Hey everyone! Thanks for all the support I appreciate it! Its good hearing from you all! Anyways, nothing else to say I'm just gonna get this thing posted. –Annubis
The Decision Between Life or Death:
A Second Chance
Chapter 29
Cloud shivered. The quaking of his body sent jolts of unease through his body. He searched the area about him. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was crawling through the dark tunnels created by the nasty clones that had kidnapped Zack. Now he was in a different type of darkness, one that seemed more sinister than the last. He still couldn't see anything, nor could he hear. The man felt like he was moving, his legs like flan. Each footstep sent another wave of nausea through him. It was too much. Something was wrong and the man wasn't sure if it was because he was dying or if it was because of what was about to happen. It was a bad feeling nonetheless and he wasn't quite prepared for what was going to happen.
He was starting to regain his hearing. Multiple footsteps echoed around him. Slowly he began to see highlights around him, sticking to the rocky surface of the cave walls they apparently were adventuring in. The man heard a familiar voice call out to him.
"Cloud?" it was Tifa. "You feeling alright?"
The man couldn't find his voice. He could just swallow the bile rising in his throat.
There were no more questions. And the footsteps seemed to quicken. It seemed as if everyone was leaving him. He tried to catch up but his legs were sluggish. He seemed as if he were going in slow motion. It reminded him of the time Zack experimented on Cloud with his materia for practice. It took hours for the Slow spell to wear off, Zack laughing all the while at the man. Cloud got his just reward, however, casting haste on the man in his sleep. The guy was on the move the entire night, running between the kitchen and the bathroom and never getting a single wink the rest of the night. The spells were worse than drugs, but without quite the harmful side effects.
Cloud felt a painful headache emerging as the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to explode into his eyes. He wanted to shield his eyes but just couldn't manage to find himself capable of moving any more. He stumbled into the light, sensing he was now in a different location, one that was more open. That's when he heard the screams.
"No! Stop it!" it was Aeris. The woman was hollering about something.
Cloud squint his eyes, trying his best to focus on his surroundings. Light slowly faded into slight darkness. At first all he could see were silhouettes. Shadows danced all around. It was a battle. He could hear the cries of pain and the struggling sound of boots on the rocky floor. Weapons clashed together.
"Look out!" it was a scream, one that he could not identify. He looked from side to side, trying to interpret the blurring figures. He finally understood the statement once he felt a tingling sensation in his gut.
His fingers twitched incapable of protecting himself. All Cloud could do was feel. A ghost like figure hovered over him. It was a distorted laugh that rang out in his ears, followed by the distressed sounds of his name being screamed. Cloud suddenly felt at relief. His legs gave out, dropping him to the cold floor.
"C, Cloud…" it was a chilling sound. The man's clue eyes jolted open, seeing for the first time as clear as day. He was in the crater.
Tifa lay on the ground before him. Her frail hand was reaching out to him, covered in blood. Cloud gaped at the scene. She was holding the cloth to her shirt close to her body, it shredded and her red fluid pouring out of wounds. The man swallowed thickly, his sick feeling returning. Everything fell into silence.
All around were bodies. Cid sat on the ground, his body propped up against a wall. He laid dead, his spear at his fingertips, a single cigarette he needed to ash stuck to his lips. Barret was gone. No sight of the man. There was a scrap of metal that seemed to belong to his gun arm on the ground only a few feet away from a limp Yuffie. The poor girl was stabbed in the back by nothing more than her own weapon. The large protruding blades covered thickly with her blood. Red XIII was whimpering on the ground, slowly finding his own death. Shelke and Kadaj lay next to each other burning as they were slowly consumed by a fire spell. Cait Sith was strewn all over the place in pieces. Even Vincent didn't make it. The man lay on the ground, a hole through his center. The man was reemerging to his normal self as his demon wings sank back into him. His red eyes slowly transformed into dark. The image was unnatural to the man after knowing him with only crimson.
Cloud shivered.
