Chapter Two

It took another long moment of silence for Cloud to even begin to process Sephiroth's declaration.

"Me?!" he finally burst out. "Oh no. I don't have those kinds of powers. Okay, sure, maybe I made an illusion before, but this . . . ! This is in a whole other league! I can't . . ."

And as he rambled on, he remembered all too well what Merlin had said was the only way to break through a poison literally fashioned from hate.

"Someone must want with all their heart for the victim to live."

In essence, true love.

Cloud stumbled to his feet, backing up towards the doorway. "You're fine now, right?! I don't know what happened. I didn't fix it, that's for sure! Go talk to Merlin. He was trying to find Zack for you. He said Zack was your only hope! That means it couldn't have been me! I . . ." And he tripped over the buster sword and fell backwards to sit down hard on the floor amid the fallen feathers. Several flew up from the impact and landed on Cloud's head.

Sephiroth winced. But, once he was sure Cloud wasn't hurt, he smirked and said, "Really, Cloud? The idea is so abhorrent to you?" He got to his feet.

"Don't tell me you're not finding it really, really weird," Cloud muttered. "No, unbelievable."

"I might, only I'm alive and you're here," Sephiroth remarked. "I heard you and Merlin discussing the poison before I fell completely unaware." His eyes darkened. "I've seen that poison used before. It's a death sentence unless positive feelings as strong or stronger than the negative feelings are present."

"But . . . it couldn't have been me," Cloud rasped. "I'm probably the one who made the spell possible instead! The sorcerer or whoever could have easily used my hateful feelings to make it!" He gripped the carpet. "I haven't forgiven you for what happened to Zack. There's no way I could care about you enough to break the spell!"

Something flickered in Sephiroth's eyes. "I don't understand it either," he said. "And I doubt I'd believe it if it wasn't that you're the only person in the room. What other explanation is there?"

"See here! What's going . . ." Merlin trailed off as he hurried into the room, followed closely by Leon and Yuffie. They all gawked. "Sephiroth?! You're alive?!"

With anyone else, Yuffie might have made a "Captain Obvious" comment. But she respected Merlin enough that in this case she didn't. Anyway, she was too busy staring.

Sephiroth turned to look at Merlin. "Yes, I am. I don't know how that's possible if not for Cloud, but he vehemently denies being responsible."

"I just know I couldn't be," Cloud said. He finally pulled himself to his feet, still unaware of the blue feathers in his hair. "You said it takes true love, right?! I don't love him! I don't even like him!"

"Well." Merlin laughed awkwardly, puzzled but intrigued. "This is certainly an unusual situation. Yes, the poison can only be cured by true love. It had to have been you, Cloud. We were completely unable to make contact with Zack. But I must say, this is the first time I've ever encountered the rescuer not being aware of their own feelings even after reviving the victim!"

Sephiroth's wings slackened at the news that Zack had not been found. "If even you cannot find him, there surely isn't any hope left that he's alive," he said quietly.

"There most certainly is!" Merlin insisted. "My spell doesn't reach across every world in existence! And there could be other reasons why I couldn't make contact. If he didn't recognize the call, for instance."

Sephiroth stared at him. "Zack might be out there wandering with amnesia and your crystal ball couldn't pick him up?!"

"It's set to pick him up by his heart," Merlin explained. "If his heart is hopelessly confused—such as with amnesia, yes—it will be much harder to make contact. Not impossible, mind you, but it would take much greater concentration and zeroing in on a particular aura. With only thirty minutes, there hadn't been time for that."

"Let's come back to that problem," Leon spoke up. "Why don't you tell us what happened to you?"

Yuffie vigorously nodded. "Yeah! I mean, not just anybody could get the drop on you, right?!"

"I don't know who it was," Sephiroth said. "These childish thugs surrounded me and started unleashing greater magic than I would have thought possible for them to know. And while I was occupied dealing with all of them, someone came out of the shadows, stabbed me in the back, and faded away just as quickly."

"Like a ninja?!" Yuffie asked.

"Perhaps," Sephiroth agreed. "I didn't see them at all."

"So, mysterious ninjas stabbing overpowered winged men with a poison only high-level evil sorcerers have access to," Leon summed up. "While meanwhile thugs off the street suddenly know advanced magic. What were they using?"

"Mostly Ice magic," Sephiroth said. "Whoever is behind this must have given them that knowledge so my Fire magic would be at a disadvantage."

Merlin's expression deepened in concern. "This is disturbing," he said. "Sephiroth, have you angered any evil sorcerers lately?"

Sephiroth gave him a dark smirk. "Some people believe I'm one myself," he remarked. "And no, I haven't. At least, not to my knowledge. I haven't even traveled in quite some time."

Merlin glanced to Cloud. "Ah yes. Well, come with me and we'll look through my database of evil sorcerers. See if anyone looks familiar. Maybe one was visiting here and you got on their bad side."

Cloud looked around awkwardly. "I think I'll just . . . go find Tifa and Aerith," he mumbled.

Sephiroth reached out, plucking one of the feathers out of Cloud's hair and presenting it to him. "You might want to do something about this first."

Leon snarked.

