Hey! Sorry it took so long for me to update this...I blame real life, writer's block, NaNoWriMo, and the fact that another fandom absorbed me into it's clutches, demanding that I write a story for it. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this story, and once I finish my FullMetal Alchemist one, I will make updates happen faster. Seriously, I am REALLY sorry. I also updated one of my other clerith chapter fics- Piece of Me. Check it out if you want. :) Oh, and this has some fairly graphic scenes in it...more graphically implied, anyway. It's not horrible, but it is somewhat...well, yeah....
DISCLAIMER: Better than owning FF7, I am Sephiroth! Fear me! MUWHAHAHAHA!
Don't sue insane, fictional, evil, video game characters. They don't like it.
Oh, and I apologize ahead of time for the cliffhanger ending. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
Illusion of the Mind
Cloud screamed. It was a baring of his throat, tearing and wild it escaped him as he lunged at the empty space where Aerith had been moments before. His hands gripped the ground uselessly.
"Damn you, Sephiroth!" He screamed, voice coarse, feeling a salty, stinging wetness falling down his cheeks. "Damn you!" Cloud pounded his fists on the ground, his gauntlet making a ringing sound in the air.
"Why, Cloud," A cold voice resonated from the darkness. "You've never been so outspoken before."
Cloud flipped his head around, nostrils flared and pupils dilated. "AAGGGH!" He yelled, lunging for the silver-haired man a few feet away. He hit nothing.
"Honestly Cloud," Sephiroth's voice said from behind him. Cloud swiped at that image too, only to have it dissipate before he got close. The voice spoke again, this time from beside him. "You know better than that," The master of illusions said.
Cloud growled low in his throat, blue eyes almost black with their fury.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "All that darkness in your heart, and you couldn't hold her. I suppose I put too much faith in your obsession with her..." Sephiroth gave a heavy sigh, his smile sardonic. "I thought that was what you wanted, Cloud. For her to be with you forever..." His voice was lilting, taunting. "But in the end, you were too weak. I should have known."
Cloud snarled, baring his teeth like they were fangs. "You know nothing of what I want!"
Sephiroth waved a hand almost airily. "I suppose it doesn't matter."
"You manipulated me! You made sure that I saw only what you wished me to see! Making me think that she had a husband to go home to, so that I would keep her here selfishly!" Cloud's voice rose, becoming a roar.
Sephiroth snorted. "I didn't manipulate you," he sneered. "I controlled you. I always control you." Sephiroth smirked. "After all...you are just a puppet."
"No!" Cloud's voice was a howl now. "I won't let you hurt her, Sephiroth, do you hear me?!?" He lunged again.
Sephiroth raised both his eyebrows this time. "You don't have any choice in the matter. And if you did, you'd be too late. Rufus is on his way."
Cloud's face paled. "No..." He whispered, voice cracking. Sephiroth gave a cold smirk and vanished. Cloud grabbed at him again, falling to his knees, shaking. His hands griped the side of his face. "No!" he screamed.
"NOOO!"
~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~
Aerith's eyelids fluttered.
Her head swam. Sounds and smells all blended together, and for a moment she was looking at a swirl of colors. Gradually, the sounds began to make sense.
"-rith! Aerith!"
Hands were shaking her. Blinking, a name escaped her lips: "Cloud?"
The hands paused. "No...Aerith, it's us." Two worried faces came into focus; both black haired, young faces. Her friends.
"Tifa...? Yuffie...?" Aerith still felt disoriented, closing her eyes. "But...where's Cloud?" Her mind seemed to be working slowly.
"Aerith..." Tifa sounded alarmed. "Who're you talking about? Who's Cloud?"
Aerith's eyes snapped open. She sat up, nearly hitting her head against Tifa and Yuffie's. "What do you mean?" She demanded, staring at the unfamiliar surroundings. Tall, whispering plant life was around them, shrouded in shadows and darkness. "Where is he? Why isn't he here?" She stood up, scraping her knees on the dark ground.
"Cloud!" Aerith called. Her voice echoed back at her weakly- Cloud...Cloud...Cloud...
