Fallen Angels, Dissipating Light

A Tokyo Kitty Production

Disclaimer: looks around not mine...shoo all you evil lawyers.

A/N: Welcome to chapter 4 everyone. I'm proud of where this has come and I hope to be proud of where it's going...but you never know...Anyway, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! Fallen Angels gains a plot! Whoohoo! You have no idea how difficult it is for me to create cohesive plots...I still don't like this one much...Oh well, give me your opinion by reviewing. It's always nice to feed the writer.

Cloud woke the next morning early as usual. It was just ingrained into him, he could never wake up any later. But, his body had adjusted to the lack of sleep that he got on a daily basis.

He looked over at Vincent's sleeping frame, his long raven hair hiding his face. A placid look graced his face, the emotion of sleep. Cloud brushed the hair lovingly from Vincent's face. It fell back into place, Vincent stirred slightly, but did not wake.

'What possessed me to do what I did last night?' Cloud asked himself. 'He's Sephiroth's father, not Sephiroth himself.' Cloud pulled on his normal attire and walked out of the room then down the old stairs into the main room.

'He went along with it. It's not your fault," his conscience added. Cloud's conscience had always been a little out of whack.

'That's not a good reason... Why can't I ever do anything right? Everything I do just makes more problems.' Cloud walked out of the mansion into the deserted streets.

He didn't head for the stables though, instead he walked up the path leading to Mt. Nibel. The road was dangerous, but a good place to sit because it was always quiet. It reminded him of when he had been a child and they had dared each other to walk as far as they would on the path. He climbed the mountains heading toward Mt. Nibel far in the distance. As he trekked along the rugged terrain he heard something near him. He pulled out the Buster Blade, eyes darting around to trace the origin of the sound.

'Moving feet...that isn't a monster...the only thing around here is dragons...' Cloud thought focusing to the right behind some rocks where he had identified the sound to be. Holding his sword out he stepped forward slowly approaching the stones. He leaned up against one of the larger ones. 'One...two...'

"Three!" He jumoed around the other side of the rock about to charge at the unknown thing. When he saw what was there he nearly fell backwards.

Blood...covered in blood that made a long, dripping path from where it had come. Now laying face down on the black stones. Hair caked in mud and his own blood. Laying lifeless, was Sephiroth.

'No...way...' Cloud thought dropping the Buster Blade in total surprise. 'Alive...he's alive? How?' Cloud thought rushing to his side turning the unconscious man on his back. He looked over the man, noting the deep wounds that dug into his flesh. Yes, it was Sephiroth, but how? And where had he gotten those wounds? Two years after a fight the wounds of a man guessed dead wouldn't still be open, would they? But, that wasn't what mattered.

'I have to get him back to the mansion.' Cloud thought picking the taller man up to carry him in his arms. 'I don't care what Vincent, or what anyone else will think. He needs my help.' Cloud thought running back down the mountain path as quickly as one could carrying someone.

"Cloud? Where did you-" Vincent said poking his head out of the kitchen, a dish in hand that he had been drying. The dish fell to the floor with a high pitched shattering noise when he saw who the blonde was carrying. Cloud carried him over to a dusty couch putting Sephiroth down on it.

"My God..." Vincent said stepping over the broken plate running to stand beside Cloud. "It, it can't be..."

"Do you have any bandages? Maybe a Cure Materia? His wounds are deep, they need to be cleaned soon or else they will get infected." Cloud said, working on undoing the clasps to Sephiroth's coat to be able to wrap them.

'So dream like...' Vincent thought then realized Cloud had asked him a question. "oh...yes, I think there's a first aid kit in that drawer over there." He went to the place he had pointed out finding the box and giving it to Cloud.

"I have a Cure Materia upstairs if it's still there." He ran from Cloud's side, up the stairs into one of the rooms on the left side of the stairs. He went to a dresser systematically pulling out each drawer. A few drawers down he discover a small black box in the back. He opened the box looking down at the Cure Materia inside. He picked it up. It glowed a faint green in his hand. He clenched his fist around the sphere heading downstairs again.

"Here," he handed the Materia to Cloud who had just finished cleaning the wounds. Cloud held it over Sephiroth's body the Materia reacting, sending green rays to trace over his wounds disappearing into them. Vincent then helped Cloud to bandage the wounds.

"Will you help me carry him upstairs?" Cloud asked turning to the raven haired man. Vincent knew the look in Cloud's eyes. A look of need, a cry for help. Yes, he knew it quite well.

'Love...I was right...that's how Cloud knew about Sephiroth's scars.' Vincent nodded, helping Cloud to lift Sephiroth off the couch and carry him up the stairs. After setting him down, Cloud rummaged through the kitchen trying to find a cloth and a bowl. Filling it with water he ran back upstairs, wetting the towel with the water then placing it on his forehead.

