A/N: Just a small dumb Sefikura mini-fic. Thing. I have a lot of little extra snippets of things than I'm way behind on cross-posting anywhere. orz
Sephiroth's words hung heavily in the silence, poison-tipped barbs aimed precisely for Cloud's heart. You weren't strong enough to save Zack. You weren't strong enough to save Aerith. Why do you think you're so much stronger now, pet?
"I don't need you," Cloud said. Softly, a realisation.
Sephiroth laughed, reaching a hand up to cup Cloud's cheek. Cloud grabbed his wrist before he could make contact and pinned it down to the kitchen counter instead.
"I don't need you."
"Yet you're still here, my Cloud," Sephiroth replied off-handedly. He made an attempt to shake Cloud off, but Cloud didn't let go so easily.
Instead, to Sephiroth's surprise, Cloud stood and pushed Sephiroth back until he hit the wall, trapping him there with his smaller form. Much like what Sephiroth so often did to Cloud; curious that this time it was in reverse.
Cloud was still there. He'd always been there, ever since he was an infantryman with a damn crush. He'd been there after Sephiroth burned his hometown to the ground, after all the manipulation and lies and hurt. He'd been there when Sephiroth returned again, his eyes human instead of those cat-like slits for pupils, free of Jenova's influence.
"I'm here because I love you, even when you're being a complete jerk. But I don't need you."
Sephiroth frowned. He tried to push away, but Cloud only shifted his grip to keep Sephiroth held in place. Somewhere along the way, between their battles, Cloud had become the stronger of the two of them.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"I used to think… I wouldn't survive without you. We were two halves of a whole, and without you I'd lost my better half, everything good about me. I'd crawl on my knees to you, begging for you to take me just so I'd feel some sick kind of validation. But guess what, Sephiroth?"
Cloud tangled a hand into Sephiroth's hair, tugging on it. He was still too lost in his own realisation to truly harm Sephiroth, nor did he want to, but it was just enough to hold Sephiroth's attention.
Cloud grazed his lips across the pale skin of Sephiroth's throat, sighing.
"I think I can be whole on my own now. If you weren't around… I'd miss you. But I'd survive, I'd move on. I could be perfectly happy without you."
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "Then why are you still here?" he questioned viciously. Surely Cloud wasn't breaking up with him?
"Because I can be happy with you too." Cloud let Sephiroth go, returning to perch on the stool at the kitchen counter, as if nothing had even happened.
His serenity was the most infuriating thing Sephiroth had ever encountered.
"I'm tired," Cloud added suddenly. "Haven't we done enough fighting?"
"You love sparring," Sephiroth said, almost petulantly.
"You of all people should know that's not the same thing. I'm tired of arguments, of you trying to manipulate me still. I just realised… I don't have to put up with it."
"You are… 'breaking up' with me?"
And Cloud had the audacity to laugh. Maybe there was a slight note of bitterness to it. "I don't know. I'm done with being two halves, dependant on each other. But, if we were both whole in ourselves, and just happened to share our lives… that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Can you accept that and stop being such a jackass?"
Sephiroth growled low in the back of his throat. "I do not understand what you're asking of me."
"Well, for a start, stop specifically trying to hurt me with your insults. 'You weren't good enough to save Aerith'? Fucking low. And trying to manipulate me – you don't even have Jenova to blame that shit on now."
Silence.
"Maybe I just want a goddamn healthy relationship for once."
Still Sephiroth said nothing. What was there to say? He didn't know if such a thing was possible for either of them. They were broken and fucked up and belonged together. Except, apparently, Cloud had decided he wasn't so broken anymore after all.
It seemed Sephiroth needed Cloud more than Cloud needed him, and anything he did to stop Cloud leaving would only be taken as more evidence against him.
He hated being trapped.
"I need some space," Cloud said, letting his breath out in a sigh. "I'm going to take Fenrir for a ride. Don't wait up for me."
Cloud left his mug of coffee half finished on the counter. Sephiroth didn't move until long after it had gone cold.