"Stay…with me…" it was Tifa again. The man rolled his head to the side, watching the paling woman before him. "S…stay…" the woman's lips stopped moving. Cloud watched her and much to his horror, her pupils dilated covering her chocolate brown eyes. He gave her a look over. There was a stray tear on her blood stained and dirty cheek. Her hair was a tangled mess, covering much of her face. Her hands still were covered with his back leather gloves, now tainted by her own blood. Her once pink lips were now a pale white. It seemed she was drained of all fluid.
"T…Tifa…" he whispered, his voice hoarse. She was dead. There was no more Tifa. It was now just a meaningless name, a name that no longer had a life force, one that would forever remain empty on his lips, and one that was like a foreign tongue.
He felt the familiar sting of tears on his eyes. Then there was the familiar tug at his heart. He was once again helpless, unable to protect them all. Tifa was dead and so was everyone else.
'Zack…and Aeris…' the man lifted his head, trying to find the lost two. His gaze froze on the center pillar of the crater. It stood erect surrounded by the thick Lifestream. There were three forms. Two were lifeless. One body lay on the ground and another in the arms of a figure, one that appeared like a demonic force.
"Seph…iroth…" Cloud mumbled to himself, feeling hate boil in his veins. His heart was pounding in his chest. It was both a relief and a hardship to bear, knowing his heart was still beating.
It didn't take long for his heart to skip a beat or two. Sephiroth was the body that lay on the ground. He was cut and beaten beyond recognition. His large Masamune lay beside him only a few feet away. Cloud could tell that the man's last thoughts were only for his own survival. His fingers were dug into the rocky surface as if he were desperately trying to get away, to grab his sword and regain his victory. His face held a look of horror. In the man's back was a massive blade, the blade that belonged to Zack.
Cloud silently cheered, knowing that Sephiroth hadn't fully succeeded. Those thoughts were quickly dismissed. What was the point when everyone you knew and loved were dead? Cloud looked upward at the kneeling form. It was none other than Zack. In his arms he held Aeris. The woman's life force was vanquished. She was limp in the man's arms. Her lips matched Tifa's only slightly parted. Blood trickled from those once smiling lips. Her torso was torn, a large wound. Cloud then realized. These wounds were larger than what Sephiroth's sword was capable of. The blonde glanced down at himself. His wound was massive, matching Aeris. He felt his vision beginning to blur.
'Not possible…' the blonde thought; not sure if he spoke at all.
Zack lifted his head slowly from Aeris forehead. Cloud felt his heart slowing in speed. Zack held onto the woman, his glowing eyes opening slowly to look at the dying man on the floor. It was a paralyzing glare. His blue gaze was gone; it turned into something that looked like fire. Cloud could feel the heat emanating from the man's stare. Zack seemed to boil anger, heat waves steaming from his form. Cloud felt his body go numb. Out of the silence, as everything slowly faded into darkness, came a voice and a laugh, one that Cloud knew all too well. It belonged to the calamity herself, Jenova. Except this time it wasn't laced with Sephiroth's vocal chords, but instead Zack's.
"The time has come where you all become one with the planet. Together we'll journey through the stars in search of the promised land…"
Cloud shivered once, twice, and finally, after the third time, he remained unmoving. Jenova had gotten her reunion. Jenova had finally succeeded.
Cloud died with a smile on his face. His last thoughts remained in the crater forever, haunting the location.
'So…this is how it ends. Maybe now…we can…all…rest…'
"Tifa…" Cloud's voice rang out, interrupting the resting silence of the cave.
"Cloud." Tifa whispered. She crawled on her hands and knees, approaching the man. She shook him gently as she saw he was distressed. She could see that he was sweating, his fever breaking. "Wake up."
"Tifa!" the man opened his eyes. He stared at her, a look of pain and fear covered his face. It was a face full of more emotion than she had seen in a long time.
"It's okay." The woman whispered, concerned. "You were only dreaming."
"…dreaming?" the man looked at her. He was confused.
"You're alright. You were just sleeping." The woman sat back on her heels.
