Chapter 2: What have I done?

A week later:

Cloud woke up and found himself in a warm bed, 'Where am I? What happened? I was in Crater, about to defeat Sephiroth and then…what happened? I remember facing Sephiroth…' Flashes of what happened passed before his eyes, Cait Sith, Barrett, dead…by his blade. Cid, lying face down in the dirt, in a pool of blood. Vincent kneeling down before him while Cloud lifted his sword overhead…

Cloud started shaking; he held his head in his hands and began to rock backwards and forwards on the bed. What had he done?

Meanwhile:

"Cloud is still asleep, Master" Vincent said to his 'master'. Vincent had had seven days of absolute hell and agony off Sephiroth, and although he was ashamed to say so, he was shit scared of him. He had been tortured above all limits for Sephiroth's pleasure, by Sephiroth himself. He wouldn't dare call Sephiroth, Sephiroth alone out loud though, it had to be Master Sephiroth or else…His body was covered in bruises and deep gashes from the torment, this was even worse than when Hojo had got hold of him all that time ago. He shivered. Vincent was sure that Sephiroth had been particularly vicious with him because his meteor plan hadn't worked 'thank God', and the life stream had destroyed meteor and Midgar. It seemed that AVALANCHE had held off Sephiroth long enough for Holy to do its job. 'Why is he keeping me alive? This is hell, worse than I could ever have imagined.'

"Good, when he wakes bring him too me, I will deal with him."

Sephiroth looked over to Vincent, the red eyes stayed down on the ground, not even worthy of looking at him. It might have only have been a few days since Vincent had been in his grasp, but Sephiroth knew that Vincent's weakened soul was now his. It was a pity that the magnificent cells of his Mother had been injected into such a weak creature like Vincent…and Cloud too for that matter, but one had to do with what one had. Plus they kinda were like family, each with a part from Jenova inside of them, 'like brothers I guess, with the same Mother but different Fathers' it was fun watching them suffer, he had even released Cloud for an hour or so, consequently he would know what he had done to his friends. Sometimes mental pain was as much fun as physical, he grinned. "You may leave". 'This is going to be fun, and since Planet stopped my old plan, I'm just gonna have to find something else to occupy my time'. He started to laugh loudly mwhahahahah! Vincent cringed visibly, Sephiroth loved it when Vincent did that, it was so…well…satisfying.

Vincent backed slowly out of the room, once through the large, double doors he ran. Once far enough away from the evil, mad man he stopped and leaned, panting, against a wall, while staring out of an open window and into the countryside beyond. Sephiroth had made him command the Highwind to fly here, to Cosmo Canyon. The General had chosen to make Bugenhagen's old study into his base of operation. After arriving, the evil, silver-haired man had killed everyone he could find in the canyon. Why Sephiroth had chosen this place was beyond him, he wondered if it was anything to do with the study of the Planet, and Bugenhagen's own interest in how machinery and the Planet could work together in harmony. But that probably wasn't it; it was probably because Sephiroth just wanted to stay away from people so that he could have a surprise attack of some sort later on. He gazed longingly out of the window, but now he knew that he would never run, Vincent must have tried about a dozen times, his back still was raw from the last lashing Sephiroth had given him, he would've tried again if not for what Sephiroth said the last time he had finished punishing Vincent "If you run again then I will have two puppets, not just one, get the idea?" Vincent shuddered; he would NOT end up like Cloud.                  

Vincent got to the inn where he had been ordered to keep a watch of Cloud. He walked in, Cloud was awake 'Thank God, Sephiroth was starting to get angry'. Something was wrong; Cloud was rocking back and forth on the bed, huddled into a little spiky-haired ball. "Cloud?" Cloud quickly looked up, and ran over to Vincent, catching him in a vice like bear hug.

"Vincent! I thought you were dead! I'm so glad you're alive! What happened? Where's everyone else?"

"Don't you remember?"

"I remember…"

"You killed every one!" Vincent angrily butted in, "They're all dead because of YOU!" He grabbed Cloud by the front of his top and lifted him off of his feet "How dare you act as though you don't remember! I should kill you where you stand, you dog!"

Cloud had never seen Vincent so out of control before. Cloud grabbed Vincent's arms and pulled himself up a little to stop his top from strangling him.

"I...killed…them? I hoped I had just dreamt it. Are they all dead?" He gasped

"Apart from you and myself, yes they are."

"Even Tifa?"

"Did I not say that they were all dead? As she died she cried out, "Cloud, why?""

Cloud broke down, "I killed Tifa! How could I? I love her…" Cloud let his arms drop, it didn't really matter if Vincent strangled him now, Tifa was dead, her hero hadn't protected her; he had let her die instead.

Silence as loud as thunder rang out between them; Vincent let Cloud go in the shock of what he had just said, Cloud fell to the floor.

"I love her, how could I have let her die?" His head hung in shame and regret.

"Well its too late now, Sephiroth slaughtered her, Yuffie and Cid and Red…you killed the others."

"I killed Cait and Barrett?"

"Yes"

"…"

Vincent let Cloud stay in his own thoughts for a while, Vincent had killed humans before, after all he had been a Turk, one of the best in fact, but he had never killed his friends, especially ones that saw you as part of their family. He had never had a real family before, well as far as he could remember, so Cloud had helped kill the only thing he had close to it, or ever would, he guessed. Cloud looked up at Vincent and sent him puzzling look, as though noticing something for the first time.

"What?" Vincent asked

"Vincent, why are you wearing those clothes…what happened to you? I didn't do that, did I? Please say it wasn't me"

Vincent looked down at himself, Sephiroth had said that he couldn't wear his old clothes as they covered up the past week of torment that Sephiroth had put him through, it seemed like Sephiroth was one of those sick minded people who liked to see the suffering they had brought to others. He was still wearing his old pants and boots, and still had the gold claw on his left arm, but he was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt so that the gashes on his arms could be clearly seen, as well as the ones on his face. Cloak and headgear had been removed, much to Vincent's annoyance. 'Maybe Sephiroth is one of those insane people that as long as they could see suffering it doesn't matter when it was inflicted, as long as it still causes pain', Vincent prayed it was so. He felt vulnerable without the cloak and bandages he wore throughout the meteor quest, his weapon, Death Penalty, had been destroyed, but little did Sephiroth know that the claw was just as deadly…he was just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Its nothing to concern yourself with, and no it was not you who did it"

"But your face…"

"I said it doesn't matter, don't mention it again." Vincent snapped

Cloud nodded, what had been happening while he was asleep? He felt so empty, so alone. He stood up glowing blue eyes meeting red.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Seven days" 'Seven days of absolute hell, I wish I were back in my coffin so I could sleep through all this' "Sephiroth wants to see you, and it is best not to keep him waiting."