Chapter 24 : Truth
'It's getting late.' The night air was cold and sharp, a bit different from Wutai's constant warmth, which was actually a bit strange since they were closer to the sun now than before.
The rain had slowed down to a steady pour, a few people were outside busy patching up the holes that had formed in their tents.
In the distance the ship could be made out, the few lights that were turned on made it stand out in the dark. Cloud took a deep breath and carried on walking, a day of running round the castle performing all sorts of Soldier duties had made him want to forget all about today.
Guessing that time was closing in on midnight Cloud decided to skip a meal and just get some rest. It was tempting to go check on Aerith again but he knew what would happen then, a whole night of staying at her side and doing his back in by falling a sleep in a chair.
Ahead he could make out the outline of a figure, although it looked a little odd. As he walked closer he could see that it was actually two people, a taller person stood behind the one in front.
Cloud picked up the pace as it looked like the person in front was wearing a long dress. 'Aerith, that must be Zack behind her. What are they doing out here in the rain?'
As Aerith came fully in to view the figure behind remained shrouded in darkness.
"What are you doing outside?" Cloud continued to walk ahead.
"Cloud don't..."
The blond stopped still, not from her words but from the small glint of light that ran along her neck. The wind picked up and the second figures hair blew to the side, the silver strands moving into the light.
Sephiroth smiled and moved the sword away from Aerith's neck before pushing her forwards. Cloud instantly ran to meet her but stopped as Sephiroth rested the blade on her shoulder.
"I don't think you want to rush in to this." He continued to smile as he ran the edge of the blade gently along the side of Aerith's neck.
"Don't you dare!" Cloud growled as he lifted his weapon over his head and down to the ground.
Sephiroth couldn't help but laugh. "Yes Cloud, now I'm scared." He continued to run the blade over Aerith's shoulder.
Aerith felt paralyzed, her body tense, she wanted nothing more than to run but her body just wouldn't move. She continue to stare ahead at Cloud though in the corner of her eyes she could see the sliver blade moving back, the cold metal brushing against her bare neck.
"But I did not come here to do this." He completely removed the masamune from Aerith's shoulder, pulling it back to his side. "Now be a good girl and stay there."
The brunette did as she was told, the only movement from her body was the shiver that went down her spine from the cold air.
Cloud griped the sword a little tighter, he knew that if he was to charge ahead it would be a fatal mistake, but just standing here wasn't much better. "What's the game this time?"
"No games Cloud, no plans, no fights, no cocky threats, this time I'm here for something else."
The blond kept himself quiet.
"You see, on the way to my original plan I was quite lucky today to come across a certain conversation."
"Original plan?" Cloud repeated.
Sephiroth lifted his sword pointing it to Aerith's back. "I decided that this one had caused enough trouble, she was no longer needed."
Aerith took a small step forwards but found the masamune's tip pressing into her back.
"Ah! Now I didn't say move now did I?" The ex-general lowered the blade when Aerith stopped moving.
The rain was still going at a steady pace. Aerith felt even colder as she was now drenched, her pink dress had darkened from been soaked through.
"Good girl." Sephiroth glanced at Cloud, the blond already seemed to be on the edge and pushing him any further like this wouldn't give him chance to say what he wanted. "Now where was I? I followed Miss Gainsborough to the castle ahead and waited for my chance to slip in, but when I caught up I found that she was in the company on someone else, someone who I have known for quite a while."
Aerith figured Sephiroth had known Gast quite well, the professor did study the ex-general after all.
"The interesting part was what the professor had told Miss Gainsborough, a dirty little secret that you nor I was ever informed off."
"Get to the point and then get lost." Cloud was reaching his limit for patience.
Ignoring his comment Sephiroth continued. "Did you know that Mako over powered certain abilities of the Cetra's, should one be infused with Mako the result would be, well... us."
"Us?"
"Yes, you and I are both Ancients. I found out about myself sometime ago while doing my own personal search through Shin-Ra's records of me. You on the other hand the professor only knew about a few weeks ago."
Cloud shook his head while laughing to himself. "This is the worst one yet, you really expect me to believe such crap?"
"Why should I lie about such a thing?" He circled around Aerith towards Cloud. "Didn't it ever occur to you how you were able to surpass the best of Soldier in such a short time? A Cetra who has been infused with Mako gets the best of both worlds."
Cloud gave Aerith a quick glance and noticed she was trying to avoid eye contact.
"But don't let that shock you Cloud." Sephiroth finished walking and stopped just in front of Cloud. "You see Gast also made another discovery, most likely by cross-examining our DNA. It turns out that we, are family."