Tears pricked her eyes. "CLOUD!" She screamed, throwing her head and shoulders back, hunched on the ground. A great rumble greeted her- a roll of thunder. Aerith fell onto her hands and knees, feeling the tears slide slowly down her face. "So..." She whispered. "Was it all...a dream? Or...an...illusion?"
"Aerith?'
She looked up, as another clap of thunder reverberated in the unnaturally dark sky. Behind the noise, Aerith was almost sure that she heard a scream.
Tifa and Yuffie looked frightened. Wringing her hands together, Tifa stepped forward cautiously. "Aerith...what's- what happened? What are you talking about?"
Aerith stared at her friends for a moment, before turning her face upward to feel the gently falling rain slide down her face. "Something. Someone more than a dream." A smile lit her face, teeth flashing. "I'm sure of it."
The rain slid down her cheeks as if her skin was made of porcelain.
Her eyes flashed open and she whirled around. "Marlene..."
Tifa and Yuffie exchanged a frightened glance. "She's not here, Aerith," Yuffie said quietly. "All we found was you, unconscious on the ground."
Aerith sank to her knees, pressing her palms to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. Never before had she felt so torn. Her heart seemed to seize upon itself. It did not split two ways, make one more demanding than the other, but rather tried to go both ways at once, knowing that it was unable to. She wanted to save Cloud, but she wanted to find Marlene too. Opening her eyes, she stared at her worried friends.
"This place...nothing is as it seems. There are many...illusions here. We have to be careful. Marlene...I think she is at that castle." Aerith pointed to the dark pinnacle rising in the distance.
"Then, that's where we have to go," Tifa said quietly.
Aerith nodded, standing. "I was trapped in an illusion when you found me. But I was let go by someone. I intended to take him with me, but I was pulled out before he could grab my hand..."
"Cloud?" Yuffie guessed.
"Yes." Aerith picked up her staff, which was lying on the ground a few feet away. Her boots, which in the illusion she had taken off, were still on her feet. "So if you see him...he has blonde hair, blue eyes, and...a black wing. Please, tell him that I want him to stay if I am not with you. And tell him where I am if you know; if we are to be separated." Drawing her shoulders back, Aerith gave a brave attempt at a smile.
"Come on, let's go."
~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~
Marlene found herself moving rhythmically, a slight swishing sound in her ears.
Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that she was engulfed in a red cloth. It swirled around her, twisting and curling and almost writhing. Marlene shrank back, clutching the doll Lucrecia- only to find that it was nowhere in her grasp.
It's all right, dear one. Lucrecia whispered in her head, voice very weak. I am still here. It will be harder for me to speak with you for a while...but once you are in the castle, you won't need that doll anymore. This is Vincent, a...friend of mine. He is here to protect you.
Marlene nodded a little fearfully. "What happened?"
She felt her feet lightly touch the ground, and the redness around her swirled away. Standing before her was a tall man with midnight-colored hair, ghostly skin, and fire-red eyes. On one arm was a golden claw. A heavy red cloak- the cloth that had been spinning around her- was wrapped around his shoulders, covering the first half of his face. A red headband was tied in his long, untidy, hair. He stared down at Marlene with an expressionless face.
"Your presence here is no longer a secret," The man said, and his voice was deep, rough, and dark. "Sephiroth has been alerted to Lucrecia's actions."
Marlene stared up at him, eyes wide. "Is something bad going to happen now...?"
The man regarded her impassively. "Yes. But perhaps not to us."
Marlene gasped. "Momma-!" She was cut off by a shout. Whirling around, she saw a slightly glowing Lucrecia; staring past them, green eyes wide with fear. "Vincent, stop!" She cried, running forward. Marlene began to reach out, but was stopped as Lucrecia's weak voice rang in her mind.
That is not me child! At least, not as I am today...I told you before that if you watched, you might learn something...This is an illusion, but it is also the truth.
The oddly solid, yet faintly glowing, Lucrecia was pleading with two men. One was tall, with black hair, and red eyes. He was charging toward the other man who was much shorter, with odd nondescript hair color, and beady spectacles. He was holding a gun.
