They were closing in on Cosmo Canyon. Cloud was eager to meet Nanaki so they pushed further than usual. They were just about to enter the canyons when the blond felt pain in his chest.
"Cloud?" Vincent noticed.
The blond didn't have time to say anything before his body collapsed. The last he felt before losing consciousness was his friend catching his fall. It all happened too fast for the panic to take full swing on either of them.
Cloud opened his eyes just in time to see Sephiroth collapsing. He rushed to catch him. The blond held the general in his lap.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Genesis tricked me..." Sephiroth struggled with words.
The flask?
"Damn it. I told him you were off limits!" Cloud snarled. His anger boiled. Absent-mindedly one of his hands gripped silver hair.
The blond glanced around. There was nothing but white. He envisioned flowers. And just like the dreams the scenery changed. All around them were endless flowers.
"Aerith!" Cloud shouted. He hated resorting to this. But they needed her help.
Silence.
"Shit." The blond cursed as pain coursing through him intensified.
"Cloud..." Sephiroth tasted fear. He sensed Cloud panicking, and it spread to him like a domino effect.
"It's okay. Let me figure this out." Cloud assured as he glanced around.
They both felt a lurching as they were pulled from the waking world. There was green all around them, lighting up the darkness. It was a drastic change of whiteness and endless flowers that they blinked a few times to adjust.
Cloud felt the presence first. He glanced up and gasped. Sephiroth followed his gaze and was equally in awe. There, floating before them was the Goddess that Genesis spoke so fondly of.
It had to be her. There was no other being of lore that came to mind. She stared down at them. Silently judging.
It was not meant to be this way. And thus it has come to this.
"Can you save him?" Cloud asked.
She nods, and relief flooded them both.
However, he might start remembering. Are you sure it is a risk you wish to take?
Sephiroth shifted his gaze to Cloud.
"Yes. Even if he remembers, he deserves a chance." There was no hesitation in his answer. Determination can be seen in his eyes.
Very well. Remember this is your choice, Chosen One.
A light engulfed Sephiroth. It was so bright he could still see with his eyes closed. In the embrace the pain subsided. It was in this moment he sensed a presence he hadn't known was there in his head leave.
Sephiroth didn't have time to process when memories flooded him all at once. His self discovery in Nibelheim that lead to the village's destruction. His defeat in the hands of both Zack and Cloud.
He came back through Jenova's insistence. Once again he was defeated. This time by Cloud and his rag tag group of friends. A third time he emerged from the dead. Cloud was the only one to challenge him and come out on top.
Then Sephiroth discovered a means to mess with time. He attempted to go back, back to the time when Cloud began his travels with Avalanche. And he built the connection. This connection grew stronger until eventually it could never be cut.
Sephiroth had tried to use it to his advantage. Only the damage of messing with time had taken place. Cloud still refused him, even if his body wanted to obey. His heart and soul fought until the bitter end until that time line was erased.
As his body healed they left the Lifestream. They came crashing into their dreamland. Cloud continued to hold Sephiroth in his lap. When their eyes met the realization hit them both at once.
"You vouched for me...why?" Sephiroth was at a loss.
The Goddess had a chance to cut the bond. This connection that served as a double edge sword. And yet Cloud chose to keep it.
"I made a promise." Cloud stated, expression guarded.
"...You really do cherish everything." Sephiroth commented.
"...Guess this means you won't be a memory." The blond relaxed. "How are you feeling?"
"Worse than those times you killed me."
"That was the cure for Geostigma that Genesis gave you. I can imagine it's worse."
"So...this connection between us."
"If one of us dies, then the other falls, too." Cloud confirmed.
"So what you did just now..." Sephiroth trailed off. No, he knew it was a pointless question. Cloud was never that selfish.
"Was more for you than myself. I made a promise to her." The blond remained firm.
"Who...?" Sephiroth furrowed his eyebrows.
The scenery changed. They were inside a cave. Before them were mako pools and crystals. The biggest of them was a crystal pillar with a woman inside. Sephiroth slowly stood as he studied her.
"Is she my real mother?" Sephiroth knew it was so. Some of his facial features came from her. He could recognize himself from her.
"Yes. But I'm not the one to ask for the full history. That right is to Vincent." Cloud informed.
"...The gunslinger?" Sephiroth asked when he had to connect a face to the name.
"He's traveling with me right now. Whether he will be ready to speak of her, I'm not sure. But I can relay that you now know her face." Cloud informed.