'But…it was so real.' The man frowned.
"Where are we?" he asked after a moment.
"Just outside the center of the crater." The woman informed the man. "It's very late. We were all taking a break, to rest."
"Outside the crater?" the man struggled to sit up. He winced in pain, holding his head.
"You were beat up pretty bad. We were afraid you weren't going to make it. Vincent was able to keep you alive."
"Vincent?" the man scoffed at more himself than the thought of Vincent saving him.
"Luckily we have someone on the team who knows CPR and all that other medical stuff." The woman bit her lip. "I was so afraid you wouldn't make it." Her voice broke up at the end. She didn't look at him in the eye. They sat in silence for a few minutes. After the man didn't speak for a while she continued.
"We figured that since Aeris is with Sephiroth that they would need to rest as well. And if what Zack said was true, she'd be stalling as much as possible and making excuses." Tifa cleared her throat.
"We need to go." Cloud muttered. Tifa watched him.
"But your wounds…" she started.
"I'm not weak, Tifa." he got to his feet, wobbling a bit. He leaned against the rock wall to support himself a moment. "Wake up the others. We have to go." His breathing quickened. His words came out harsher than he anticipated.
"I know you're not weak…" the woman whispered to herself. Cloud shook of the fact that she sounded so saddened by his callous actions and words. The man stood by himself a moment, resting his forehead
against his raised supporting arm. She stared at his back. The silence was overwhelming. Tifa decided it was best to follow orders. She went to Vincent first.
Tifa knelt down next to the resting man. He was propped against a wall, his ankles crossed. "I'll wake everyone." His cool voice sounded. Red eyes opened to meet Tifa's gaze. She was hovering over him, very close. "You prepare yourself." He slowly got to his feet; Tifa straightened up, looking away. She decided to bring her attention back to the spiky haired man a few feet away. She knew he was brooding and that the only thing she could do was leave him alone. Cloud one to confide in others when things got bad.
'I'm so worthless…' the blonde closed his eyes. 'I've wasted so much time. Even when I try to act like a leader I screw things up. I'm not Zack. I can't take control of situations, I can't care for others. I can't fight like him; I'm not worthy to be able to save the planet. Why me? Why do I get stuck doing all of this? Why can't I just go on with life? Why can't I just continue moving on like everyone else? I try and all I do is screw things up. All I do is disappoint everyone. I can't even take care of myself how am I supposed to take care of everyone else? I'm not a father, I'm not a husband, and I'm not even a good friend. I can't do anything. I'm nothing. I'm worthless.' His brain lectured him like it did every day.
'Then why'd you join SOLDIER?' another voice asked. It was such a long time since he heard that voice. It was like Zack had been in there all along, listening.
'I never made it though, did I?' the man picked at a loose pebble in the wall.
"Only acted like I did…" Cloud mumbled incoherently.
'But you've proved yourself useful, right?' the voice called out. Cloud shook his head. Ever since Zack died the first time, he could never get the man's words out of his head.
'How? By letting you die?' the man sighed.
'You haven't died.' The voice cheered.
"Yet…" the tiny rock plopped to the man's feet.
'You never were very optimistic, were you?' he smiled at the remark. He surely was going crazy. Zack was alive and well, and yet he constantly had conversations with him in his head.
'Never.' The blonde smirked.
'You always looked better when you smiled.' The voice continued. 'I think Tifa likes that smile. It always makes her happy.'
Cloud ended his thought process. What was this about Tifa?
'Maybe it isn't best letting the man sit there and brood all alone.' Tifa continued to stare at the man. She ignored the others around her waking up and gathering their equipment. 'He's talking to himself again…
Maybe the problem is he's alone all the time. Maybe it would be good for him to have someone to talk to.' The woman decided that was what she was going to do. She was going to give Cloud some company.
'If I hadn't gone into those tunnels we may have caught up by now.' Cloud frowned again. His brain worked in continuous circles. He wondered what it would be like to watch him during these thought processes, smiling, frowning, and crying. It was all he ever did.