The blonde's look didn't change. "You really must be out of ideas."
"This is no joke Cloud. The two of us share the same father, who just happened to be an Ancient."
Cloud watched his expressions closely, the feeling like this was some sort of joke was slowly slipping away.
"Both of us were cast out by our father at different times, he left us but fortunately for you your mother survived child birth." A hint of resentment filled his voice. "I on the other hand was left to die in the streets, by pure luck I was found by a Shin-Ra patrol."
"Touching story, now get lost." Cloud crossed his arms.
"Still don't believe me?" Sephiroth walked around him and pointed over his shoulder towards Aerith. "Ask her."
Aerith still stood in the same place, her body wouldn't let her move.
Cloud slowly looked at her face, noticing again that she didn't make eye contact. "Aerith?" His voice was clam but the tiny amount of fear could be made out as he spoke her name.
Slowly the flower girl looked up at him, her bangs were soaked through and ran down the sides of her face. "I..."
"Come now Aerith, you can tell him." Sephiroth grinned at her.
"Aerith." Cloud repeated her name.
Feeling like the world was staring at her Aerith looked back at him. "..He's not lying."
Sephiroth laughed and patted Cloud's shoulder. "There now brother, the truth is out at last."
Cloud stared coldly back, his fingers began to squeeze the handle of his sword.
"And to think, she wasn't going to tell you." The ex-general stood beside him. "How can she be forgiven for keeping away your very own past, she's as bad as that miserable excuse for a father who left us both."
"Is that so." Cloud did stop staring at Aerith as he lifted his weapon and thrust it to the side.
Sephiroth leapt back, only catching the tip of the blade with his shirt. Once clear from danger he looked ahead at Cloud, his back was now shielded by two black wings. 'So he was right.'
Aerith for the first time was able to move her body. Ahead she was still locking eyes with Cloud, though those eyes had changed, they no longer glowed blue but instead they were cold and black. 'Is he mad at me? Why is he just staring?'
"Tell me, what did you expect to gain from this?" Cloud turned round to Sephiroth.
"Gain?" The sliver haired fighter watched as Cloud's form began to shift, it was small but enough to notice. "Why would I want to gain something? I just wanted my little brother to know this."
"Shut up!" Cloud lifted his arm and instantly cast the fire spell, a huge ball of flames left his palm and shot towards his target.
Sephiroth managed to dodge the attack but noticed that as Cloud was like this he was a much bigger threat. "You don't have to be mad brother."
"I said shut up!" The once again redhead shot towards Sephiroth, striking him with his sword.
Aerith watched helplessly as they began to exchange blows, though the two seemed to have different ideas. Cloud looked like he was actually trying to kill while Sephiroth looked like he was just trying to provoke him further. 'He's trying to make Cloud lose it.'
Cloud struck Sephiroth again, each time he hit his power grew more and more.
The rain had picked up again and now it was hard enough to look into it without been blinded by oversized water droplets.
Sephiroth was the first to leap into the air, his single wing was more than enough to keep him air born. Cloud quickly followed and continued the battle in mid air, he wasn't expecting to kill Sephiroth today but why should he wait?
Running to them Aerith watched from below as the two fought, she knew that she had to break it up before Gast prediction came true and Cloud would lose himself to this personality. 'Well, I'll have to get him to concentrate on me.'
Figuring she might as well go with the flow Aerith called out her two snowy white wings, the two cast a soft white light on the area around them. From inside the tents a few people came outside to find out what was causing the noise but as soon as they saw the fight most of them ran back inside.
Aerith leveled up with the two, each time their swords clashed they sent a rain of sparks down along with the water.
Behind him Cloud could hear his name been called, it was faint and drowned out from the building storm. He decided to ignore it and fly straight ahead at Sephiroth again, slashing another combo that forced the ex-general back.
Sephiroth noticed that behind Cloud the Cetra girl was trying to get the redheads attention. 'Can't have that now.' Breaking away from Cloud he managed to build up an attack.
Aerith didn't see the bolt of lightning until it was too late, the burst hit one of her wings and she suddenly found herself racing back towards the ground. Before the impact though she felt the back of her dress been pulled against her body.
Opening her eyes Aerith noticed she was just a few meters from the ground, she then looked up and saw Cloud holding the front of her dress in one hand, her back arched from the little support on her head and legs. Aerith expected that Cloud would now do his cocky smile but instead the redhead just stared coldly at her before letting go.
