Chapter 11 : Black and White
Cloud stood still in the cold darkness. All around him was black, endless plains of darkness.
Before him a familiar figure walked up. "Why do you deny your true self?"
"...." He turned away to ignore him.
"Do you really think that you can just hide forever?"
"...."
"Whether you want to admit it or not Cloud. Someday the darkness inside you will surface, this disguise you use is pointless, it will only delay the process."
Cloud turned back and looked up from the floor, his face showed no emotion at all.
"Just let it all go. What reason do you have not to?"
The blond Soldier looked his adversary in the face. "No, I'm not like that."
Sephiroth sighed crossing his arms. "Where do you think we are?"
Cloud shrugged not answering.
"This is you heart, it's dark to the very center."
"I told you, I'm not like that anymore."
"Cloud your a dark soul, what reason do you have to turn to the light?"
"I, I..."
He turned round and began to walk away into the darkness. "Just as I thought."
Cloud stood alone in the pitch black, his mind replayed Sephiroth's words. 'Reason to turn to the light? A dark soul, am I really that?'
He felt dizzy, as if been pulled away from his current position. Slowly the darkness in front of him split in two, a thin beam of blurry light forced the two sides apart.
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Cloud jumped up, his breathing was fast and he could feel his heart as it beated hard in his chest. At first the light in the room hurt his eyes but soon they adjusted and he was able to recognize where he was. Sitting up on the bed, he slowly looked round wondering how he got here until his eyes fell upon a familiar pink dressed girl.
'I should have guessed.'
Aerith was sat in a chair at the side of his bed, her cheek rested in the palm of her hand as she slept. The events that brought him to this condition quickly caught up with him, the final attack that ended the battle.
'I was careless, if he wanted Sephiroth could have killed me easily.'
After a while of thinking the dream that awoke him also crept into his mind, if it was a dream at all. What Sephiroth had been saying, the truth behind him. Cloud knew his past and the things he had done in Soldier to become one of the best, there was nothing noble or heroic in any of the missions he signed up for. He even kept them from Zack and Tifa, not wanting them to know about it, he would just say its another monster hunting mission.
That was one of the other reasons for leaving and eventually ending up here. Sephiroth was just another part of it, an excuse at first but after a few encounters he began to truly hate the man. It was him after all who had been there in Soldier, the one who pushed him to his 'darker' moments. He felt after awhile that if he could defeat Sephiroth, then that may some how destroy that part of his life, restore that part of his soul.
His train of though broke as he heard Aerith mumbling something in her sleep before waking up. Her first reaction after opening her eyes was to jump at Cloud while he was still in bed.
"Your ok!?" She wrapped her arms around his body.
Cloud smiled and returned the gesture. "Of course, it would take a lot more to finish me off." 'Liar.'
Aerith push back so she could look at his face. "What possessed you to do something so reckless?"
"I, it just happened. I couldn't control myself."
"Well you better try to next time." She crossed her arms. "You could have gotten yourself killed."
"I know... I'm sorry." 'Are you really?'
"Don't be sorry, just don't do anything so dumb again." Aerith dipped her head so she could see his face as Cloud looked down at the covers, a small silence followed until she broke it. "I was worried..."
"...You've been here all the time?"
She nodded. "I couldn't concentrate on anything else, while in the streets I must have bumped into at least six people whilst daydreaming."
"Come on," Cloud took her hand and stood up from the bed. "Enough of this, it didn't happen and its not going to happen. So let's just put it behind us."
"Your right," She stood up and returned his smile. "It's late but I can still make you some breakfast, after all you haven't eaten anything in two days."
"Two days?"
"Uh huh, you were out cold all yesterday. Squall woke up in the afternoon but we guessed you must have been hit harder."
Cloud scratched the back of his head. "Two days? It didn't feel that long in my sleep, it was like only a few minutes went by."
"It didn't feel that way to me."
"You really were worried weren't you?" He smiled slightly in his usual cocky way.
"Don't go getting smug, do something like that again and I'll be the one you'll be running from."
"Noted." He smiled again while looking at her, he brushed his fingers against her cheek and down to her neck. "You know, I was really lucky to meet you. There are times when I look at you and I just want to.." '...snap you neck in a single moment.'
