Chapter Seventy-Five: Cataclysm's Wake
The sky was darkening, perhaps mourning for what was to come. Temperatures dropped drastically and thunder roared in the distance, lightning giving Avalanche the occasional clearer glimpse of the thick brush they waded through. Black, rolling clouds veiled the sun and covered the horizon entirely. The thunder grew ever closer.
No one took any heed.
The party continued on in tense silence, silently following Cloud, who led the way, sword drawn and ready, his expression able to kill.
It took an eternity and a day to break into the clearing in which a tall, regal man clad entirely in black stood. Long, shimmering silver hair flowed in the whipping wind, a lethal blade stretching from a gloved hand. The man's wing was loosely extended from his shoulder blade.
Sephiroth stared at the group with vivid, fey green eyes, which narrowed to slits as they met with Cloud's. He didn't so much as flinch when Cloud charged him, only moved fluidly at the last second to put his sword between Cloud's blade and his own body.
With no effort at all, Sephiroth shoved Cloud away, sending the younger man staggering back. There was no emotion on his smooth, pale face.
Cloud recovered quickly and threw himself at his opponent yet again. This time, he refused to move once their swords locked, resulting in a temporary stalemate. Sephiroth smirked, clearly not putting forth any effort to stay Cloud's hand while the other pushed with all his might.
"Where is Aralyn?" Cloud hissed slowly and deliberately, his sword shaking with his fury, his fiery eyes locking with Sephiroth's calm gaze. "What have you done with her?"
Sephiroth gave no reaction. "Is that what you came for, then?"
"That…and to settle my debt."
"Oh?" Light flickered in Sephiroth's emerald eyes, perhaps the only manifestation of his amusement other than the slight upward tilt of his lips.
"Where is she?!" Cloud roared, forcing his sword upward in hopes of striking his opponent, but Sephiroth simply leaped back agilely, his position ready, but relaxed.
"I do not know," Sephiroth said blandly. "Neither does it concern me."
Tifa ran forward next, swinging her foot toward Sephiroth's exposed side, but he dodged the kick, then deftly caught her by the wrist as she attempted to follow up with a punch. He held her captive for several seconds.
Tifa turned her face up to his, forcing her expression to be as smooth and stern as his. "We know you have her, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he tossed her aside like a doll. He hummed, clearly disappointed in the performance of his rivals, but they also could sense rising anger. "Why would that girl concern me?"
"Since when did you need a reason to torment the innocent?" Yuffie shot back as she tossed her shurikan, only to have it be soundly dodged and fly freely, burying itself into a tree. During the time he focused on evading the attack, Cloud leapt behind him and attempted to catch him off guard, but Sephiroth was too fast, whirling around to meet Cloud's blade with his own Masamune.
"You're going to have to get better very quickly if you expect to beat me," Sephiroth said quietly.
"Where's Aralyn?" Cloud demanded again.
"You still retain the assumption that she is with me?" Sephiroth was fighting strictly defensively, and it was scaring Cloud. This wasn't like him. He was too calm, too composed. He was planning something. "No; I do not have her," he continued coolly. "There is your answer. Try to refrain from asking again."
"Give it up!" Cid joined in. "Feigning ignorance won't do you any good!"
Sephiroth's expression was something akin to mild indignation. "You may believe what you want. She is no longer with me."
Tifa paled considerably. "But she…was?" she whispered, fearful of the implication. Sephiroth could not hear, or if he did, he didn't respond.
"What is it to you, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked. "The life of one woman. Aren't you surrounded by enough as it is?"
Cloud didn't wait any longer, lashing out at the General with everything he had. They moved quicker than anyone could follow, swords clashing again and again, the sheer force of the blows sending sparks to shower the area. Sephiroth clearly held the upper hand throughout, seeming to play along with Cloud rather than expend the energy to dominate. He was smiling now, his eyes shining with snide humor.
Avalanche couldn't enter the fight to help their friend; they were moving much too fast. They soared through the skies, under the trees, at times maneuvering out of their range of vision in their intricate dance.
One that came to an abrupt end.
None of them could tell anything except that Cloud's lips had moved, forming nameless words meant only for Sephiroth. The light in Sephiroth's eyes had turned to flat malice, and the smile vanished. Tifa cried out, sensing the danger, but there was nothing she could do.
In a blur of rage that frightened the breath out of everyone, Sephiroth unleashed a series of devastating attacks that forced Cloud to his knees. Once Cloud had fallen, there was another silver streak, and then Cloud was pinned with his back against a tree, held a foot above the ground, one of Sephiroth's hands clenched around his throat while the other balanced Masamune perpendicular to his heart. He was breathing heavily, refusing to meet Sephiroth's furious eyes.
"Sephiroth!" a voice screamed. "Sephiroth, stop it!"
Sephiroth's rage temporarily abated. He put a few more inches between his blade and Cloud's body, looking back, his face still composed.
"Sephiroth!"
The Masamune fell, and Sephiroth staggered back, his expression one of shock and untold pain.
"Aralyn," he breathed.
Cloud didn't let this lapse in his opponent's defenses pass him by.
A large gray wolf tackled the blonde man to the ground, then proceeded to growl and snarl at any member of Avalanche who dared to approach. Vincent was now in the clearing, his gun loaded and ready, aimed in Avalanche's direction.
It didn't matter. The damage had been done.
Sephiroth's eyes were wide as he slowly eased the large blade from his side, gasping as it slid free. He fell to his knees, blood spilling from the corners of his lips, then, with a shudder, collapsed to the ground.
Cloud, blinded by rage and the prospect of victory, of ending it all, hit the wolf aside, causing a faint whimper from the animal as it was sent sprawling away. Seizing his sword, he gave a mighty battle cry and raised the blade far above his head.
Aralyn threw herself in the path of the descending blade, over Sephiroth's fallen body, her arms locked around his neck as she shielded his heart with her own. Tears fell from her eyes as she pulled her husband closer, the wedding band on her finger clearly glinting in the moonlight as she lay, ready to die, hand in hand, with the man who had betrayed her.
Shock numbed Cloud's hands, causing the blade to fly harmlessly to the side, sparing the lovers if only for a moment longer.
Aralyn shrugged sadly and began to rub away at a grease stain. "Pathetic, isn't it?" She smiled grimly, laughing silently at some morbid joke. "You'd think I'd want to part ways after he left me…especially after he left me like he did…" She fingered her wedding band. "Yes, I still love him. He was…he is…everything to me."
The memory rang in everyone's mind as they stared at Aralyn, who was clinging to Sephiroth, burying her head in his shoulders. The stark reality came down as a severe blow.
Avalanche looked on in silence at the woman they had known and loved for months.
The woman who was the wife of Sephiroth.