"...What was her name?"
"Lucrecia Cresent, if my memory serves."
"Where is she located?" Sephiroth turned to face the blond.
"I'm not sure I'm the right person to tell you."
"...Vincent? Why is he involved at all?" Sephiroth felt a tug of a frown.
"In a way he witnessed it all. Enough of it to better explain your heritage. I only know the bare minimum. You know it's not in my nature to ask questions of a painful past." Cloud crossed his arms.
He was getting nervous. Sephiroth sensed it. The blond was speculating how he would react.
"Where can we meet, so I can ask him in person." Sephiroth needed these answers.
"Where I'm currently going I won't be staying for more than a day. But if you wish, I can lure Genesis to help me take out a reactor. Then you can follow through with sightings of him to come to us. Whether he remains alive after what he did is up to you."
"You want him dead." Sephiroth knew it so.
"Course I do. But it's you he tricked." Cloud sighed, irritation showing. He didn't like this, leaving it up to Sephiroth, but he was still a warrior of honor.
"For now, no. Not until I address him myself. He is still one of the few I can call a friend." Sephiroth saw the anger flash in Cloud's expression. "In a way what be did was a blessing. I no longer feel any connection with Jenova. I felt her presence leave as I laid dying in your arms."
"...Maybe it was meant to happen." Cloud theorized.
"How?" The general pondered.
"I was given three flasks. Which means the last one is for someone else."
"Perhaps Angeal? I do recall he suffered the same as Genesis. However he perished at the hands of Zack." Sephiroth recalled that very bitter memory.
"Maybe." Cloud didn't recognize the name.
"If it's possible, can I bring him with me to meet you?" Sephiroth had a feeling they would get along. And maybe with Angeal around then Genesis won't be so temperamental.
"I suppose. I don't like the idea of so many of us together in one place. Shinra has eyes." Cloud supposed if it meant so much to the general then he would compromise.
"He's good at stealth. Something Zack was never good at." Sephiroth allowed a smirk.
"Guess I'll have to take your word for it." Cloud couldn't help but stare. He was familiar with the smirks.
What he wasn't familiar with was the playfulness in those eyes. It was really beginning to hit him that Sephiroth changed. Standing before him was Sephiroth as his own person.
Sephiroth noticed the staring. And without even thinking he approached the blond until they were face to face. Cloud blinked, but otherwise didn't speak up.
Taking that as a sign Sephiroth raised his hand to a pale cheek. They both felt a jolt course between them. Cloud remained calm on the outside. However Sephiroth could still read the emotions in his eyes.
"I remember everything. Including when I messed with time." Sephiroth stared. "Do you remember?"
"...Not entirely." Cloud admitted.
"I acknowledged a desire for you. One that seems to grow even now."
The blond looked away. His eyes spoke volumes where his expression remained guarded despite the pink on his cheeks. There was confusion, irritation and budding desire all mixed in.
"I believe I still owe you an embarrassing fact about myself." Sephiroth had something in mind.
"Well, I'm all ears." Cloud relaxed, looking up at the general with some growing curiosity. His expression was still guarded however.
"I've never kissed anyone."
Silence as the blond processed that fact.
"...Are you a - " Cloud tilted his head.
"On that account, no. In the beginning of my Soldier career I did have a friend's with benefits situation. However, it never went further. Thus we never shared a kiss." Sephiroth studied the blond.
"...And is it still going on or did it end?"
Was that jealousy Sephiroth was reading in the blond? He couldn't help a wry smirk. Cloud had a tug of a frown and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Like all things it came to an end." Sephiroth spoke truth.
"Hmph. I don't see how that's anything in comparison to wearing a dress, make up and all." Cloud ran a hand through his hair. "But, I don't mind playing more games to learn about each other."
"Even if it feels like I know you from the inside out?" Sephiroth couldn't help it, and he enjoyed watching the pink in Cloud's cheeks.
"You don't know everything. Besides, I hardly know much of you outside of the whole Jenova madness. Is she really gone from you?" Cloud studied the general.
"Will it help if I bare my mind to you?" Without waiting for an answer Sephiroth leaned their foreheads together. Cloud gasped as their minds touched.
It was as intimate as a kiss, if not more. Their bodies called for each other and without even realizing they were closer. All the while Cloud sensed no malice, no other mind present within Sephiroth's.
Slowly they pulled away. It proved to be difficult when neither wanted to. Nothing needed to be said between them.