Cloud watched her fall, as soon as she landed Aerith's eyes closed but he knew she was still alive. Sephiroth watched curiously as his brother's care for the girl was still strong but it was slowly been drowned out by his anger. 'This just gets better and better.'
It felt strange, as if time she'd been frozen in time. The rain had stopped, it was no longer night and the sun was warming the air nicely.
Aerith felt her head been lifted and something cold been placed behind it. Slowly she opened her eyes, the bright sunlight making them feel sore. As they focused Zack's smiling face came into view, he helped her sit up while holding the ice pack against the back of her head.
"Sleeping again eh?"
"Uhh, I, I never even knew, it feels like seconds ago."
Zack's face went puzzled. "What happen?"
"He took me to Cloud and then, they just went berserk." Aerith looked round the surrounding area, noticing that Cloud was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?"
"We don't know," Squall's appeared from the side and kneeled down. "Neither of them has been seen since last night." He stretched out a bandage and proceeded to wrap it around her forehead.
"That's quite a bump you got, Sephiroth give you?" Zack removed the icepack and noticed the blood it had collected.
Aerith stared back at him for a moment before answering. "Yeah, he did." She let Squall finish before standing up.
"Don't worry," He gave her a smile. "I'm sure Cloud's got everything under control."
Just nodding Aerith looked back towards the castle. Her head was throbbing and her dress was still drenched from her laying on the wet ground, but neither of these problems bothered her at the moment.
"What's wrong?" Zack asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Will you guys stay here for a while, there's some one I need to see." Not waiting for an answer Aerith began to walk to the stone structure.
"Hey wait!" The two ran in front of her. "We need to get that wounds fixed up."
"I'm ok, it can wait."
Zack crossed his arms and gave her a serious look. "No it can't."
Aerith stepped up to him and lifted herself up on the tips of her toes, her eyes stared harshly into his. "Move. Now."
A little confused at how someone so gentle could suddenly seem frightening Zack stepped to the side, although he still wasn't happy about it. After watching the flower girl walk away the Solider crossed his arms again and sighed. "Wonder what's up with her."
Squall shrugged and copied Zack's stance. "Something that happened last night most likely."
"Think we should follow her?"
"I'd think it would be best if we let her come to us, Aerith can be difficult at times, its best just to leave her be for now."
Zack watched her walk away, he was still uncomfortable about been left in the dark. Plus there was the fact that Cloud was missing, after the amount of time that had passed since last night anything could have happened to him.
"Professor?"
The echoes of her steps was all that answered as she walked down the stone steps.
"Professor Gast?" Aerith arrived on the last step and pushed the door that was already half open.
Last night was still fresh in her mind. Sephiroth had easily made Cloud lose control, it made little difference that she was there. 'Maybe the professor was wrong.' The last image of Cloud's face was what worried her most. 'It wasn't Cloud, just remember that.'
Pushing those thoughts away for now she moved on. The small lab was in its usual mess, books and experiments were littered about the place.
"Professor are you here?"
"Yes, yes one second." A few moments passed before Gast walked around the corner, once again carrying a stack of books. "Oh its you."
Aerith didn't bother to help him this time. "It didn't work."
"What do you mean?" He looked puzzled as he put the books down on the table.
"I couldn't do it, even when I tried to help him it just made things worse."
"You mean Cloud has already lost control?" Gast's was shocked that things had worsened so quickly. "What happened?"
"Sephiroth was here when you told me about Cloud's past, he told him and then...." She trailed off.
Gast nodded, understand the rest of the story without been told. "I was afraid of that, where is Cloud now?"
Aerith shook her head. "I don't, he disappeared along with Sephiroth. What should we do?"
"There's not a lot we can do. Until he burns himself out he's too dangerous to approach."
Getting that annoying helpless feeling again Aerith sat down in one of the chairs around the table. "Professor?"
Gast continued to sort through the pile of books he'd just put down. "There's something else?"
"When Cloud first changed, I mean last night, he was still shocked at what Sephiroth told him. Why would something made of darkness care about that?"
"Oh that's a simple one." The professor stopped what he was doing. "You see even though this personality has managed to separate from the normal Cloud, thanks to a mixture of the Mako and the creatures that have been showing up around here, it is still a part of him, deep emotions will be carried over. For example our Cloud has an affection for you, so does his other self. But, this will only last so long, the more this other version of himself takes control the more it will be able to separate its feeling from Cloud's."
'It's already doing that.' Aerith remembered the look on Cloud's face before he let go. "You said something about him burning up?"
