Cloud was sitting on his bike, once again looking down at Edge City, beside the huge Buster Sword that marked Zack's grave sight. It had been three months since Kadaj and his brothers had attacked, bringing with them another threat from Sephiroth. But as last time, Cloud was there to stop him. H remembered his last words to his arch rival, and they brought a smile to his lips.
"Please stay quietly in my memories."
It was Sephiroth's reply that made his smile vanish as soon as it had appeared.
"I will never remain just a memory."
Cloud let out a soft sigh and continued to look down at Edge City.
"Will it ever be over?" he asked of no one in particular, "Will I always have to face the dangers of this world?"
He didn't expect a reply, and none came, but it would have been nice to hear her voice again. She had been a lot of help in the battle against Kadja's summoned spell, and had helped him to get over himself when he was feeling down, guilty for what had happened to her.
He looked down at the rusted sword and run his hand over the handle, feeling the blade that he had once used filled him with memories, some he didn't want, others he wanted to keep forever. He could remember Zack and how he protected him against the ShinRa soldiers outside of Nibelheim, but then he remembered being ambushed just outside of Midgar and how the ShinRa had continuously shot him, even after he was dead.
The ShinRa were nearly nothing compared to what they used to be. They had no hold over the people anymore, not since Rufus nearly got himself killed by the Weapon's attack. Weapon. The creatures that caused havoc across the globe just before Sephiroth was awakened. He remembered them all.
Sapphire Weapon, he might not have seen it but he had heard the tails from his friends. How it had almost destroyed Junion and how the Sister Ray had managed to kill it just before it struck.
Ultima Weapon. How could he forget that. It was the reason he finally came to grips with the fact that he had been living a lie. When the town of Mideel was destroyed, he had been suffering from Mako poisoning and him and Tifa had fallen into the life stream. He knew he wouldn't of been able to outrun it for long, but his past had caught up with him quicker then he wanted it to. And Ultima Waepon was the reason.
Emerald Weapon. He didn't know much about it other then the fact that it resided under the water. Every time he went down to the Underwater reactor now, he would see the remains of the once powerful creature. He had almost never survived the attack but it was with the use of Materia that he had done so.
Diamond Weapon. That was the reason that ShinRa had been burnt to nothing and why Rufus had nearly gotten killed. It had eventually been destroyed when the Sister Ray was fired towards the North Crater to dispose of the shield.
Ruby Weapon. How could anyone who had ever faced that red monster ever forget it. Cloud remembered it being one of the worst fights he had ever been involved in. the power of those tentacle like arms that it would plunge it the ground and attack from behind. It still gave him nightmares.
And Chaos Weapon. The forth form that proved the Vincent Valentine was more then human. He didn't actually know very much about it, but yet again he didn't know a lot about Vincent.
While he was thinking about everything, he was unaware of his silent visitor behind him. Slowly he had crept up but at the last moment he made a mistake. Cloud spun out of his bike seat and draw his sword, swinging it in a downward motion to block of the attack. His weapon was now crossed with that of the attacker. Reno.
"One day," the Turk said, "One day I'll manage to get close enough to actually strike you."
"Probably when I'm dead," replied Cloud as he placed his sword back into it's scabbard, "What do you want, Reno?"
"I just wanted to say hello is all." replied Reno and he lowered his metal pole.
"You a terrible liar Reno. At least you are to me."
"O.K you got me." Reno had finally given up the deception, "Tifa asked me to look for you. She said you have a visitor back at the new 7th Heaven."
"You tried to deceive me for that?" Cloud looked outraged.
"I was hoping if I prolonged the news we could spar for a while."
"Maybe another time," Cloud didn't sound to promising as he started his bike up and rode off into the distance, leaving Reno alone beside the rusted sword.
"You could have at least said thank you!" he cried out after the cloud of dust that was the trail left behind by the bike.