Lucrecia shrieked- "Stop!"
The gunshot rang through the air. Marlene looked away, covering her ears, tears falling down her face. The blast of the gunshot had seemed to fly through her, reverberating in her body. She turned back around, staring at the huddled form of Lucrecia, crying as she pressed her hands into a wound coming from the past Vincent's head.
The man with the spectacles stood over them with a smirk. He lightly tossed the smoking gun to the side. "Well," He said. "What would you give to save him?"
Lucrecia looked up at the man, and though there was anger in her eyes, there was a desolation- desperateness too. She didn't answer.
The man smirked again. "How about his freedom, hmm?"
Their images faded.
Marlene blinked the last bit of tears from her eyes. "I don't understand..." She whispered. "What does all of that mean...?" She appealed to the tall, dark form of Vincent. He stared at her for a moment, and then looked at the towering castle walls.
"My freedom is not my own," He said. "But unlike everything else in this castle, I am not bound to Sephiroth."
~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~
The dark, heavy, door loomed above them, menacing and gargantuan.
The paneled surface was smooth- a dark wood that bore no cracks or signs of age. Two heavy brass knockers sat upon it, glimmering dully. No one had approached them as they came to the castle- no monsters had attacked.
But they could feel them there, watching and waiting.
And a great sound had swelled toward them as the approached- low, roaring, building as they grew closer- a sound that couldn't be signally defined. It sounded of tears and blood- of strife and hate. Anger, confusion, despair. The sound of battle.
The sound of ultimate suffering.
It terrified the three friends, nearly freezing them in place.
"What do we do?" Tifa whispered. "We can't just...walk in there!"
"You see any other way to get in?" Yuffie demanded. "Besides, Marlene might be held prisoner. If we're caught right away, they could bring us right to her!"
Both girls looked toward Aerith for her support in their case. Aerith stared up at the towering castle, eyes glittering faintly. "Nothing is as it seems," She whispered. "What we see right now, or what we hear, may not be what actually exists. We don't know what will be on the other side of that door- so prepare yourselves."
Tifa and Yuffie nodded, determination outmatching the fear on their faces.
Aerith lifted a pale hand, grasping the brass doorknocker in her fingers-
The world swirled around her, and Aerith felt herself descending into blackness; her friend's screams echoing in her ears.
~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~
When Yuffie woke, she found herself staring at a wall.
It was a stonewall, like one might perhaps see in a prison, smudged with dirt and weathered by time. A few trashcans leaned against it, and Yuffie frowned, trying to place the scene before her in her memory. She could have sworn that she had been here before...
She sat up, rubbing at the dirt on her clothing, wiping her hair from her eyes. She frowned. The walls around her were huge; she had to tilt her head up to see most of them. Faintly, she was sure that she could see the bottom of a roof, and a gutter...
It occurred to Yuffie that she was standing in an alleyway.
Something flashed in her mind- once again saying that this place was familiar, but she dismissed it. She began walking, trying to get some bearing of why she was suddenly in an alleyway.
"Aerith!" She called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Tifa!" She took a deep breath. "Marlene!" Her voice echoed back at her, sounding strange and almost child-like in its echoes. Yuffie frowned, cursing.
Suddenly, her foot caught on something on the ground, and she stumbled, putting her hands out to catch herself. Panting, and wincing from her sore knees, Yuffie stopped, bent over, staring at her hands on the ground.
They couldn't be her hands...they were much too small...
She stood, touching her face and body, feeling for some sign of herself. Her hair was cut the way she had it as a child, held in two tiny ponytails on the sides of her head. The sight of the dirt encrusting her body, and the sudden rain on her face, staring at her muddy shoes and the alley floor, brought her memory back to her.
She knew where she was.
Yuffie flailed around with a gasp, eyes going wide. "No..." She whispered, and it was her childhood voice that spoke. "No..."
She saw them, then. Then dark, towering figures that surrounded another woman. The woman's long hair was falling out of its tie, and dark blood streaked her face. She tried to push one of the men away, but they slashed at her with something that shined silver in the faint light. The woman's eyes met hers, and suddenly Yuffie was right beside her, reaching out, tears falling down her face.