Vincent still stood next to the bed in his own little world. A lot had changed just from last night when Cloud appeared at his door. Now he was out in daylight, looking over at Cloud who fussed over a man he thought had been dead for years. The whole idea that Sephiroth had endured after Meteor and was now here, in Shinra Mansion, was hard to believe. Everything felt like part of a dream.

"I'm going downstairs alright Cloud?...Cloud?" The blonde didn't answer. He sat as if frozen by the cold of the Great Glacier, he was glued to Sephiroth's side.

"Hmmm?" Cloud said finally noticing it had been directed at him, "Oh, okay..." Cloud gave him a genuine smile. Vincent nodded, departing from the room in his usual silence.

'Alive...he's alive...' was all Cloud could think about. The thought in itself was exhilarating. Cloud put his head to the man's chest. A faint beating could be heard, faint but there all the same. 'I knew they were all wrong...I always believed you had a heart.'

Vincent came into the room a while later to find Cloud fast asleep on the General's chest. It was only nearly half past three in the afternoon yet Vincent could tell the blonde would most likely sleep all night too. Vincent smiled affectionately running his good hand through Cloud's unruly bangs. The blonde didn't move an inch so Vincent decided to go back downstairs.

He sat down on the couch, a huge cloud of dust coming up that made him cough and wheeze. 'I don't think Cloud will be leaving for awhile. Maybe I should clean up so we don't all die from this alarming amount of dust.' Vincent mused looking for a closet that might hold some type of broom and other cleaning materials.

'Looks like things are going to stay this way...you were right dear Lucrecia, your son was too strong to die.'

FLASHBACK: NIBELHEIM, 28 YEARS AGO

"No! NO! I don't wanna! Stop it! Make them go away! Don't go...don't go..." He screamed hanging onto Vincent's pant leg for dear life.

"Ssh...it's okay...remember; anything you can live through will only make you stronger," Vincent smiled pulling the tiny hands off of him squeezing them lightly.

"No...you're wrong...what if-what if you DON'T make it..."

"Everything will be alright. I'll see you again...You be good okay? Be strong, your mother would want that...Sephiroth," Vincent whispered letting himself be dragged away by scientists that locked the door once they had entered.

"My mother?" A tear fell down his cheek, turning into silent sobs as he looked at the daunting iron door that Vincent, his mentor, had disappeared behind.

"Why do you cry boy?" A voice came from behind him. Sephiroth turned quickly, looking up into cynical eyes hidden behind thick glasses.

"Who is Mama? Who is Papa?" He asked drying the tears from hi eyes.

"You want to know? Is this what you want?" Hojo smirked. Sephiroth feared the tall lanky man and took a step back.

"Yes! Please! Tell me." He was on the verge of tears again. Hojo advanced on him so Sephiroth took a step back until he finaly backed into the iron door.

"Fine then," Hojo said crouching to the three-year-old's level, "You have no true father but, your mother is Jenova..."

END FLASHBACK

Jenova...Jenova...Jenova...

Cloud woke up with a start, he could hear the voice fading away, echoing in the deafening silence. He'd thought those voices had stopped after Meteor. it surprised him that he would hear them now. He looked out the window surprised to see the stars in the sky.

The chilled air flooded in through the open window making the ancient, black curtains billow in the light breeze. 'It's dark out...when did it become night?' Cloud looked over at the window then at Sephiroth's still sleeping form. he brushed the long strands of silver hair lovingly then got up to stretch his cramped legs.

He walked over to the open window the cool wind piercing his skin like thousands of tiny needles. Shrugging, he climbed out of the window onto the roof. e sat on the top of it gazing into the night sky, the stars covering the sky with a blanket of light, the moon shedding dull light on the deserted city beneath him.

'I remember that voice in my head...it kept telling me: "your fate has already been preordained...give in...there is no stopping it...because you...are a puppet." But, if there's one thing that today has taught me, it's that fate isn't written in stone. Everything can change. I guess it doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Because, that too will eventually change.'

A/N: It's finished! That took absolute ages. I might end up starting another fic now. I was planning something with my new obsession Final Fantasy X. Since I figure that Auron left his fiancé to follow Braska and become his guardian I thought they'd be good together. Plus, Tidus goes so well with Yuna, Wakka is too religious to be gay so that leaves Auron. But, I won't write it for a while. This is my epic fic and forgive the chapters for being so slow to come out. I do know what I'm doing, I just have to put this one down ever so often. So expect lots of random stories along the way. If you get fed up with this, please don't leave me, just read some of my other mindless drivel. I'll leave comments on how this one's going.