She looked at him curiously. "...Cloud?"
"Huh?" He stared blankly at her before quickly pulling his hand away. 'What the hell?'
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Look I'll pass on the breakfast I need to, go check on a few things." Cloud quickly backed off and headed out the room and down the corridor.
"Cloud wait a second." Aerith caught up and grabbed on to his arm, which, Cloud quickly shook off.
"Get lost!"
"Cloud? I'm only trying to help you." She reached out to hold him again but this time he spun round and pinned her to the wall, holding her hands above her head.
"I.. don't need... your help. Just stay the hell away from me." He let go and continued to storm off through to the kitchen.
"Hey sleeping beauty." Zack was sat at the kitchen table stuffing his face. "I heard you got your ass kick big time."
"Shut up!" Cloud walked past him and though the front door. Down the corridor Aerith quickly followed and saw Zack.
"Did Cloud?"
"Just run though here in a hurry..." He finished her question. "Yeah, what happened?"
"I, I don't know." She stared at the door Cloud went through trying to figure out what went wrong. "He was in the middle of saying something and then, he just stopped and made an excuse to leave. Then he..."
Zack sighed and jumped out of his chair oblivious to the rest of her explanation. "Well, don't worry. I'll go get him and find out."
Aerith stared at the door, not really listening. 'W-why would he say that?'
____________________
Cloud headed down the next street not really sure where his destination was.
'Where the hell did that come from?'
He barged straight through the crowd of people not caring if he bumped into anyone.
'It was my voice, I said it. But why? I didn't want to say that, it just came out. I would never want to hurt her, ever.'
The thought of Sephiroth putting the words in his head came to mind but then again why would he? It would be pointless and too obvious.
'Aerith has done nothing but be kind and generous to me, even in my most darkest moments I would never...'
"Hey Cloud," Behind him Zack was catching up. "Wait up."
"What do you want?"
"Well, first I'd like to know what's going on in that thick spiky head of yours."
"I just wanted some fresh air."
Zack walked round in front of him and stopped him from going any further. "Ok, now how about the real reason."
Cloud shifted to walk round but Zack stopped him again. "Zack I'm not in the mood for this."
"You're just going to keep it a secret then?"
He crossed his arms thinking about what he was actually doing. "I just want to be alone to think."
Sighing Zack gave up and let him past. "Fine. But at least remember to talk to Aerith, she looked fairly up set when you left."
Cloud just nodded and continued on leaving Zack behind.
His mind was filled with questions and uncertainty, but in a way the feeling he had felt while talking to Aerith felt similar. It was connected, the person he no longer was.
__________________
After awhile he stopped walking. His mind was no better than before but he understood the longer he was here the worse.
It was already late in the afternoon, the sky was dull and gray. Nothing about today seemed good. Cloud looked back the way he came, and then stared at the road in front trying to convince himself to start heading back.
'I can't go back. Not after what I said to her.' Zack had said she had looked upset when he left, what if she didn't want him to come back?
He sighed and sat down on one of the benches at the side of the pavement. Taking in a deep breath he looked up at the sky feeling even worse. Finally realizing now that everything he had built up over the past few weeks had been destroyed in an instant, and worse still was he didn't even know why he had said it. The words were just spoken, as if he had no choice.
"Good one Cloud, you really have &%£^"$ everything up this time."
The street was mostly empty, only one or two people were outside and they were quickly making their way home. 'Guess the word about Sephiroth has gotten out, same thing happened in Midgar.'
His eyes looked down from the sky until his focus was on the floor, down the street he could hear footsteps approaching, he continued to listen until they stopped just in front of the bench. 'Great, now what?'
Hardly interested Cloud tilted his head to look where the person was stood. As pair of brown boot and the end of a long pink dress came in to view, he quickly stopped and returned his eyes to ground in front.
Not speaking the girl sat down at the other side of the bench, she nervously fidgeted with one of the buttons of her dress.
Cloud constantly tried to say something, but as the words reached his mouth they were lost. Was she here by fluke? Just happened to wonder off the same way as him? Or is she just trying to find a way to say she doesn't want him to come back?
A few more minutes went by before Aerith turned to speak. "Clou.."
