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Sephiroth walked through the ruins of an abandoned village. This place used to prosper when there was a mako reactor, but now that they were being shut down, there was no reason for people to continue living in the desolate wasteland around them.
Sephiroth didn’t have to search for long. His steps were sure and just as every single time before, Sephiroth found him immediately.
But something was different this time.
His opponent was not standing defiantly, broadsword ready at hand, eyes full of killing intent as usual. He wasn’t standing at all.
Sephiroth watched the limp form of the blonde warrior lying in front of him, resting against a wall of ruined house, huddled in a cloak, breathing evenly even in the cold wind of that day’s foul weather.
He seemed so tired, dark bags under his eyes, characteristic chocobo hair all ruffled up. So defenceless.
Sephiroth could very easily slide Masamune through his heart just like that, with zero resistance.
But what would be the fun in that?
Killing him just like that would be such a waste.
So instead, he was compelled to sit right next to him.
The man must have been so very exhausted, for it did not wake him up. Sephiroth could notice the goose bumps on his skin from this close. He himself only marginally noticed the coldness. The freezing wind would not harm his immortal form in any meaningful way. But it had to be detrimental to the less perfect human next to him, and Sephiroth didn’t wish for his capabilities to be reduced before he wakes up. So he lifted his back a little, carefully so as to not wake him up, and slid his huge black wing behind him.
He rolled the wing around the smaller fighter, who only sighed in sleep, and relaxed more as he leaned against his shoulder.
Sephiroth was surprised by the close contact, but the same force that led him to this place made it feel pleasant, so he relaxed too.
This… wasn’t bad actually.
He himself felt this weariness, after all the time they spent combating each other. Plus he didn't really know what else to do, when he wasn't attacking him. With so much of his memories long eroded to the lifestream except for his most precious core, he couldn't find much other purpose anyway. So he would just wait for him to wake up.
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When Cloud awoke, he was disoriented. But he did not open his eyes at first, wishing to enjoy the comfort of sleep some more. Then he started remembering.
He was so tired before, he just wanted to sit down and close his eyes for a while, in this wasteland where there was nowhere to take a proper shelter. He was cold and aching and exhausted, and he must have fallen asleep for real. What confused him was that right now, he didn’t feel any of the sharp wind that was hitting him mercilessly before. He was enveloped in something fluffy and warm like a blanket, and the thing he was lying on was quite soft too and it smelled of leather and mako and maybe a hint of roses and vanilla and most of all, it felt like reunion.
Cloud abruptly opened eyes with a jerk.
He was met with a curious stare of the mako greens of his nemesis.
“Sephiroth! What the hell!” He swore and then tried to raise immediately, but he was pinned down by the massive ebony wing and a muscular gloved arm on his chest.
“You seemed exhausted. I didn't want to disturb,” said the bigger man nonchalantly, as if it explained everything. “Stop thrashing,” he added, slightly annoyed.
In this disadvantageous position, Cloud could not get enough leverage to wriggle out of his supernaturally strong foe’s hold. So even against his better judgement, Cloud obeyed.
Only at that point it occurred to him that for his slip up, he should have been already dead, with the ridiculously long blade of his enemy protruding from his chest.
So many times in the past Cloud avoided being ended only thanks to killing the silver haired demon first.
However, that was only a temporary solution. Against all laws of nature, Sephiroth always returned to haunt him and cause mayhem and devastation anywhere he descended, which forced Cloud to the life of an outcast.
So after all the unsuccessful attempts… What did Sephiroth want now? Was he just toying with him again? After all this time?
“Why haven't you killed me?” He asked exhaustedly.
Sephiroth observed him for a while, and then replied with a frown: “You sound like you wish I have.”
Cloud looked away.
“Maybe. I am tired,” he said in a hollow voice.
Sephiroth still didn't move.
“We could take a break,” he offered.
Cloud laughed bitterly at that, not believing his ears.
“That’s not how things work! You can't take a break from being mortal enemies!”
Sephiroth surprised Cloud by almost looking sad about that.
”I mean... I can't just leave you running around and sucking the lifestream out of the planet or something. What exactly was your evil plan again?”
Sephiroth frowned again.
“Hmm… something… about going to space…?”
He didn't sound very sure.
That was weird. He used to love to boast about his plans of becoming a god and bending the planet to his will.
“You… don't know?” Cloud asked warily.
Sephiroth stared into empty space.
“It's hard to remember things sometimes… the lifestream always tries to take the memories away, and sometimes it succeeds,” he admitted reluctantly.
“So you don't even remember what your goal is?” Cloud breathed. This was absurd. Almost even more than the fact he was still half lying in his enemy's lap, enjoying the warmth and comfort the black feathers around him provided, having an almost civil conversation, at least for the two of them.