Cloud flushed a deep red that almost matched his cloak and wildly ran his hands through his hair. Several more feathers were extracted and floated to the carpet. "Is that all of them?" he grumbled.

"Sure, but now your hair's spikier than ever," Leon said.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Who cares." He stalked off.

Yuffie tilted her head. "He's . . . really gonna have a hard time with this, isn't he?"

"Probably," Leon said.

"Hm," was all Sephiroth would comment as he walked off with Merlin.

Merlin waited to speak until they were alone. "Well, Sephiroth, how do you feel about all this?" he asked as they settled in his library. With a wave of his hand, he brought down a large tome for them to look at.

Sephiroth shook his head. "I don't know. I'm not sure I've completely processed it. You're sure it had to be Cloud?"

"I see no other explanation," Merlin said. "And honestly, it's not quite as surprising as all that." He frowned a bit. "We could hear Cloud ranting and raving while we were trying to contact Zack. He could not accept that you were dying and he continually screamed for you to wake up. Occasionally he would fall silent for a moment and resume screaming before long. The last thing we heard before you and he started conversing was that it sounded as though he was crying."

Sephiroth stared at him. "That's . . . hard to believe." Try impossible. "But I realize that if you say that's what you heard, it must have happened." He sank down in a chair. "I knew Cloud realized he didn't want to kill me himself, but I never thought it would bother him if someone else took care of it."

Merlin gave him a kind smile. "You have a loyal friend in him, Sephiroth. It just . . . may take him some time to actually accept that he has those feelings."

"He admitted he still hates me because of what happened to Zack," Sephiroth said. "How could he possibly love me at all, let alone enough to save my life?"

"They do say love and hate are closely related," Merlin mused.

Sephiroth grunted. That was a philosophical conversation he didn't want to have right now. He looked to the book. "Let's forget about that and try to make some sense out of what happened that started this mess," he said.

Merlin nodded. "Yes, we should." He opened the book. "Take your time looking at everyone. I tried to find pictures of their natural forms as well as any disguises they've taken on."

"Alright." Sephiroth sighed as he began studying the book. It would no doubt be a long night. Hopefully this search would at least be productive.

xxxx

It was a relief when Cloud found Tifa and Aerith working on Aerith's garden at the girls' house. They likely hadn't heard all the commotion down the street. On the other hand, that meant he would have to tell them, which he wasn't thrilled about either. But maybe they could help him make sense of everything. He needed something to make sense again. Right now, it felt like nothing ever could.

Tifa looked up first. "Cloud!" She frowned. "What happened this time?"

Cloud scowled. "It's that obvious something did?"

"Mm-hmm," said Aerith. "Let's go inside and talk."

Soon they were settled on the couch in the living room and Cloud was leaning forward, lacing his fingers as he rested his arms on his lap.

". . . Sephiroth was attacked tonight," he began.

They stared at him in shock. While they knew Sephiroth must be at the heart of the problem, they had not expected something like this.

"Is he alright?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah, he's fine." Cloud straightened. "But that's what doesn't make sense. He was stabbed by a knife with some weird poison that Merlin says is made from hateful feelings. The only antidote is . . ." He made a face. It sounded inane just to say it. "True love."

The girls looked at each other, then back to Cloud.

"Sephiroth was dying. Yuffie went and got me for some reason and I saw him lying there. Merlin started trying to find Zack because we all thought Zack was the only one who could save Sephiroth. He didn't have any luck with that, by the way.

"I stayed with Sephiroth and he was dying and I . . . I tried to save him, but I couldn't. Nothing normal was working. Then he was dead and I . . . didn't feel free at all." He leaned forward again, his bangs hiding his eyes. "I just wanted him to come back. And . . . somehow he did."

"'Somehow'?" Aerith repeated. "Didn't you have to do something to get him back?"

"I don't know," Cloud muttered.

"Did you kiss him?"

Now Cloud wished the couch would swallow him up. "No!" he snapped. "Well . . . not unless the artificial respiration counts. I'm pretty sure it doesn't count."

Tifa gave him a kind and serious look. "What happened, Cloud?"

Cloud sighed. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. When I knew he was dead, I . . . I kept trying to get him back anyway. I couldn't. And . . . I don't know, it's stupid. I started crying." He looked away. "I guess it splashed on Sephiroth or something. That was when he woke up and the wound was gone. But just . . ." He looked to Tifa and Aerith in utter, agonized bewilderment. "I don't care about him! How could I have possibly got him back?!"

Aerith gave him a Look. "So let me get this straight. Sephiroth was dying. You stayed with him and kept trying to save his life. You did everything you could think of to do that, but nothing worked. And when he died anyway, you tried harder to save him. Then you started crying when you realized it was hopeless. And you can't even see the obvious?"

Tifa sighed. "Oh Cloud. . . ."

"You absolutely care about that man, Mister!" Aerith said.

"How?!" Cloud burst out. "How can I?! That makes no sense! He's always bothering me. He's saying weird things that mess with my head. And . . ." His voice darkened. "He killed Zack."