"I'm sorry."
She stared at him for a moment caught off. "...Why did you?"
Cloud just continued to stare and the ground, he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"There's something you're not telling me."
"That's because I don't want you to know."
"Cloud what am I suppose to do if you won't tell me what's wrong?" Aerith sigh in frustration and stood up. "Y-you say something like that and just leave, what am I suppose to think? Don't you like me any more?"
"Aerith I..."
"You are suppose to do nothing girl."
The two jumped hearing the new voice.
Cloud instantly grit his teeth seeing the speaker. "Why must you haunt me like a dam ghost?"
Sephiroth grinned and turned his attention to Aerith. "This visit is not for you Cloud, no you are coming along just fine."
Aerith backed up a step feeling a chill down her spine as the dark winged man stared at her.
"I am here for you young Cetra." His smile changed to a look of annoyance. "You have interfered long enough, it seems that Cloud's feelings for you are much stronger than I expected. Only now has his darkness begun to show, even then it is still unable to reach its full potential."
Aerith didn't fully understand what he meant, but part of it was more of a shock than the rest. 'His feelings for me are much stronger?' She glanced over to Cloud who was looking lost in his own thoughts. 'Does he mean that Cloud...?' She frowned not understanding, if he did feel that way about her then why did he say those things earlier?
"Not understanding are you?" Sephiroth reached down to his sword. "Don't bother to try, I'm not wasting anymore time."
He leapt forward towards his target only to feel and strong force hitting him in the side of the face. The power of the blow sent the ex-general rolling across the ground.
'What the?' Sephiroth leapt to his feet and turned to face his attacker. He was partly stunned to see the only person stood there was Cloud though, he was different. "So, you have finally given in."
Aerith still expecting the attack slowly glanced over to Cloud, she took in a quick breath at the sight of the blond Soldier.
Cloud just stared coldly at Sephiroth, his pure hatred had finally been pushed to the limit. He could feel on his shoulder blades two new muscles, tensing them the wings attached closed and hid behind his back.
Sephiroth wiped the blood away from his lip and smiled. "Do you see now Cloud, can you feel your power? The darkness inside?"
Ignoring his words the blond Soldier sprinted at him and effortlessly picked up his former general by the neck. "Why are you doing this?"
Still smiling Sephiroth looked down at Cloud's face. The cool blue glow that was usually there had gone, leaving only a cold black stare. "Because I have a use for you. The heartless are here and there is no time left for games. This is just proof of what I've been saying, the darkness in you is stronger and more powerful."
Cloud's stare somehow grew colder, the wings behind him had stretched out as he squeezed tighter. "I don't care what use you have for me." He flexed his arm and tossed Sephiroth away like an empty can.
Aerith watched as the ex-general was thrown effortlessly across the street, she was amazed, a frightened at how much strength Cloud had managed to obtain. 'How is he doing this?'
Sephiroth crawled to his feet, a bitter taste formed in his mouth as he realized how close he was yet, how much the darkness had been corrupted by the Cetra. 'The Cetra. Even like this, with the darkness running strong inside he still won't let her die.'
"Why are you holding back? Just think of what you could do if you let your darkness run free." He pointed of towards Aerith. "Kill her and that darkness will bring you everything you ever wanted."
Cloud looked over at Aerith, he'd forgotten that she was still watching. Slowly he began to walk towards her, the two dark wings behind his back folded neatly behind.
"Cloud?" Aerith backed up a step, she knew deep down that Cloud was a kind person but, if Sephiroth was right and his dark side was taking over what would he actually do?
Sephiroth grinned while clutching his bruised neck, finally he had gotten through to his other side.
Finally he stood in front of the girl. His face was cold and his eyes seemed to be able to pierce her body and stare straight into her soul. Aerith decided to stand her ground, unsure of what to do she just looked back into his face. Her fearful expression soon faded in to curiosity as she saw a small glint of blue in his eyes.
Cloud grinned and slowly brought up his arm, his fingers ran down her soft cheek and down to her chin. Inside he could feel it, even the most darkest part of him had given in knowing it could not hurt her, just the moment in the morning took all of its strength to do. 'Black and white? Even the darkness inside of me feels it, the darkness is attracted to the light, just as the light is attracted to the dark. Both struggle and fight against each other, but they both know that one could not live with out the other, no matter what, that rule can never be broken.'