“Why don't you just let the lifestream take you then?! Why return again and again if you don't even know why you're doing this?” Cloud was so shocked he had trouble keeping his voice from breaking.
Sephiroth looked back at him.
“I don't think that would be even possible. A stronger force always pulls me back to you.”
Cloud thought about the implications of that.
“So what would you even do after you killed me if I didn't kill you as usual?”
“But I don't want to kill you Cloud,” Sephiroth hummed with a slight smile. “I have already told you that I will not have you end.”
“Well it doesn't seem so when you keep stabbing me with your stupid giant sword!”
“I find enjoyment in our clashes. You’re the only one that has ever posed a real challenge to me,” Sephiroth replied, as if it was obvious.
Cloud tried to sit again and this time Sephiroth didn’t stop him. Rather than that, the wing followed Cloud’s movements and as he settled on his side, the soft feathers wrapped around him again, still protecting him from the wind in an oddly considerate way.
Cloud saw his sword placed against a wall, few steps out of their reach. He wondered if Sephiroth propped it up there to be able to comfortably settle next to him while he was sleeping. He shuddered again at his carelessness that should have already earned him a one-way trip to lifestream. Now wide awake and alert, Cloud was ready to spring to grab them the second Sephiroth showed any sign of hostility, but so far there didn't seem to be any reason to leave the comfort of his wing.
Well, other than the mere fact that it was freaking Sephiroth who Cloud was sitting shoulder to shoulder with.
The person who tried to destroy this world.
The person who burned down his home town and killed his mother.
The person who killed Aerith.
Cloud felt his throat constricting at the thought that Sephiroth might not even be able to remember all the crimes he committed anymore. Somehow, it made them seem even more pointless and cruel.
“Do you want to fight me again, Cloud?” Sephiroth asked, still wearing a blank smile on his face.
Cloud couldn't remember when was the last time he saw him angry. It had to be many battles ago.
“No. Hell no! I fight you all the time! I'd like to be able to finally do anything else, for fuck’s sake!” Cloud answered, and he was basically shouting by the end.
Sephiroth grimaced in disappointment, but then he quickly muttered: “We can do something else if you want.”
“What?!”
Cloud wasn’t sure who was insane at that point.
He might have just gone mad and hallucinated this conversation.
But the one-winged being at his side looked very real and completely serious with its offer.
“Sephiroth, I- I just can’t believe anything you’re saying. This has to be some very, very sick and stupid trap from you.”
Sephiroth’s brow creased and he was lost in deep thought for a while.
“Maybe… you don’t have to just believe me?” he then said.
“Huh?”
“I used to look into your mind and control you through our shared cells. You might be able to do the same with me!” Sephiroth proclaimed as if he made some fascinating discovery.
Cloud was aware that he sounded like a broken record, but he couldn’t help but exhale another shocked “what?!”
“Try,” Sephiroth removed a glove from his right hand with his teeth and offered Cloud an open palm. “My… remaining... memories are all yours,” he stated.
Cloud stared at the hand.
Seeing his hesitation, Sephiroth clarified: “It’s much easier when touching.”
Cloud continued to stare.
This couldn’t be happening.
He really must have gone completely insane from all the fighting.
How could his biggest enemy be offering him his mind on a silver platter like that?
This was probably the biggest mistake Cloud could make in his life.
But he was morbidly curious at the same time.
He let out a long breath and removed the glove from his left hand as well.
Whatever.
If this was a trap, he had just resigned to care anymore.
He grabbed the hand in front of him. Their fingers intertwined almost on their own.
He looked into the emerald eyes, waiting for Sephiroth patiently to start.
And so he did. It wasn’t very hard to follow the imaginary strand of connection between them. In fact, it was worryingly easy.
Thin-slit pupils blew wide open and round.
And then they were replaced with flashes of radiant green emptiness and the sense of complete weightlessness that made Cloud’s stomach spin.
What is this? He thought.
The lifestream, Sephiroth’s voice silently responded from inside him.
Then, suddenly, flashes of their countless battles started to appear. It was dizzying to see it all from Sephiroth’s point of view, looking into his own face framed by blonde strands and the fierce battle rage showing in his own blue eyes with just a hint of mako green around the pupil.
Cloud tried to steer the flow of memories more into the past, but it was very monotone. His own face was the most dominant image of every single memory. Their surroundings were somewhat hazy and unfocused, as if they were not important enough for Sephiroth to remember properly.
Every battle ended with the sharp pain of mortal wound and another flash of the terrifying green void and a singular thought: My core. I must keep my core safe. And that thought was accompanied by the vision of Cloud again and an intense sense of longing.
The presence of Cloud in Sephiroth’s mind was overwhelming.
