Chapter - 11: Fall From Grace
Sephiroth turned to his sword, and with a look of utter disgust, he dropped it to the ground. Cloud was awestruck but said nothing.
The small white orb had jarred loose from Kane's cloak clasp and rolled across the ground from his prone form, towards its counterpart. The White Materia stopped a foot from the Black Materia and they both floated into the air in front of Cloud and Sephiroth. The two orbs started spinning around and around each other before finally colliding together and fusing into a lifeless gray orb.
"Sephiroth…" Cloud muttered as he slowly took one step forward.
"Y-you…you where there…" Sephiroth moved his hand down to his vest and raised it up exposing his stomach.
The scar he was looking far wasn't there.
"You stabbed me…" Suddenly he remembered the fires as they burned through the small town on the mountainside. "I started the fire…"
Cloud slowly took two more steps, his blade still at the ready. He suddenly figured out what was happening to Sephiroth, it was the same thing that happened to him when he defeated him in a duel inside his head. Sephiroth was regaining full control over his own will.
"I wanted to…become a god?" he asked himself as he looked over his shoulder at his wing.
Suddenly he screamed and he grasped his head while kneeling.
"Leave…leave me be!" he shouted.
Cloud didn't know what to do, part of him wanted to charge and finish Sephiroth off, but the other wanted to help him defeat Jenova as he himself was forced to two years previous.
Sephiroth blinked again, his eyes widening into thin catlike strips.
"NO…MOTHER!" he shouted, another blink and his eyes were normal. "CLOUD, SHES COMING!" he screamed.
Suddenly the ground shook violently; life stream arced up and wafted around at the edge of the cliff. The force had been too hard on the overhang. Without warning, the clearing cracked and plummeted for the Lifestream below, Kane's limp form went over first.
"NO!" Cloud shouted as the ground started splitting.
Whatever had been rising from below was pushed back under as the massive ledge slammed into the hole and plugged it, shutting off the tremors and restoring Midgar to relative peace.
When the dust settled, Cloud and Sephiroth stood at the new cliff tip where the old stretch of road had once been.
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"…It stopped?" Reeve's voice came garbled from the toy Cait Sith.
Vincent leaned over the rail of the Highwind and glanced at the slab where it fell into the fractured city below.
"I thought Midgar was done for this time…" Tifa admitted as she surveyed the damage.
"This is the city that just wont die." Reno sighed as he sat against the wall of the cab of the Highwind.
Cid ran down to the deck and swung the door open. "We aint out of this shit yet!" he shouted over the sudden roar of wind. "There's some pretty dark shit over the Northern Crater!"
Vincent leaned back and walked over to where Cid stood to take the binoculars in his hand. When he gazed through, he could see storm clouds, lightning, and a few tornados frenzying around to the north.
"What we had two years ago may be lost to us now two years later but, it would seem, Cloud managed to regain his strength back." Tifa began with a blank stare. "Where is he now?"
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Cloud gagged on the dust and dirt that was still settling from the near disaster. He turned back to look at Sephiroth, his sword still in hand but held gingerly at his side.
"Aeris is gone. Aeris will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry...
What about us...what are WE supposed to do? What about my pain? My
fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My fingers are burning!"
He looked back to Sephiroth, the memory still fresh in his mind. He gripped his sword tighter.
I could finish him now while he is off his guard…I could end everything here and now.
He took another step closer, Sephiroth did not seem to notice.
Would it really matter now? Would killing him fix anything? Is this vengeance…?
He was within striking range, the silver haired man was on his knees staring out at the destroyed city, his sword more then two yards away.
Is it for the children? For a memory? Or for myself?
Then he turned his head and looked at Cloud. For the first time Cloud saw the real Sephiroth, his eyes were normal and devoid of insanity. A single tear rolled down the mans face as he looked down to the destruction he had caused.
"J…Jenova…how…?"
"…Beacause you are a puppet." Cloud mouthed the words he himself had previously herd.
Sephiroth's brow furrowed questioningly.
"Jenova…uses everyone, were all just puppets in whatever sick and twisted plan it is. Kadaj, you, me…" Cloud continued. "It has to be stopped…"
Sephiroth looked north, the dark storm clouds were already heading towards Midgar.
"I…" Cloud thought a second and then started again. "…We must face her."