"Run, Yuffie!" The woman screamed, still struggling against her captors.
It was in that moment that Yuffie forgot about her friends and what was going on. She forgot about Marlene and everyone else she knew- this was the moment. This was real.
"Momma!" Yuffie shrieked.
Dark eyes, bleeding lips, eyes that cried red- red, red, and more red- everywhere, splattering the walls and pooling on the floor- pale hand reaching out, beseeching, ragged voice whispering, begging, pleading-
"Run, Yuffie..."
Run, run, she had to run, but they hurt momma, they made her spit red and now she's not moving but she has to get up, she has to, why isn't she moving? Cry, cry, cry, please, please, please momma, get up, you have to move, can't leave you here-
But she's dead, she's dead, and she won't wake up.
Yuffie tugged on the pale, still fingers, stared at the blood that had choked her mother- hands too tiny to do anything, too small so help, too weak- but it would all be over soon, it had to all be over soon, and one day she would find the bastards that did this and she would make them pay. Scream to the heavens, cry of breaking heart- it doesn't help anything but it makes it bearable, makes it easier-
Hands grabbed her, pulling her away from the foul, red, thing that used to be her mother, dragging her away and pushing her to the ground. Dark, evil, eyes, glaring, grinning- white teeth and scary smiles, hands reaching, pulling, rubbing-
But it wasn't supposed to happen this way. This isn't what happened-
But it's real, it's real, it's happening, and their hands are hurting, hurting, hurting, reaching up and touching, touching, touching- she tried to scream but it made no sound. She gathered all her breath and kicked and cried and tried to scream but nothing happened. Nothing happened and they hurt her, the broke something inside of her, and she knows this isn't what was supposed to happen, this isn't what happened-
But it hurts, it hurts, and why are they smiling when they know it hurts?
And they leave her there, bleeding, broken, alone, on the dead and dirty ground.
~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~(~)~
Tifa winced. She put a hand to the back of her head, rubbing it. "Ow..."
"Are you alright, Teef?" A middle-aged, dark-haired man poked his head around the doorframe. His wine-red eyes were filled with concern.
Tifa nodded, smiling. "I'm fine dad. I just have a headache."
He smiled. "Alright, princess. Drink more water." He disappeared behind the door again.
Her smile drooped. She sighed, leaning against her bed. She knew something was wrong. She wasn't sure what it was, but something was wrong. She felt...like there was something she had to be doing, someone she needed to help...Tifa shook her head, wincing again from the throbbing in her skull.
Sun streamed through her window, warming her body as she walked past it. Her fingers paused on the doorframe, and she called down the hall- "I'm going outside okay, dad?"
"Sure thing, just stay on this street!" Her father called from his workroom.
Tifa rolled her eyes, making her way downstairs and to the door. Tying back her long hair, she paused, just in front of the living room door, her heartbeat suddenly loud in her ears. Her breath halted in her throat, ending in a startled gasp. She turned, slowly, unsure of the feeling that had suddenly overtaken her. The chink of glasses from the kitchen made her realize what it was: there was someone in her house, besides her and her dad.
Slowly, she walked toward the kitchen doorway, clenching her fists, remembering everything she had learned about martial arts...this intruder was going to be sorry. With a slight cry, she jumped into the kitchen, fists raised and hair flying.
A red-haired man in a blue suit sat at her kitchen table, drinking quite calmly from a glass. Odd, electric-blue/green eyes focused on her and he gave a small smirk that seemed devoid of all emotion. Taking a swig from the glass, he set it down, giving a slight wave and a "Hey."
Tifa glared at him. "What are you doing here? Get out of my house!" She raised her fists threateningly, and the man put up his hands, leaning back in his chair, quite at ease.
"Whoa, there, now, relax." He said lazily. "While I'm sure you can hold your own, I'm afraid you wouldn't stand a chance. Just a fact- you wouldn't be able to touch me unless I let ya." He shrugged. "And don't bother calling your father, either-" he added, as Tifa opened her mouth again. "He won't be able to see me."