"Hmm? Oh yes you see this other part needs time to grow more before it can stay in control for longer periods. It puts a lot of strain on Cloud's mind, when it inevitable gives up our Cloud should have control again, that is as long as his mind doesn't give up altogether. Until one of them gains the upper hand it's going to stay like this."
"And there's nothing we can do to really help." She sighed once again feeling helpless.
"Well that's really up to you now." He gave her a smile. "You may be a young Cetra but you still have a strong power inside you, that's the reason I told you, no matter how powerful his dark side gets there is always an equal power for the light, your just going to have to find it."
"It sounds simpler than it really is." Aerith stood up and stretched her arms. "....But, I guess your right and sitting around here all days not going to help either."
"That's the spirit." Gast stood up with a grin. "But don't forget, should you ever need help you are always welcome t...."
Aerith's eyes widened as a sickly sound could be heard followed by a splash of red. She looked down at her dress, which was now covered in dots of red. "Professor?"
Taking a deep breath as she looked up Aerith resisted the urge to scream as she saw the huge blade that was now sticking out of Gast's chest. But just as quickly as it had appeared the blade shot back within and the professor collapsed to the floor.
Behind a dark figure sheathed his weapon and stepped out of the shadows.
"You." Aerith hissed and stepped back. "How could you?"
"He was an annoying man, I no longer wanted to hear him dribble on like that." Cloud looked as if he didn't care about the life he just took.
"Monster!" In her palm a ball of light appeared and grew until it covered her hand. Aerith knew that it wasn't really Cloud, but it was his body. If she was going to harm this 'thing' then she was going to have to harm Cloud too.
"Now now, there's no need for tempers." The redhead didn't appear threatened by the light. "I have still to decide what I want to do with you yet."
Aerith let her anger grow. "You won't do anything, now leave Cloud alone."
"I'd rather not, that idiot doesn't deserve this body." He smiled at her after finishing.
"No, you don't deserve to be in it, now release him." She lifted her hand and aimed the energy at him.
"Go ahead, if you actually have the guts to attack him it won't make any difference. Even that pathetic half brother Sephiroth realized he couldn't take me on, he ran away once again." Cloud walked closer to her.
"I mean it!" Aerith's hand began to shake.
Cloud smiled and knocked her hand away with his own. "But you, I don't know what to do with you." He grabbed her hand as she tried to hit him then used his other to cup her chin, at the same time he just noticed the bandage around her head that was mostly covered by her messy hair. "I didn't mean to give you such a large wound, how about I kiss it better?"
"Bite me." Aerith scowled at him.
"Well, I was going to leave the rough stuff until later but if you insist." He leaned closer to kiss her until a large thud stopped him.
The two stared at each other for a moment, both of them had a confused look on their face. Just as Aerith was going to start struggling again Cloud dropped to his knees and then to the floor.
'What?' The flower girl looked up and saw Zack standing behind the now unconscious Cloud.
"Not late am I?" The black haired soldier had a cocky smile on his face.
It took a few moments for the last action to sink in before Aerith answered. "No... you followed me?"
Zack grinned and kneeled down next to Cloud. "I'm not so good at doing what I'm told."
Aerith was a bit annoyed that her didn't leave her alone but at the same time she was thankful he was just as stubborn as herself. "Is he alright?" She kneeled down next to him.
"Yeah, but he'll be out for a while." Zack raised his eyebrow as the two wings on Cloud's back disappeared and his red hair shifted back to the bright blond it usually was. "So I'm guessing you know something about this?"
Reluctantly Aerith nodded. "I'm starting to wish I didn't."
Ok a fast update for once, things have gone a little different in the way I was going to do these chapters but hopefully things are coming out right. One thing that bothered me about this chapter is that I'm not sure about its quality, if anyone else sees it let me know.
Thank you to swtlil-azn, RaspPunkyCS, XXAeris4rmff7XX, Water-ice and dogcollor for reviewing, keep them coming.
DarkNightAngel - Yep that was it, as for Aerith's secret that's one of the things I'm trying to do before Kh starts, I think I have a good chapter planned coming up that should tie all loose ends between them.
Clorith - Thank you and yes you really need to update soon!
lena-jade - Yes things like loose and lose always seem to get by me when I'm checking through for errors. As for Seph knowing about Cloud this chapter should have cleared it up also DarkNightAngel has the right idea.
I'll try to make the next chapter a bit longer, the only problem when they get too long is they are an absolute pain to check for errors, I learned that lesson too well from my 8000 to 11,000 word chapters in my other story.