"I'm going crazy…" the man grumbled.
"I don't think you're crazy." Tifa's voice called from beside the man. He shivered at the sound of her voice.
"That's comforting that you think so, Tifa." the man said almost sarcastically. "But you don't know what goes on in here…" he tapped the side of his head.
"All too well." The woman smiled. His blue eyes lifted to meet hers. "You may be complex on the inside, Cloud, but I can read you like a book."
"Like a book?" the man raised a brow.
"Like fifth grade level." She giggled.
"I'm that easy?" he shook his head. "Or that stupid?"
"You're not stupid. You're as complex as ever, but after living with you for so many years I think I'm beginning to understand everything." She leaned against the wall in front of him, resting against her shoulder and folding her arms. Cloud stared at the gloves on her hands, frowning. "Hm?" she looked down. "You're gloves? You want them back?" the woman began to tug on them.
"No." he shook his head. 'They look better without your blood on them…'
"Okay…" she stared at her hands. "So…when are you going to tell me what's on your mind?"
"What do you mean?"
"You can't keep everything inside all the time. It's not healthy." She lectured.
"Since when was I healthy?" he pushed gently away from the wall.
"I'll be your therapist." The woman beamed.
"I don't need a therapist." The man groaned.
"You just said you were crazy." She was picking on him. The blonde raised a brow at her. "I'll be the judge of that. So tell me…what's on your mind?" she wasn't expecting the man to actually play along with her.
"The safety of everyone and how I am just going to fail all over again." The man said in a low voice.
"…" Tifa listened.
"I'm worthless. I'm no hero. I can't be like Zack. I can't save him, Aeris, you…no one." The man stared at her but was looking through her.
"But that's the thing…" she began. He looked up at her. "You're not Zack. You're you, Cloud."
"But…" the man stopped.
"You may not think you are a hero, but I bet everyone here thinks otherwise. You've saved us all twice from the end of the planet. And I'm sure this time will be no different." The woman placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Third time's a charm. My luck's opposite of others. I'm sure I'll fail this time."
"Now you're just making excuses." The woman waved a finger at him. She saw a glint of humor in his eyes. "And you know it."
"But what if I do fail?" his tone was serious once again.
"Then you do. Now harm done. You did your best." The woman smiled. "You can't keep beating yourself up over the past. Even with the past fixed and those two alive you still blame yourself. All you can do is worry about yourself. That's a big enough burden. You can't be expected to take care of everyone, including the planet. No one can do that."
"…It's easy to say that, but when you've watched your life sleep away into darkness it makes it harder not to blame yourself." The man lowered his head.
"Cloud…We all were just as capapble to save Aeris back then and we all did nothing. We just stood there and watched. We all watched Zack die too and we watched our town burn into nothing and our families be extinguished. No matter how hard we fought, we couldn't stop it from happening. Sure, I blame myself for not being there when father died, but you know what? It was his decision to go to that reactor. Just like how it was Zack and Aeris' decision to go alone. It's hard to say this, but you know it's true. You can't be expected to help anyone when they don't ask for your help in the first place."
"But now, they are asking for our help." Cloud spoke.
"And that means we will try our best to help them. We can't fail." The woman nodded. Cloud felt himself be defeated again. "And we won't."
"We won't." the man repeated the words.
"We won't fail." Tifa reassured the man.
"I won't fail." He clenched his fists.
"That's right."
"I can beat the past. I can beat Sephiroth." The man chanted. "I can beat Jenova, save the planet, save everyone."
"You've done it before." Tifa added.
"And I'll do it again." He gritted his teeth. "I won't be defeated by anybody. Especially myself."
Tifa grinned. What a determined man he suddenly became. She should try to give him a pep talk more often.
"But…" his confidence died.
"No buts!" the woman growled. "Whatever happens happens. For now, think about the plan and helping them out. Worry about all of this once it's over with. You can't dwell on defeat if you haven't been defeated yet. It's this type of thinking that makes you lose. If we lose you to yourself then we all lose. You hear me?" she shook his shoulders. She wanted to slap him silly. 'What an impossible man!'