His hand pulled away from her face and pointed towards Sephiroth. Small sparks of blue light began to appear in the palm, steadily they began to grow and become stronger.
The grin that had formed on Sephiroth's face quickly disappeared. 'He wouldn't dare.'
Cloud cocked his head so he could see Sephiroth's figure in the corner of his eye. The sparks in his hand had turned into streaks of blue lightning around his arm.
The single winged warrior leapt backwards opening a rift in the air to retreat through. At the same time a burst of light shot from Cloud's palm, the blue lightning cracked the air around as it closed in on the dark one.
After the light died down Aerith was able to see again, been blinded by the initial burst. She looked at the spot where Sephiroth had been stood only to see an empty space. 'He got away?' She blinked and then turned back to Cloud who had stepped closer. The coldness in his eyes had disappeared and the strange blue glow that swirled around in the back of them had returned.
Before Aerith could speak to ask one of the thousand questions filling her mind he took hold of her body by the waist. She quickly glanced down at his hands as they held onto her waist and then back up to his face, not knowing what else to do she lifted her arms and held onto his shoulders.
Cloud smiled slightly at her confused look. Inside he could feel his heart beating stronger and fast enough to break through his ribs. Slowly he leaned over, his eyes looked down to her lips as they approached.
Aerith slipped her hands between Cloud's arms and pulled on his back, the fact that the two wings that had once been there had now disappeared only held her attention for a moment. She pulled him tighter and leaned closer until she finally met his lips.
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Ok longer to update this time, blame it mostly on FFX-2. For some reason this chapter was a real pain to write, this is one of the plot parts of the story which are always hard to do. After finally watching Showdown of Fate I know what's going to happen in this story, most of all its not going to be the usual Cloud searching for Aerith fic like most of the others this one I'm going to try and do differently and have them separated in a different way. Thank you to everyone for all the reviews, I think that's a new record for me for the amount of reviews in one chapter.
Cloud stood still in the cold darkness. All around him was black, endless plains of darkness.
Before him a familiar figure walked up. "Why do you deny your true self?"
"...." He turned away to ignore him.
"Do you really think that you can just hide forever?"
"...."
"Whether you want to admit it or not Cloud. Someday the darkness inside you will surface, this disguise you use is pointless, it will only delay the process."
Cloud turned back and looked up from the floor, his face showed no emotion at all.
"Just let it all go. What reason do you have not to?"
The blond Soldier looked his adversary in the face. "No, I'm not like that."
Sephiroth sighed crossing his arms. "Where do you think we are?"
Cloud shrugged not answering.
"This is you heart, it's dark to the very center."
"I told you, I'm not like that anymore."
"Cloud your a dark soul, what reason do you have to turn to the light?"
"I, I..."
He turned round and began to walk away into the darkness. "Just as I thought."
Cloud stood alone in the pitch black, his mind replayed Sephiroth's words. 'Reason to turn to the light? A dark soul, am I really that?'
He felt dizzy, as if been pulled away from his current position. Slowly the darkness in front of him split in two, a thin beam of blurry light forced the two sides apart.
________________
Cloud jumped up, his breathing was fast and he could feel his heart as it beated hard in his chest. At first the light in the room hurt his eyes but soon they adjusted and he was able to recognize where he was. Sitting up on the bed, he slowly looked round wondering how he got here until his eyes fell upon a familiar pink dressed girl.
'I should have guessed.'
Aerith was sat in a chair at the side of his bed, her cheek rested in the palm of her hand as she slept. The events that brought him to this condition quickly caught up with him, the final attack that ended the battle.
'I was careless, if he wanted Sephiroth could have killed me easily.'
After a while of thinking the dream that awoke him also crept into his mind, if it was a dream at all. What Sephiroth had been saying, the truth behind him. Cloud knew his past and the things he had done in Soldier to become one of the best, there was nothing noble or heroic in any of the missions he signed up for. He even kept them from Zack and Tifa, not wanting them to know about it, he would just say its another monster hunting mission.