He tried to dig past all the images of himself, sometimes uncovering a fleeting moment of something else. But everything was incredibly scattered and blurry, it was hard to make sense of it.
A quick view of foreign war front here, a flash of the inside of some wicked laboratory there. Taste of mako, feeling of needles in his body. Pain. Faces of two people, one with striking red hair and another with black, their names just beyond the reach, accompanied only by a great wave of sadness that had no explanation anymore. A spark of anger. Pages turning, long paragraphs of indiscernible text under his finger. The word monster, accompanied with more anger and a sense of rejection. Flames, flames everywhere. Terrible voice filled his entire being, telling him to kill, to avenge, to dominate. Why? He had no clue. Mother. Where was she? He hasn’t heard her voice for a long time. Maybe she was eroded together with the other memories by lifestream. She wanted him to do something. He didn’t know what. There was something about her that felt like Cloud a little. It was the sense of reunion. Maybe Cloud will know what he was supposed to do?
Wait, I am Cloud, he startled. He was sorting through Sephiroth’s memories for so long it started to be a little hard to recognise them as not his own, since they were all felt and sensed as if they were his.
Yes, you are Cloud. You are the core. You are precious, Sephiroth answered.
Cloud felt like drowning in the stream of another consciousness. Consciousness that was so empty and lonely and so obsessed with him that it was breaking his heart.
Cloud, what was I supposed to do? I am scared, Cloud. I feel like it was important… but I also feel like it hurt a lot.
He withdrew, seeing enough.
For a while he was just dazed, then his own senses started kicking in.
He felt himself shaking with sobs. Still gripping the pale hand so hard their fingers were white.
Another hand was gently wiping hot tears from his cheeks.
There were tears on Sephiroth’s face too, the same emotion shared through the link before Cloud emerged from his mind.
“Did my memories make you sad?” Sephiroth turned head sideways questioningly.
Cloud wordlessly pulled him into an embrace.
This was so twisted.
But there was no point in fighting Sephiroth anymore.
Because the cold, calculating Sephiroth was long gone and the tainting consciousness of Jenova with it. What was left was a pitiful shell constructed entirely around his yearning for Cloud. For how long has he been like this? How has Cloud not noticed sooner?
Part of him still wished he could just continue to exact his vengeance onto Sephiroth and make him suffer even more because he took from Cloud so much before. But Cloud knew that this was no longer an option, and he would never bring him back into the mind-devouring green nothingness ever again.
“Cloud?”
“Yes?” Cloud breathed shakily, his tears soaking into silver hair his face was burrowed in.
“You… recognised some of the shards of memories you saw, right? Would you… would you mind telling me something more about them? I wish to know me again,” Sephiroth asked with a hint of desperation, holding him back tightly.
Cloud nodded into his shoulder.
“I will tell you about… some of them,” he replied. Definitely only some. Sephiroth was better off not knowing all the messed up things that he did or happened to him.
“But there is no point in staying in this barren place anymore. We should move.”
“Move?”
“Yes. You’re coming with me, right?”
Sephiroth retracted so he could see into Cloud’s face, and when he made sure Cloud was not going to back on that statement, he leaned forward and nuzzled his nose against Cloud’s wet cheek in a weird gesture of affection of someone who never offered or received any before.
“I’ll go anywhere with you,” he whispered.
Cloud knew for sure that he would now. What a sick joke the lifestream was playing at them. Cloud would never get rid of his fated adversary, because he was literally the reason he was returning back to life over and over again. Perhaps he could end this all by killing Sephiroth and himself at the same time. But would such a drastic move be even needed at that point?
Maybe… maybe if he was very careful with attempting to restore some of Sephiroth’s mind, he could find some humanity there. Maybe even alive, Sephiroth would no longer be a threat to the planet anymore.
As long as Cloud lives, Sephiroth will too. And with the rest of Jenova no longer existing, but them both being heavily infused with her cells, they would be condemned to eternally gravitate towards each other, no matter how much he would try to resist it. Better be on talking terms then fighting then.
“I think I like this more than fighting,” Sephiroth stated, as if he heard Cloud’s thoughts. Perhaps he did hear them. The visit into Sephiroth’s mind made Cloud much more aware of how their link was ever present.
Cloud tucked his long silver locks softly behind his ears. Sephiroth leaned into his hand greedily and there was a rustling sound coming from his wing as it flapped excitedly. He was so touch-starved. Cloud realised that he didn’t mind the contact at all.
“Well at least it’s not as exhausting,” he sighed in defeat, still expecting to wake up and find out this was all just a bizarre dream.
Before he could think more about it, he stood up. He collected his sword and placed it into the harness on his back.
“Let’s go home,” he called back and then he set out of the ruins with a quick pace.
Sephiroth followed him without hesitation.