"If I fail…"
"Don't think that way."
"If I lose…"
"Stop it."
"If I die…"
SLAP!
Cloud was dumbfounded. She just smacked him! The noise echoed down the corridor. Cloud could feel the burning stare of the dozens of eyes now watching him. His eyes looked back and forth, his cheeks turning red from the blush of embarrassment. He glanced at the woman before him. She was glaring, a frown on her face and her hands on her hips.
"Thank you, Tifa." the man nodded.
'It worked?' she watched him curiously.
"I guess I just need to be slapped around a little more often."
"Yo, we ready to go yet?" Barret hollered over the group.
"Yeah…" Cloud nodded. "We're ready." He strode over to where both his and Zack's swords lay. He lifted them up one at a time and sheathed them into the harnesses on his back.
"Someone's motivated." Cid muttered.
"Let's hurry." Cloud headed down the tunnel. "Our friends are waiting."
"Just do it!" Sephiroth squeezed her wrist tighter.
"Ow! Stop it!" the woman whimpered. "I, I can't! I don't know how!"
"Liar!" he clenched his jaw.
"I'm not lying!" she cried out. "I'm…I'm so tired…"
"No more of this!" he threw her to the ground. His fingers squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Why, Aeris? Why can't you just do this one little thing for me? It's all I ask of you…" He felt so aggravated.
'Why are women like this? I swear…she'll be the end of me.'
"I'm sorry, Sephiroth." She shook her head, holding onto the green materia. The man sighed. She said his name again.
'She must be a witch. Every time she says my name I am no longer angry. HOW!?' he kneeled beside her.
"I'm sorry." The man frowned. "I'm just excited about cleansing the planet."
"What do you mean by cleanse?" the woman looked up at him accusingly.
"Uh, I…to relieve the world of evil…" he stuttered.
"What evil?" she tilted her head innocently.
'HUMANS!' the man wanted to scream. He couldn't take this anymore.
"Oh, why must you be so naïve? There are millions upon millions of evils on this planet. I'm just going to help clean the planet by using Holy." He raised her hand, marveling at the color of the materia. It was a whitish-green orb. It sparkled in the light. "Holy…isn't that a marvelous name?"
"Holy…" Aeris repeated the word.
"Yes. Holy…in its magnificent glory will cleanse this planet. You and I will be the planet's saviors. No more pain, no more suffering, no more hate…" Sephiroth ranted. He sounded so sure of himself. Aeris wanted to believe him, but knew he was nothing more than a liar. Sure it would cleanse the planet, but to his benefit she knew no doubt. But how would Holy help him? She thought about it a moment.
'Why am I playing with her like this!? Why don't I just do things the easy way?' the man reached into his pocket to fetch his yellow materia. 'I'll just make her do it.' He smiled. There was something so enticing about making her do something against her will. It sent chills down his spine.
'Holy…Holy…what was it that Zack told me?' she closed her eyes. It was suddenly getting very difficult to think. 'I summoned Holy to save the planet…why would Sephiroth want it?' she felt her head getting foggy. She was having a hard time remembering anything, where she was and why she was here.
"Aeris." Sephiroth sang her name. "Summon Holy for me."
"Holy…" the woman closed her eyes, holding it against her chest. Sephiroth was kneeled behind her with a hand on her shoulder. He whispered in her ear.
'Holy…to save the planet. It'll be my sacrifice. I will sacrifice myself to save the planet. I will summon the power to stop METEOR and to save everyone.' The woman repeated the thoughts from so long ago. She thought she was back in the city of the Ancients on the altar. She began to pray.
"Summon that wonderful power of yours, Aeris.' His lips scorched her ears.
'But Holy…won't it kill the planet?' the woman felt an interfering thought. 'No! Don't do it! It's all a part of his plan! He's going to make you summon Holy to kill the planet! It was choosing to kill the planet when Meteor was falling. It decided the fate of the entire world was death! Don't do it!'
