and splattered through the damp grounds as he made his way through the land of lost souls. He eventually reached a place of great silence. Even the water seemed hushed.

But the silence was broken, from the waters, came a large dragon. It spread it's wings and twisted it's long, scaly tail. Then, it let loose a roar that shook the earth. Cloud pulled out his sword, and stared into the face of the beast. His eyes were burning fire, and followed the dragons every move. The ground shook violently as the dragons tail attempted to crush Clouds skull. Though Cloud dodged, and swung back at the tail, slicing the top scales a little. The dragon turned to him, and let out it's horrible burning breath. Quickly, he used some fallen rubble for a barrier, then pulled out a red glowing crystal.

The crystal brightened, and the dark sky began to rumble. From the clouds, a red dragon flew down. It's magnificent wings were much larger than those of the fiend he had encountered. The two dragons clashed in the sky, each firing beams or clouds of fire. Teeth and claws shredded each others scales. Cloud watched, he knew that the fiend would be finished, and soon enough, dust quickly covered the ground, and the fiend had been brought down, the red dragon, which had been summoned by Cloud, held the carcass down, and tore out it's throat. Then took one glance at it's master, and flew back into the sky. Cloud watched it disappear, then continued on his way.

He had finally found a path, which led up a mountain, it looked to be cold, and harsh, but he was ready. He made his way up the path, when he reached the entrance to a cave, he had a nice view of the dead city he had abandoned. It was larger than he imagined. Very peaceful, it gave a warm feeling, almost. But, he turned away, then headed inside. It was peaceful, and quiet. Very unusual. But Cloud was tired of silence, he wanted to hear the voices of people again, it was enough to drive him insane. He traveled for several hours, every once in a while, coming across a dead end. But eventually, he found the exit. When he emerged, he hadn't realized he had been in there for the entire day, for the sun was already beginning to set. He looked ahead of him for the small hope of civilization, but the path only led to snow. His only relief was that he had not gone in a circle.

Another place of silence…it was eerie, and he didn't like it. He hugged himself for warmth, and stopped to pick at the small amount of food he had on him. His newest stop would be his last for the night. He had managed to start a fire, and set up a small camp. The moon was in the sky at the time. He sighed from boredom, and decided to entertain himself by whistling a tune he had learned from Tifa. He remembered the time she taught it to him also, they were at the bar that night. Tifa was celebrating his return from his first SOLDIER mission. He was 19 years old. To be in that bar again, that dirty old tavern where the floor creaks, is what Cloud wanted at the moment. Even with Barret up his ass, telling him to not get his 'spiky ass' hurt, he actually missed it. And Tifa with her brunette hair swinging behind her as she pranced about the room cheerily, Marlene dancing around her feet. With Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all singing terribly after getting drunk.

For the moment, Cloud was smiling. He stopped whistling, and stared at the fire. Then closed his eyes. But before he reached his dreams, a slight crunching of snow caught his attention. He looked up, and someone was there.