Cloud grasped Kinto's feathers tightly as they sped up a rise near the City of the Ancients. His new-found armor glinted sharply in the dying sunlight. He looked back upon the stone settlement and shook his head, closing his eyes.
"Tifa..."
Then he and the chocobo were speeding across the ocean to the continent which held Midgar. He passed Kalm swiftly and drew upon the barren lands surrounding the ancient techno-city. Something was suddenly running next to him. He blinked and looked down.
"Red!"
"I have no name, unless you intend to bestow one upon me."
"You're the clone–Kenya!"
"As you wish."
"I'm not Damien, I hope you realize–"
"I understand what I am doing, BahamutZERO."
"What did you call me?"
They hit the field just beyond the gully leading to the Chocobo grounds. Kinto skidded to a stop, almost sending Cloud flying over its head. He slipped off its back, and the bird instantly turned and took off.
"Not very brave, is it?"
Cloud and Kenya glanced to the side. Damien walked over to them, holding a weapon. Cloud pulled out his own sword, but recognized the one in his clone's hand and gasped.
"Cid's lance! You–"
"Cloud!"
He turned. Cid and Red XIII raced up from his left, Cid looking banged up, but not too severely wounded. Red and his clone exchanged glances, then both advanced toward Damien.
"Nice armor, Kid!" Cid huffed.
"Great to have another ally," the orange-red animal growled.
"I don't approve of his actions–otherwise, you wouldn't find me here," the duplicate snarled.
"Hey," Cid panted, "who cares right now, huh!"

"Yes, who really cares?" Damien smiled, clenching his fist around the red handle of the double-sided lance. With a creak, the metal snapped in half like a twig.
"Well, how do ya like that!" Cid spat, his eyebrow twitching in anger.
"Don't lose it, Cid," Cloud cautioned, "that's what he wants you to do."
"Lost it!" the older man screamed, suddenly casting a Fire3 attack. Damien wrinkled his nose, brushing the ravaging flames aside and Cloud quickly felt a surge of feverish heat. He shook his head. Damien grinned and pulled out the Ultima Sword. He slowly drew the blade up and lined it against his forearm. With a grin, he pressed the tip across his flesh. Cloud clenched his teeth and Red glanced up in shock as a line of bright red blood ran down his friend's forearm.
"This clone..."
"You didn't figure it out yet?" Kenya snorted. "Damien is the reincarnation of evil which resided with in the boy. They are one person."
"Then Tifa's clone–" Cid blinked.
"Wait," Cloud looked down. "What do you mean, 'reincarnation of evil'?"
"It's a long story, Cloud Strife," Damien twirled the large sword, still grinning and slowly healing his wound. Cloud felt the fresh cut on his arm fade as well.
"Tell me."
"All you need to know is that Hojo took from you what should never have been given to you in the first place," he replied.
"Taken what!" Cloud screamed.
"The essence of true evil which resided within your breast–BahamutZERO, god of beasts."
Cloud, Red XIII, and Cid looked completely abashed. Kenya merely shook his head.
"Long ago, the summons were gods, all out to fight one evil entity–the third generation Bahamut dragon..." the dark red creature started.
"And their battle caused a catastrophic shift in Gaia," Damien continued, sounding rather bored, "and to prevent the planet from crumbling, they made themselves into the ribbons of Lifestream and on occasion, reincarnate themselves into humans, blah blah blah..."
"Geez, this guy really is an #, isn't he?" Cid called in a slightly amused voice.
"I'm...evil?" Cloud lowered his eyes to his hands, which were twitching against the handle of the Ultimate Sacrifice.
"No–a being of evil lives inside of you," Kenya tried.
"Kenya, I believe it is time for you to depart our gathering," Damien raised an eyebrow. Translucent white energy rose up around him, whipping his blond bangs around his face. Red XIII growled loudly as his duplicate shrunk back in fear.
"So it's true–you killed them all."
"I'm not that bad of a person! The only one I really did kill was Hojo," Damien shrugged, feigning innocence.
"Why!" Cid cried.
"You just need to shut up," Cloud's double snapped abruptly, the energy he had gathered shooting out from his profile. Nanaki and Kenya yipped and tumbled away; Cid howled in pain, skidding back across the dirt. Cloud held up his sword and blocked the attack, glaring at Damien with cold blue eyes.
"I won't let you kill any more of my friends!"
"That's right..." Damien's sharp green orbs rested on him, "She died, didn't she? She was a waste of god's blood as well."
"What are you talking about?" Cloud never took his eyes from the other.
"She was the being which held the Phoenix God within her–the one that opposed BahamutZERO to the very end."
"Tifa...?" he let his sword fall. Damien waited until this point, then lunged forward with his synthesized blade. The crystal edge scratched harmlessly across Cloud's gold chest plate, sending up bright sparks but nothing else.