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.