"What are you talking about?" Tifa growled. This guy was seriously getting on her nerves.
"Well, I'm not really here." The man twirled the glass in his fingertips, his other hand tucking into his jacket, pulling it casually back to reveal a sturdy-looking metal club. "Then again, neither are you. But that's beside the point."
"What?" This man was crazy; there was no other explanation.
The man rolled his eyes. "As to your earlier question, I'm here for a few reasons. One, because I was ordered too. I have a job to do and I'm going to do it. But I don't particularly care for the job that's been given to me. I know sometimes in work you've gotta do your share of dirty jobs, but in all honesty I've done more than my share and I've had enough. I have to do my job, but that doesn't mean that I can't do other things too- things that, if you shut up and listen, might just help you."
Tifa raised an eyebrow at the man's babbling. He was making no sense.
The man sighed. "Okay, look, I need you to do something for me, alright? Another reason I'm here is because I owe this guy a favor, and I hate owing anyone anything, so you'd better cooperate, kapeesh?" He rested his chin against his fist.
"I need you to think back, kay? Now, who're your friends?"
Tifa's eyebrows drew together. "I'm not giving you my friends' names! You'll show up in their kitchen's next!"
The man rolled his eyes again. "No, I won't. I can't, really. Just think about your friends, all right? You don't have to say their names out loud if it makes you feel better. I already know their names anyway, but whatever..."
Tifa frowned, wondering why she hadn't just popped him one yet. But something inside of her seemed to be saying to listen to him- to do as he said. She closed her eyes, thinking of her friends, their faces appearing in her mind as she said their names...
"Aerith..." She began. "Yuffie...Zack..." She frowned, and then blinked. "Um, that's it."
"No," The man said. "It isn't."
Tifa glared at him. "What do you mean? Don't you think I know my own friends?"
The man smirked. "You know them alright. But you seemed to have forgotten one." He leaned closer, eyes glinting. "Think back...there's one more friend, isn't there? You can see him in your head, can't you?"
"What do you mean?" Tifa shrank back a little, disliking how the man's words seemed to be coming true.
"Come on, think!" He insisted. "Someone you haven't always been nice to...someone you didn't even want to hang out with at first...but your other friends made you...he disappeared...or, wait, has that happened yet?" The man paused, seeming to consider something. "Oh, yeah, that doesn't happen 'till tonight, huh? But seeing as technically, tonight has already happened, the knowledge is in there somewhere, you've just gotta remember it..."
Tifa narrowed her eyes, even as images flashed through her mind of blonde hair and blue eyes. "You're crazy," She said flatly, crossing her arms.
The man grinned, though his eyes remained expressionless as ever. "Don't I know it," He muttered. "Come on, hurry it up, we don't have much longer."
"You expect me to do all this when I don't even know your name?" Tifa demanded, trying to distract him so that she could think...what was the name...? It was right there, she could feel it...
The man slapped a hand over his forehead. "It's Reno, alright? Do you have it yet?"
Tifa opened her mouth to snap at him, and then stopped, eyes going wide. Memories played like a roll of film in her head, words floating through her mind...
"Hey...Strife..."
Blonde hair, blue eyes...
"What's your name?" Aerith asked, kind as always, curious and friendly.
"I'm..."
"Something..." Tifa murmured. "Something...to do...with the sky?"
Reno nodded, smirking again, some emotion finally entering his eyes. "Now you're getting there." He glanced behind him, down a hall toward her father's workshop. "Just a little longer,' He said to himself, but Tifa wasn't listening anyway.
Blue eyes, shining and bright, a small, shy, smile. "Cloud..." He said. "I'm...
"...Cloud..." Tifa whispered, fingers moving to her mouth in wonder.
Reno nodded, crossing his arms. "Congratulations," He said. "You got it."
The word was a trigger, and suddenly more memories passed over her eyes.
"Cloud's gone!"
"Father, father! Who did this?"
Blood, there was so much blood...
Aerith...Yuffie...Zack...