"N, no…" Aeris shook her head.
"What!?" Sephiroth concentrated harder, trying to make her summon the magical force. Aeris arched her back, gasping. The sound was musical to the man. Then he remembered, he couldn't overwork the woman. The harder he pressed in the victim's mind the more capable he was of killing them. He didn't want to kill her.
'Why not? Why can't I kill her? Force her to do it and then kill her!' the man grinned, baring his teeth.
"It…won't work…" the woman gasped.
"Why not!?" he shook her. This snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Stop it!" She shoved the man. "It won't work! Why won't you listen to me!? You selfish man!"
"What did you say to me!?" the man sat up, grabbing her shoulders.
"I'm not in the City of the Ancients! It won't work here!" the girl screamed at his face.
"You…you have to be in the city!?" He growled.
"YES!" she screeched.
"Why didn't I think of that!?" the man shouted. "This is impossible! How could I have missed that!?"
"Because you were too busy thinking about yourself!" the woman held onto her wrist. It hurt.
"B, but…the reunion!" the man frowned. "This wasn't supposed to be like this! You! You ruined everything!"
"I ruined everything!?" the girl got to her feet.
"No…" he shook his head, laughing. "You're lying to me again!"
"I'm not lying! It's the truth! You're stalling; you're trying to slow me down so your little friends can catch up!"
"How can you say that!?" she stomped her foot.
He looked down at her. "You have deceived me."
"I would never do such a thing!" the woman hissed. "Why don't you trust me!? Could it be that everything you've told me was a lie!?"
'Damn it!' Sephiroth growled in frustration.
"Never!" he hollered back at her. He glared at her beautiful, sorrowful eyes. How the man wanted to hold her and throw her into the Lifestream at the same time. "I'd never…lie to you."
"What's reunion?" the woman folded her arms.
"Reunion? What do you mean?" he put on his innocent façade.
"You mentioned reunion. Are we meeting someone here?" the woman asked.
"You could say that." The man rubbed his temple. He had to think of something. He glanced at her. She had to be lying to him. She wasn't as innocent as she showed. For all he knew she could have regained all her memory and was toying with him. "Try for me." The man turned to her.
"What?"
"Just try to summon Holy for me." He leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eye. "Just once."
"…Okay…" she sighed, defeated. It was either she complied or he was going to kill her. She didn't know how much longer she could keep up this charade. 'Zack…where are you?' the woman bit her lower lip.
"I'm going to help you concentrate, so just relax." The man whispered to her.
'Oh no!' the woman felt her brain fog over once again. She knew what he was doing and it was too late. She couldn't do a thing about it.
"What are we doing?" he purred.
"Summoning Holy…" her voice was almost robotic.
He grabbed her wrist, focusing his energy on the materia as well. Maybe he could force the energy from her by adding his and the spell would work regardless of location. Why would it only work in the City of
the Ancients and not the crater? There was an abundance of Lifestream here too. What other reason was there to go to that city?
Sephiroth leaned forward, his chest against her back. He closed his eyes, forcing all he had into the woman. He could feel her pulse rising and her breaths quicken. There was a tingling sensation and then a whining sound. The man opened his eyes to see a bright light emanating from the orb between the woman's fingers. Aeris was chanting in a foreign language. The man smiled. It was working. In minutes he'd have Holy summoned and the planet would be destroyed.
"Have I ever told you, I love you?" the man laughed into the woman's ears. Because of her, Jenova would finally get her domination.
'Almost…' the man smiled.
A low rumble sounded and the crater seemed to shake. Sephiroth frowned.
'Is this from the materia?'
The sound got louder and louder and suddenly there was an explosion in the left corner of the crater's wall. Rocks and a cloud of dust erupted from the surface.
"W, what…?" Aeris mumbled to herself. The bright light flooded backwards into the orb.
"NO!" Sephiroth shouted. "Keep concentrating!" he was panicking, looking between Aeris and the now large hole in the wall.
