Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, the characters, locations and so on and so forth. So don't sue me, okay?

Summary: They all hailed him as a hero. The youngest ever to make it to the post of General and the most brilliant. But who was the man really? From the eyes of those who knew him before the crisis.

A Word From The Author: 28/2/05…Lo, I'm back again to finish what I started. It's time to say goodbye to the Chronicles, though I may continue it after TIAL. Presenting to you, folks, the fifth and final installment, starring…(drumroll is heard in the distance) a spiky-haired someone…yup, it's Cloud Strife, and non yaoi, okay? The thought of such a relationship traumatizes me…no offense to yaoi-friendly people. You're entitled to your opinions. Dedicated to Cloud-lovers who are reading this. I myself think he's okay. Not so likable (he killed Sephy!) but not so hatred-inspiring either. Ahhh well, just read it.

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Cloud.

In the heart of the Northern Crater I stare into Sephiroth's eyes. His smile, mocking, derisive, his glowing green orbs a window for the female devil sprung forth from a dormant seed in his mind. Seeing him here, inches away, brings back a torrent of memories…

…Sephiroth. When I was young he was my idol. I looked up to him; I even dreamt of becoming him. Keeping in mind the twisted monster I now face, the very thought now sickens me and fills me with a mixture of revulsion and pity, but that was how it was. Growing up, a virtual, unwanted nobody in Nibelheim, all I can say was that I wanted to be somebody. I wanted my peers to respect me, recognize the worth and potential I just knew was inside me. Sounds kinda egoistic, huh, but that was the kid, a sadly immature kid, I used to be.

So, I signed up for SOLDIER, full of hope and expectations, and they were all crushed when I was told with brutal honesty that I just wasn't strong enough. But I still hung around as an MP, because there was no way I was going to slink back to Nibelheim after boasting shamelessly to everyone of what a mighty warrior I was going to become. That was when I met Sephiroth…the General. Even now I still feel a hint of my childish admiration whenever I think of him. The mere sight of him forcibly humbled me, and I found myself wondering how I could have possibly entertained thoughts of hoping to be someone as worthy as him. He was at the peak of his career then, an enigma wrapped in a cloak of power and mystery, and everyone wanted to touch it and worship it. He was ShinRa's symbol, a representative of the power they wielded. Half the SOLDIERs, even some of the veteran ones, would tell you readily that part of the reason they had joined in the first place was because of their General.

Funny. Even though Sephiroth no longer has any claim to that title, I can't help calling him that. It goes together with his name. General Sephiroth…it just bespeaks his military might and his own political influence so well.

I was in awe. Who wouldn't be, who had seen him fight? I loved the allure of the mystery he presented; we were all drawn to him, too blinded by his aura to see the man beneath until it was too late. Think about it. The General is…was…a man known for his iron control, he couldn't just have broken down at once in Nibelheim just like that. No…how long had he been corroding from the inside, plagued by self-doubt and questions with no answers? How long had he suffered in silence while around him his admirers gathered in flocks, unseeing, and unhearing, his mental screams of anguish?

Tifa doesn't think like that, I know. She hates Sephiroth with a passion so deep it has blinded her. True, the General isn't perfect, I know that now. But he doesn't deserve to be hated like this either. He had a lot of problems…I might have thought like Tifa too, but I suspect the sliver of Zack lodged in my consciousness has had a lot of say in my feelings towards Sephiroth. Sometimes, when I feel tired, or just drifting off to sleep, I recall flashes of memories that aren't mine, a scrap of conversation, a precious smile, exchanged between two close friends, flashes of color and places I've never been yet know so well. The stories that Zack had told me that fateful day in the yellow pickup deep in some dusty level of my brain, half-forgotten, yet so powerfully remembered, that never fails to inspire both sadness and horror within me whenever the ill-fated General comes to mind…

And the last, terrible look in Sephiroth's eyes as I stab him through the heart in a powerful stroke. An expression of dark, alien rage distorts the familiar features, boiling the marrow within my bones. I quail involuntarily, then his features slack, the peace he had never enjoyed in life now etched on his face in death. With his blood spattered on my hands, I can't resist steeping forward, Zack rising to the fore in a surge of powerful emotion. I sigh softly, a sigh constructed of half-remembered dreams and vague, foreign memories, "Seph…"

He smiles. It sends relief singing through my veins. He is back! He mouths, "Zack," in silent reply. As I drop my sword and hold my hands out towards him in a final, valiant gesture, he disintegrates, scattering into red particles that race across the black eternity of the dream world…

They rise, into the sky, shining with a clear, silver light that burns my eyelids and awes me with its beauty…they look like stars…

Then they are stars, and Tifa is grabbing my hand, her wine-red eyes steady and reassuring, pulling me to safety as the world explodes around me. I find it within my heart to say goodbye to the grave of my worst enemy…my friend…

Goodbye.

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Author's Ending Note: AND IT IS COMPLETE! YES! Sorry, I know Cloud's chapter is a bit short, but I hope you find it satisfactory, characterization, plot accuracy, everything. I thought Cloud was a bit OOC during this…? Because during the game he seemed to me a down-to-earth, frank speaking sort of guy, not the type who spouts out all the poetic rubbish my Cloud is. Ah, you, as readers, have the final say. Review, please?

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Thanks to:

meowwl: Indeed. Have you posted this story anywhere else in the net? I checked your profile, and it's empty. Or are you going to polish it up first before posting it? As for your OC, I would give him full steam ahead and the green light! Down with Hojo! Yeah! As for Rufus, no, I didn't know that, thanks for telling me. I thought when Kadaj called him 'The President', it was just a title.

Chibi Taryn Demon: Same for your story, Reflect The Sky…when are you going to update? I can't wait for the next chapter when Cloud and Sephiroth meet face to face again! And the old team…and how did you-know-who get in the Promised Land!

lunafrak: Yeah, her sacrifice is one of the Great Moments of FFVII, it really made an enormous impact. I doubt there would be so many Aeris fans if she hadn't died. I mean, her death gave life, didn't it…? Just like she did when she was alive…it really underscored Aeris' generous and unselfish nature so poignantly.

Cendrillo: I always had mixed feelings about Rufus. When you first meet him in the game, you get a pretty impressive, though blurry, image of him standing there, so damn cool in his white coat. Then he took charge in the Northern Crater when the Weapons awoke…and promptly sentenced Tifa to death. Former, good, latter, boo. Well…I guess this makes you ask yourself how you can like a guy who conjured up a massive meteor to destroy an entire Planet? In comparison, Rufus is practically a martyr. And as for your feelings on Hojo…okay, I'll give him this, he's definitely brilliant, the very epitome of a scientist in the fact that he has managed to suppress his feelings so they don't stop him from reaching his true potential. But that's all the praise I'll allow. I still think he's a cold bastard.

Nebuchadnezzar: I'm proud of me too. Great minds think alike, no:)

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