Pain went through Aerith's eyes at the reminder of their lost friend. But she firmly replied, "Cloud, you know that's not true. What happened was a tragic accident. But . . . you're not the only person who blames Sephiroth for it. He does himself."

Cloud frowned. "How do you know?"

"He told me," Aerith said. "He said you will never forgive him for what happened, and he won't either."

Cloud scowled and looked away. "He deserves it."

Tifa frowned at that. "Cloud, remember that before all of that happened with Zack, you loved Sephiroth. You looked up to him, idolized him. When Zack was . . . lost, your world came crashing down. You'd lost your best friend . . . and you'd also lost your idol. But that love you had for him never really went away, did it? When you saw him dying tonight, you remembered that. And you saved his life because of it."

Cloud sighed. ". . . Maybe I did." He leaned back, looking to her. "But . . . what do I do about it now? How do I deal with him from here on out?"

"Maybe you should start by finding out who tried to kill him," Aerith said. "That sounds pretty serious."

Cloud frowned. "It is. You're right. If some evil sorcerer is that mad at him, they'll probably try again."

"Then find out about that," Tifa encouraged. "Maybe in the process of trying to solve the mystery, you'll figure out your feelings about Sephiroth too."

Aerith nodded. "Also, Cloud, remember that even though everything went so tragically wrong, Sephiroth's intentions were good. He wasn't looking for dark magic to gain more power; he was trying to save us from the Heartless. He's never been the same since Zack was lost and he doesn't come around publicly as a hero anymore. I think he still does what he can behind the scenes, but he probably doesn't feel worthy of the glory after what happened." She laid a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Just some food for thought."

Cloud sighed. "Yeah. The road to Hell's paved with good intentions, you know."

"Now that wasn't the point I was after and you know it," Aerith said. "Sephiroth didn't keep going down that path, as far as I know."

"But he tries to make me go down it," Cloud muttered.

"Does he? Hmm, I wonder," Aerith mused.

Cloud gave her a look. "Do you know something you're not saying, Aerith?"

She just smiled. "You should ask Sephiroth what he's trying to do instead of asking me."

"Sephiroth never gives me a straight answer about anything," Cloud retorted.

"Maybe he does and you're just not listening well enough," Aerith said lightly.

"Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?" Cloud scowled.

Aerith sobered. "There shouldn't have to be a 'side,'" she said. "Why do you and Sephiroth have to be enemies? Especially after this?"

Cloud looked away. "I don't know. . . ." He sighed. "I guess . . . maybe I should try to have a serious talk with Sephiroth, huh?"

Aerith nodded. "And not just get mad about everything he says. Have you ever actually had a conversation with him when you didn't fly off the handle after he said a few words?"

Cloud snorted. "It's pretty hard not to, considering what those words are."

"Aerith has a good point," Tifa spoke up. "I haven't been happy about how Sephiroth's acted with you either, but now that it's starting to look like things aren't what we thought, I'd like to know what he's really up to myself."

"He's actually willing to talk if you approach him with an open mind," Aerith said.

". . . You've talked to him, haven't you?!" Cloud suddenly realized.

Aerith looked amused at how long it had taken that to dawn on Cloud. "Yes, I have. I went outside to talk to him after that last incident. He had hoped you would come out, but . . . well . . ." She shrugged.

"You're not going to reveal his secrets, though, are you?" Cloud scowled.

"I think it's Sephiroth's right to tell you himself," Aerith replied. "If you'll let him."

"You're sure he wasn't just lying to you and messing with your head?" Cloud looked wary as he asked this.

"Of course that's possible," Aerith admitted. "But I really don't think so."

"Where is he now?" Tifa asked.

"Still at Merlin's, I think," Cloud said. "They were going to look at Merlin's database of evil sorcerers."

"There's enough of them to fill a database?" Tifa frowned.

"Guess so." Cloud sighed. "Maybe I'll go back over there . . . or just go home and wait. . . . Sephiroth will probably show up there when he's done. He always hangs around." The irritation seeped into his voice with that statement, but even as he said it, he found that he wasn't really that annoyed right now. Sephiroth was alive. Cloud didn't want him to be dead. He wanted Sephiroth to be physically capable of hanging around, no matter how frustrating it was.

"Or you could wait here," Tifa said, "if you don't want to be alone."

Cloud considered that and nodded. "Yeah. . . . Maybe I'll just stay here. He'll probably show up here if I'm not home." He leaned back into the couch. For a long moment he stayed silent, thinking. Then, finally, he spoke again.

"Why . . . why would anyone hate Sephiroth so much that they would use a poison made of hate on him? Why not just kill him normally? I mean, if they'd set up a situation where they could distract him long enough to poison him, why not just use a regular knife or even . . . impale him with a sword or something?"

"I don't know," Tifa said. "Maybe they thought he'd survive any normal wounds they could give him."

"And that there was no way he'd survive the poison." Cloud's shoulders and wing slumped. "That's . . . that's so sick."

"And it's sad too," Aerith said softly, "to think of him not having anyone who cared enough to save him." And she smiled. "But it turns out he does."

Cloud went red. There was no other explanation and yet it still seemed impossible.

"Me," he said aloud. "He has me."

And he still didn't know how to feel about that.