"What's…that?" Aeris whispered weakly. "I…I don't feel good…"
Sephiroth glared at the hole. He had no idea what was going on. His eyes widened at the sight before him. A body flew from the opening. Boy did that body look painfully familiar.
"Impossible!" he clenched his fists.
"Zack?" Aeris sat up on her knees.
The body lay on the ground a moment; his clothes were more torn and battered than Aeris remembered. He also had quite a few wounds.
'Something's wrong…' the woman gasped.
"Zack!" Sephiroth clasped his hands together. "What a surprise!" he glared out the corner of his eyes at the woman on the ground. He raised a brow when he noticed how shocked the woman was.
'Maybe she wasn't expecting him.' His faced curled into one of confusion.
"How many times do you have to die in order to stay dead?" the silver haired man approached the body on the ground.
"Ugh…" a low groan sounded from the man. "Infinite…" he managed a word. Sephiroth chuckled at the man's effort.
Sephiroth halted when he heard a series of other sounds coming from the hole in the wall. "Brought your friends, no doubt?" Sephiroth reached for the hilt of his sword. He waited for the new intruders to enter.
One by one wandering clones hopped out of the tunnel and dropped to the floor. There was a small group of about five. They sauntered over to Zack whom was trying to get to his feet. He appeared to have lost a lot of blood.
"Zack!" Aeris managed to get out.
"Hey…" the man managed a small wave as the clones shoved him back to the ground roughly.
"Ah! My sweet clones. How nice of you to bring my enemy here!" Sephiroth muttered through closed teeth. "Even though I don't remember ever ordering you to."
The clones ignored the man. They struggled to keep him down.
"Mother's plans, no doubt? She thinks of everything." Sephiroth chuckled. He turned to Aeris. His black, gloved fingers dug into her hair and tugged on her pink ribbon. She gasped, holding onto the spot where it had been.
"H, hey!" she hollered angrily.
"It's for our cause, my dear." The man stepped away from the woman. He approached the overcrowding pile of clones. "Get off." He ordered.
The clones stared at the man. They seemed to wonder what he was doing. Sephiroth pulled out his sword, threatening them. One by one they stepped out of the way. Sephiroth leaned down and grabbed the young man's wrists.
"Nice to see you. Did you miss me?" Sephiroth taunted.
"Not…really." Zack coughed. His blue eyes glanced across the way to the woman sitting on the ground. She watched him, her hand over her mouth. She looked frightened. "You didn't hurt her…did you?"
"Now, why would I do something like that?" Sephiroth chuckled. He wrapped the ribbon around the man's wrists tightly. Zack groaned in pain. "To keep you from playing any of your tricks on me." He looked at the man's back. "See you lost your weapon. Number one in the rulebook, always be aware of where your weapon is."
"Don't lecture me." Zack rolled his eyes.
"But it's always so much fun. I love to see the exasperated look in your eyes." Sephiroth stood. He nodded to the clones. "Watch him."
"They're coming…you know that?" Zack grinned.
"Good. I've been expecting them." Sephiroth smiled. "A bigger audience to watch me conquer."
The silver haired man sat behind Aeris once again. He sat his hands on her shoulders. The woman jumped, her attention pulled away from Zack. "Now…" he began. He ran his hands down Aeris' arms and over her hands. His eyes stared into Zack's. His brought his lips to Aeris' ear once again. "What're we doing?"
Aeris gasped and stiffened.
"Sephiroth! Leave her alone!" Zack struggled with the tie around his wrists. He showed his teeth, growling. He was desperate to watch Aeris being manipulated once again by the evil man. He was chilled by the words Aeris spoke next, now aware of Sephiroth's plan.
"Summoning Holy…" Aeris ghostly voice spoke.
Ok. Ending it here! I hope you all enjoyed it. Poor Cloud, will he ever gain confidence in himself? And poor Zack. Will he ever keep himself out of trouble? Thanks for reading and reviewing! -Annubis