That was one of the other reasons for leaving and eventually ending up here. Sephiroth was just another part of it, an excuse at first but after a few encounters he began to truly hate the man. It was him after all who had been there in Soldier, the one who pushed him to his 'darker' moments. He felt after awhile that if he could defeat Sephiroth, then that may some how destroy that part of his life, restore that part of his soul.
His train of though broke as he heard Aerith mumbling something in her sleep before waking up. Her first reaction after opening her eyes was to jump at Cloud while he was still in bed.
"Your ok!?" She wrapped her arms around his body.
Cloud smiled and returned the gesture. "Of course, it would take a lot more to finish me off." 'Liar.'
Aerith push back so she could look at his face. "What possessed you to do something so reckless?"
"I, it just happened. I couldn't control myself."
"Well you better try to next time." She crossed her arms. "You could have gotten yourself killed."
"I know... I'm sorry." 'Are you really?'
"Don't be sorry, just don't do anything so dumb again." Aerith dipped her head so she could see his face as Cloud looked down at the covers, a small silence followed until she broke it. "I was worried..."
"...You've been here all the time?"
She nodded. "I couldn't concentrate on anything else, while in the streets I must have bumped into at least six people whilst daydreaming."
"Come on," Cloud took her hand and stood up from the bed. "Enough of this, it didn't happen and its not going to happen. So let's just put it behind us."
"Your right," She stood up and returned his smile. "It's late but I can still make you some breakfast, after all you haven't eaten anything in two days."
"Two days?"
"Uh huh, you were out cold all yesterday. Squall woke up in the afternoon but we guessed you must have been hit harder."
Cloud scratched the back of his head. "Two days? It didn't feel that long in my sleep, it was like only a few minutes went by."
"It didn't feel that way to me."
"You really were worried weren't you?" He smiled slightly in his usual cocky way.
"Don't go getting smug, do something like that again and I'll be the one you'll be running from."
"Noted." He smiled again while looking at her, he brushed his fingers against her cheek and down to her neck. "You know, I was really lucky to meet you. There are times when I look at you and I just want to.." '...snap you neck in a single moment.'
She looked at him curiously. "...Cloud?"
"Huh?" He stared blankly at her before quickly pulling his hand away. 'What the hell?'
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Look I'll pass on the breakfast I need to, go check on a few things." Cloud quickly backed off and headed out the room and down the corridor.
"Cloud wait a second." Aerith caught up and grabbed on to his arm, which, Cloud quickly shook off.
"Get lost!"
"Cloud? I'm only trying to help you." She reached out to hold him again but this time he spun round and pinned her to the wall, holding her hands above her head.
"I.. don't need... your help. Just stay the hell away from me." He let go and continued to storm off through to the kitchen.
"Hey sleeping beauty." Zack was sat at the kitchen table stuffing his face. "I heard you got your ass kick big time."
"Shut up!" Cloud walked past him and though the front door. Down the corridor Aerith quickly followed and saw Zack.
"Did Cloud?"
"Just run though here in a hurry..." He finished her question. "Yeah, what happened?"
"I, I don't know." She stared at the door Cloud went through trying to figure out what went wrong. "He was in the middle of saying something and then, he just stopped and made an excuse to leave. Then he..."
Zack sighed and jumped out of his chair oblivious to the rest of her explanation. "Well, don't worry. I'll go get him and find out."
Aerith stared at the door, not really listening. 'W-why would he say that?'
____________________
Cloud headed down the next street not really sure where his destination was.
'Where the hell did that come from?'
He barged straight through the crowd of people not caring if he bumped into anyone.
'It was my voice, I said it. But why? I didn't want to say that, it just came out. I would never want to hurt her, ever.'
The thought of Sephiroth putting the words in his head came to mind but then again why would he? It would be pointless and too obvious.
'Aerith has done nothing but be kind and generous to me, even in my most darkest moments I would never...'
"Hey Cloud," Behind him Zack was catching up. "Wait up."
"What do you want?"
"Well, first I'd like to know what's going on in that thick spiky head of yours."
"I just wanted some fresh air."
Zack walked round in front of him and stopped him from going any further. "Ok, now how about the real reason."
