A/N: The remake of IMS on request… Dedicated to Marron Everard
A metallic shrill filled the desolate air as dust clouds seemed to form with the swift movements of the two fighters that were in a head to head duel. One who had blonde spiky hair wielded a buster sword and his opponent who had shoulder length silver hair that seemed to elegantly echo his every movement. The silver haired stranger seemed to posses a rather cat-like stance, avoiding and parrying every move of the blonde.
Cloud breathed heavily from one side of the open clearing, gazing upon his opponent with clear blue eyes seeming as if he were anticipating the next move. His opponent on the other hand seemed to show no tiring at all. A small smile seemed to lace across his lips as his mako glowing green eyes seemed to look on in a mocking tone.
Shifting his weight towards his front, Cloud ran forward thrusting his blade forward in a charging motion as his opponent quickly side-stepped and grinded his double-blade against Cloud's before he twisted around Cloud and performed a side sweeping kick causing Cloud to fly into a mound of rubble in the ruins of Midgar.
How long had it been since he felt such intensity held in one battle? Or rather… one man?
The impact seemed to send shrills of pain throughout his body. Bringing his gloved hand up to his lips, he wiped away the blood coming from his mouth as he slowly disengaged himself from the rubble that melded to his form. His breathing became more rapid and hoarse, his eyes blurred in and out of conscious as he tried to steady himself for another attack, but his opponent seemed to have sheathed his dual sword and smirk victoriously before walking from the battlefield.
Stabbing the ground with his buster sword, Cloud thrust his weight upon it as he tried to steady his body that was constantly leaking energy all because of geostigma. Who was that man? Why does his fighting style relate to Sephiroth's? His mind throbbed in agony as it tried to gain consciousness only to fail miserably causing Cloud to stagger forward and fall on the ground. Slowly his vision started to fade into an endless black.
"Hey, do you think he's going to be alright?"
"Of course he is. You should give him more credit than that Tifa. He was the one that lead the final battle against the great general Sephiroth and you're questioning whether he'd be severely wounded with only a couple bruises and slits here and there?"
"Fine, fine, I'll take your word, but it's not like him to collapse after one battle either."
Cloud's mind seemed bruised and in a state of shattered thoughts. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, but he managed to shift them up slightly as he looked over to his right from where he lay to find a bright glowing fire. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, he found two of his friends seated comfortably around the fire. One was a girl that was clothed in a black with matching hair color that seemed to end five inches above her waist. The one seated opposite of her was a black man that had a mechanical arm and his face was etched with battle scars.
Squinting in order to see past the flames, he found Marlene and another friend of his, Setsuna, who had green eyes that seemed to contrast with her pale skin and long black hair that normally reached past her waist, but at the moment it was tied up loosely in a bun held by a slender piece of wood. Her face was framed by the dangling raven black hair that seemed to escape its prison and only seemed to enhance her features. He didn't know why, but she seemed to remind him a lot of Aeris even though they looked nothing alike.
"Well looks like Cloud woke up." Tifa smiled pleasantly with eyes that echoed her emotions of relief.
"See! What did I tell ya?" Barret smiled in confidence.
"CLOUD!" Marlene stood up from her sitting place beside Setsuna as she ran over to the blonde to embrace him warmly with her tiny arms. Cloud smiled as he returned the gesture before they broke apart. "Why were you late?" A pout seemed to form on Marlene's face, her hands never releasing their grasp from Cloud.
"Marlene, why don't you go with Setsuna outside for a night stroll before turning in okay? We need to discuss grown-up matters right now okay?" A warm smile formed on Tifa's face as Marlene quickly nodded and took Setsuna by the hand to lead her out while she mentioned some things about Midgar's night sky.
Tifa looked after them before coming back to discussing the matters at present. "Cloud… What exactly happened to you out there? We found you lying near the outskirts of Midgar tattered and bruised," her eyes had been looking towards the fire trying to hide her emotions, but when she looked over at Cloud as she finished her sentence, he could see as plain as day, how much worry he had caused her.
"Yeah Cloud, all I gotta say is that whoever you were against must've been a real threat otherwise I might jus call you a wuss," Barret's warm laughter filled the quiet surroundings of the small Church they had decided on meeting each other that day in order to pay respects to the catastrophe that took place exactly two years ago.
His mind slowly mauled over the question slowly as he moved his gaze over to the fire, he couldn't put it into words what had happened to him earlier that day, but he knew he couldn't just let it pass by from their conversation. "I ran into man that had short silver hair that ran to his shoulders and his eyes… his eyes were like Sephiroth's… cold, metallic, and cat-like, but at the same time… they weren't his…" Cloud took his time to allow his words to sink in and for his mind to form words in order to describe what took place, "We fought each other and… I've never felt so alive as I did at that moment or so scared of loosing my life… He fought like Sephiroth… fast, agile, and yet he wasn't him…"
Barret stared at his friend with a face with pure confusion, "What do you mean by 'like Sephiroth but not'?"
"Exactly what I said," Cloud replied coolly with his gaze transfixed on the fire before him.
"Was he alone?" Tifa interjected into Cloud's deep thoughts.
Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the stone wall that he was situated under, "No… There were two more… They all hold resemblances to Sephiroth, but they had their differences as well. One had long silver hair, about three to four inches past his shoulders, the other had really short silver hair that was gelled back supposedly, but I didn't have a good view of them either."
Her eyes were intent on Cloud's figure as she continued her questioning, "Do you suppose they were clones?"
"If they had been clones, wouldn't you think that they would've been just slightly a little, you know, insane? I mean all the ones we met before turned out like that and I don't see how these are any exceptions," was Barret's cool reply. A sense of annoyance was laced in with his tone as well. How could an enemy of theirs so long passed still contain remnants in this world and even if so… how were they still functioning the way they were?
"Isn't the sky pretty?" The stars reflected back into her brown eyes as she gazed upwards into the heavenly bodies that hung overhead.
Setsuna watched the little girl with fondness as she looked upwards as well. She could tell Marlene was disappointed in being dismissed from their private conversation, but she was also amazed at how well she accepted her option and was able to make the most of it. "Yes it is isn't it? Ever since Midgar had been destroyed, at least most of it, we've been allowed to see the celestial bodies so much more easily now. Who would've guessed that behind those thick clouds of pollution was a beautiful heaven like this one?"
Marlene leaned against her side as she continued to look up towards the sky, slowly nodding her head in agreement. "You remind me of Aeris so much… It's hard to believe she's ever been gone ever since you came into our lives."
Looking down at the littler girl that sat beside her, her eyes softened and almost seemed as if they were about to cry. It had been two years since her friend's death but it still seemed as if the news were brought to her yesterday. She hated Hojo for flushing Aeris out just for his obsession with rare species. She and Aeris had been friends since before she could remember.
"Well look at what we have here."
Both Marlene and Setsuna looked behind them to see three silver haired men, one of which was sitting down on a piece of broken concrete, lazily leaning forward on his hand. His green eyes seemed to pierce through and peer into the very depths of their soul.
Setsuna tightened her grip on Marlene's hand as she rose from her sitting position. "What do you want?"
A/N: Apologies that it seems very different from the original but I seemed to have lost the original and I'm trying to play it all through memory and it isn't exactly working oO;;