"I feel like there's someone we're forgetting..."
"Who? I've known you all my whole life. It's just us."
"Can you believe it's been so many years since that night, Tifa? The night your father died?"
And on and on through the years, until it reached the present, and she could see Aerith, green eyes wide with despair, searching for her daughter, crying a name out to the heavens:
"CLOUD!!"
Tifa put a hand to her forehead, stumbling backward. "My...father..." She mumbled, vision swimming. "I have to find...my father..." She walked dazedly forward, tripping over her feet as she wobbled through the doorway.
The door to her father's workshop was partway open.
"Hey..." Reno's face swam around her, and a warm hand grabbed her shoulder. "I know you're not going to listen...but, you shouldn't go in there..."
Tifa shook of his hand, feeling tears clog her throat, voice raw as it escaped her, wetness falling from her eyes. "Father..." She gasped, tumbling through the door. She caught herself on the wall, blurred vision moving around the room- seeing lightning flash in the broken window, a setting and scene oddly familiar, and she dropped to her knees, holding back a scream.
Her father's mutilated body lay broken on the ground before her.
Tifa let loose the scream she had been holding, stumbling blindly toward the obviously dead body, staring in disbelief as blood stained her clothes, running from her father's eyes and mouth, stomach gutted, twisted by something sharp and long, limbs bent awkwardly-
A shadowed man loomed above her, holding a glinting sword. He raised it high above his head, bringing it down to slice slowly along her arm, cutting deeply. Tifa cried out, jumping away from him, and then charging forward, tears clouding her vision and anger thudding in her veins-
A hand grabbed her shoulder, holding her back.
Tifa turned, punching the arm with all her might, but oddly kind, electric blue/green eyes stared down at her, calming her. Reno turned, his posture still lazy, not looking at the man with the sword, but instead toward the ceiling, calling out:
"Look, I did what you asked, alright? I kept her busy. But don't you think it's just a waste of time to hurt her in this? I mean, sure it'll leave imaginary scars, but when she wakes up, she'll know it wasn't real. Just seems like a waste of time." Reno shrugged. "That's just my opinion, boss. But maybe you should save this for when the wounds won't heal, y'know?"
The room began to blur, and Tifa felt herself growing older, the reality settling in, growing from her thirteen-year-old body, to her twenty-year-old one, moving away from the twisted memory that happened differently from how she remembered, moving away from the man with the sword- but not before he drew the blade slowly along her torso, in-between her breasts, and down her stomach, cutting deep and cruelly, in a way that made her feel sick beyond the pain. The world began to fade and she turned to see electric eyes staring at her with feeling, with apology, with encouragement, and hope.
"See ya," He said, as the whole world- and him along with it- turned black.
And Tifa found herself falling.
~~(~~)~~
END OF CHAPTER
Yay! I'm pretty sure that I know how the next chapter will go, so...yeah. Oh, and yes, what you're thinking happend with Yuffie, is what happened. Well, not really. Someone was just twisting her worst memory...more about that next chapter, I swear! Anyway, reviews:
obsessive sasuke: Thank you! As you can see, I wrote more, though not as soon as I'd hoped...
FairLockheart: Glad you like! Though this wasn't 'soon', I hope you enjoy!
Drake Clawfang: Yeah, sorta seems like Beauty and the Beast at first, huh? Pretty far off though. XD That's alright, my sister thought the same thing. I did use the KH outfit for a reason that will be revealed...
Narnian Magic: Actually, I have a very low-tolerance for horror as well. No shame in that. :) Glad you liked it though!
Princess of the Knight: I love your username by the way. Thank you! Yep, Cloud's full of angst. XD
greensally: Yeah, that's one of my favorites too. Hope you like this one as well!
Anyway, that's it! Once again, sorry that it took so long to update. And happy thanksgiving everyone! I wrote a C/A thanksgiving one-shot last year called 'Of all Things', if anyone's interested, and I recently came out with two other clerith one-shots, as well as a new chapter on 'Piece of Me'.
Reviews make me write faster, and smile inside!
'Till next time!
~AerithHeart