Cloud shifted to walk round but Zack stopped him again. "Zack I'm not in the mood for this."
"You're just going to keep it a secret then?"
He crossed his arms thinking about what he was actually doing. "I just want to be alone to think."
Sighing Zack gave up and let him past. "Fine. But at least remember to talk to Aerith, she looked fairly up set when you left."
Cloud just nodded and continued on leaving Zack behind.
His mind was filled with questions and uncertainty, but in a way the feeling he had felt while talking to Aerith felt similar. It was connected, the person he no longer was.
__________________
After awhile he stopped walking. His mind was no better than before but he understood the longer he was here the worse.
It was already late in the afternoon, the sky was dull and gray. Nothing about today seemed good. Cloud looked back the way he came, and then stared at the road in front trying to convince himself to start heading back.
'I can't go back. Not after what I said to her.' Zack had said she had looked upset when he left, what if she didn't want him to come back?
He sighed and sat down on one of the benches at the side of the pavement. Taking in a deep breath he looked up at the sky feeling even worse. Finally realizing now that everything he had built up over the past few weeks had been destroyed in an instant, and worse still was he didn't even know why he had said it. The words were just spoken, as if he had no choice.
"Good one Cloud, you really have &%£^"$ everything up this time."
The street was mostly empty, only one or two people were outside and they were quickly making their way home. 'Guess the word about Sephiroth has gotten out, same thing happened in Midgar.'
His eyes looked down from the sky until his focus was on the floor, down the street he could hear footsteps approaching, he continued to listen until they stopped just in front of the bench. 'Great, now what?'
Hardly interested Cloud tilted his head to look where the person was stood. As pair of brown boot and the end of a long pink dress came in to view, he quickly stopped and returned his eyes to ground in front.
Not speaking the girl sat down at the other side of the bench, she nervously fidgeted with one of the buttons of her dress.
Cloud constantly tried to say something, but as the words reached his mouth they were lost. Was she here by fluke? Just happened to wonder off the same way as him? Or is she just trying to find a way to say she doesn't want him to come back?
A few more minutes went by before Aerith turned to speak. "Clou.."
"I'm sorry."
She stared at him for a moment caught off. "...Why did you?"
Cloud just continued to stare and the ground, he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"There's something you're not telling me."
"That's because I don't want you to know."
"Cloud what am I suppose to do if you won't tell me what's wrong?" Aerith sigh in frustration and stood up. "Y-you say something like that and just leave, what am I suppose to think? Don't you like me any more?"
"Aerith I..."
"You are suppose to do nothing girl."
The two jumped hearing the new voice.
Cloud instantly grit his teeth seeing the speaker. "Why must you haunt me like a dam ghost?"
Sephiroth grinned and turned his attention to Aerith. "This visit is not for you Cloud, no you are coming along just fine."
Aerith backed up a step feeling a chill down her spine as the dark winged man stared at her.
"I am here for you young Cetra." His smile changed to a look of annoyance. "You have interfered long enough, it seems that Cloud's feelings for you are much stronger than I expected. Only now has his darkness begun to show, even then it is still unable to reach its full potential."
Aerith didn't fully understand what he meant, but part of it was more of a shock than the rest. 'His feelings for me are much stronger?' She glanced over to Cloud who was looking lost in his own thoughts. 'Does he mean that Cloud...?' She frowned not understanding, if he did feel that way about her then why did he say those things earlier?
"Not understanding are you?" Sephiroth reached down to his sword. "Don't bother to try, I'm not wasting anymore time."
He leapt forward towards his target only to feel and strong force hitting him in the side of the face. The power of the blow sent the ex-general rolling across the ground.
'What the?' Sephiroth leapt to his feet and turned to face his attacker. He was partly stunned to see the only person stood there was Cloud though, he was different. "So, you have finally given in."
Aerith still expecting the attack slowly glanced over to Cloud, she took in a quick breath at the sight of the blond Soldier.
Cloud just stared coldly at Sephiroth, his pure hatred had finally been pushed to the limit. He could feel on his shoulder blades two new muscles, tensing them the wings attached closed and hid behind his back.
Sephiroth wiped the blood away from his lip and smiled. "Do you see now Cloud, can you feel your power? The darkness inside?"
Ignoring his words the blond Soldier sprinted at him and effortlessly picked up his former general by the neck. "Why are you doing this?"
Still smiling Sephiroth looked down at Cloud's face. The cool blue glow that was usually there had gone, leaving only a cold black stare. "Because I have a use for you. The heartless are here and there is no time left for games. This is just proof of what I've been saying, the darkness in you is stronger and more powerful."
Cloud's stare somehow grew colder, the wings behind him had stretched out as he squeezed tighter. "I don't care what use you have for me." He flexed his arm and tossed Sephiroth away like an empty can.
Aerith watched as the ex-general was thrown effortlessly across the street, she was amazed, a frightened at how much strength Cloud had managed to obtain. 'How is he doing this?'
Sephiroth crawled to his feet, a bitter taste formed in his mouth as he realized how close he was yet, how much the darkness had been corrupted by the Cetra. 'The Cetra. Even like this, with the darkness running strong inside he still won't let her die.'
"Why are you holding back? Just think of what you could do if you let your darkness run free." He pointed of towards Aerith. "Kill her and that darkness will bring you everything you ever wanted."
Cloud looked over at Aerith, he'd forgotten that she was still watching. Slowly he began to walk towards her, the two dark wings behind his back folded neatly behind.
"Cloud?" Aerith backed up a step, she knew deep down that Cloud was a kind person but, if Sephiroth was right and his dark side was taking over what would he actually do?
Sephiroth grinned while clutching his bruised neck, finally he had gotten through to his other side.
Finally he stood in front of the girl. His face was cold and his eyes seemed to be able to pierce her body and stare straight into her soul. Aerith decided to stand her ground, unsure of what to do she just looked back into his face. Her fearful expression soon faded in to curiosity as she saw a small glint of blue in his eyes.
Cloud grinned and slowly brought up his arm, his fingers ran down her soft cheek and down to her chin. Inside he could feel it, even the most darkest part of him had given in knowing it could not hurt her, just the moment in the morning took all of its strength to do. 'Black and white? Even the darkness inside of me feels it, the darkness is attracted to the light, just as the light is attracted to the dark. Both struggle and fight against each other, but they both know that one could not live with out the other, no matter what, that rule can never be broken.'
His hand pulled away from her face and pointed towards Sephiroth. Small sparks of blue light began to appear in the palm, steadily they began to grow and become stronger.
The grin that had formed on Sephiroth's face quickly disappeared. 'He wouldn't dare.'
Cloud cocked his head so he could see Sephiroth's figure in the corner of his eye. The sparks in his hand had turned into streaks of blue lightning around his arm.
The single winged warrior leapt backwards opening a rift in the air to retreat through. At the same time a burst of light shot from Cloud's palm, the blue lightning cracked the air around as it closed in on the dark one.
After the light died down Aerith was able to see again, been blinded by the initial burst. She looked at the spot where Sephiroth had been stood only to see an empty space. 'He got away?' She blinked and then turned back to Cloud who had stepped closer. The coldness in his eyes had disappeared and the strange blue glow that swirled around in the back of them had returned.
Before Aerith could speak to ask one of the thousand questions filling her mind he took hold of her body by the waist. She quickly glanced down at his hands as they held onto her waist and then back up to his face, not knowing what else to do she lifted her arms and held onto his shoulders.
Cloud smiled slightly at her confused look. Inside he could feel his heart beating stronger and fast enough to break through his ribs. Slowly he leaned over, his eyes looked down to her lips as they approached.
Aerith slipped her hands between Cloud's arms and pulled on his back, the fact that the two wings that had once been there had now disappeared only held her attention for a moment. She pulled him tighter and leaned closer until she finally met his lips.
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Ok longer to update this time, blame it mostly on FFX-2. For some reason this chapter was a real pain to write, this is one of the plot parts of the story which are always hard to do. After finally watching Showdown of Fate I know what's going to happen in this story, most of all its not going to be the usual Cloud searching for Aerith fic like most of the others this one I'm going to try and do differently and have them separated in a different way. Thank you to everyone for all the reviews, I think that's a new record for me for the amount of reviews in one chapter.