"cloud, we can only outrun destiny for so long.." sephiroth frowned, glancing down at the hand that squeezed his own so tightly, urging him to keep up. "in the end, they will once more pit us against one another until we are torn apart by drastic means." what would it be this time, turned to ash when the world burns? one remaining while the other joins the stars above? or watching the other die to some other cosmic force that is not by means of their respected blade?

the male in question shook his head. "i don't care." he bit back immediately, out of breath. "we're not.. gonna end up following the same fucking narrative again- i'm tired of it. i'm tired of outside factors deciding our lives for us." horrible upbringings for every lifetime and the pressure of either being passed on the torch of destroying the planet or protecting it. it was exhaustingly repetitive, and outright cruel.

why them? why, of all the people inhabiting gaia, did it have to be them? could it not have been someone else? or nobody at all?

cloud never asked for this. never asked to carry the weight of the world and everyone else's wants on his shoulders. never asked for losing those he loved, and certainly never asked to be pitted against his other half. all he had ever wanted was to make a better life for himself and someday fight alongside the great war hero that had brought a ray of hope to his life.

and all sephiroth had ever wanted was a normal life. one without needles and discipline, one of free choice and liberty to think for himself- to do what he wanted to do and simply live the life that many others surrounding him had lived and taken for granted, all without having to lose anybody he dared allowed into his fragile heart.

instead, the planet and calamity found it sickeningly amusing to cast him in the role of the antagonist that had scorched the hometown of the one person that could have truly been the pillar of stability he had searched for all his life, and made an enemy out of him.

how ironic, to finally meet the one person that could have mended everything and made all the torment worth enduring, only to end up ultimately destroying each other's lives.

the look on the former general's face was pensive, bittersweet. "this is something beyond us, cloud.. i fear that resistance will be but fleeting- simply postponing the inevitable." he tried again, pursing his lips together. "the outcome will always turn out the same, no matter how differently we go about the way in which our stories play out." he couldn't count how many worlds he had traveled to now, filled with diverse tellings of the same narrative, but an equally similar outcome at the end, no matter how long it took to reach it.

this was just one of many worlds doomed to eventually fall as well, yet cloud.. cloud held firmly.

with gritted teeth, the self-proclaimed SOLDIER paused in his tracks, nearly crashing into his once nemesis to glare up at him. "this is not going to end up the same- you told me before that we could change things, that our destiny.. could be altered." he retorted frantically, mako tinted sapphires glossing in the light of the moon. "what happened to that? we did things differently- we're not.. we're not enemies here, everything's fine between us, w-we haven't hurt each other, either." inhale, exhale. "so why.. why are things not working out for us? it was supposed to work this time — you said it would!” what felt like eons ago now of that conversation they’d held at the edge of creation — a plane comprised solely of them two, proved to be a sliver of hope. a reassurance that it was possible to change fate if they worked together.

but it just, wasn't working.

they had tried, and tried, and tried some more. but the key events always played out the same way; the deaths avoided simply took place earlier or later, the black materia would still summon meteor, cloud would still lose his hometown to the wrath of his beloved under the poisonous influence of jenova, and then he would die at his hand.

"cloud, i.." sephiroth whispered brokenly, squeezing the other's hand. what was there left to say, when even he had no answers to those questions? "i know. and i am doing everything within my capabilities to go against the odds for us to be together without us being ruined in the process, but.." no matter what, it will just continue to end with my life being claimed by your blade, or the demise of this wretched planet.

the blond parted his lips to bite back a retort, only to close them soon after, as though understanding what was left unsaid. the good and bad endings, except to them- they were both bad. "so then, am i just.. not meant to be with you?"

cracked, slitted emeralds hardened with intensity as the taller trudged forward, pulling the shorter into the type of hug capable of knocking the breath out of a person from how little proximity is left behind. "you are meant to be with me- we fit together so perfectly like this, cloud." he breathed into the nest of golden tufts, squeezing the middle of his back as though the other might fade from his fingertips if he didn't. "you were made to be mine. neither the planet, nor jenova can tear you away from me or have you with another. i will not allow it."

he had lost just about everyone he had cared for throughout the course of his existence, cloud was his lifeline. sephiroth would not allow him to be paired with anyone other than himself. not the girlfriend of zack, nor the childhood friend of his beloved, and above all, gaia.

with shaky hands, the spiky haired mercenary brought them to wrap around his once nemesis' slim waist, letting out a breath into the chest he was met with as he burrowed his face deeper to hear the heartbeat separated by flesh and bone. "but they keep on trying to tear us apart.." he muttered hopelessly, tightening his grasp on the leather jacket beneath his gloved palms. "i-i can't kill you again, sephiroth- i can't do that.. they can't make me do it again. you said i'm yours, but what good is being yours if you're not mine, too? i'll be all alone again, i.." i just can't.

"you'll never be alone, cloud." the silver haired male cut in, shifting one hand to cradle the back of the other's head to his sternum. "a part of me is always inside of you, and will always allow for me to return to you. i am yours, and shall always be yours, that much is true." he reaffirmed, perhaps as a reassurance to himself, too. "the lifestream will never truly allow me to die and become one with the fallen due to my cells. the same would apply to you, in theory." with the amount of jenova's blood coursing through his veins, the planet would always spit him right back out, as though poisoned by his presence. it would be similar for his other half, as they shared the same infectious cells from the great calamity.

cloud shifted against him, biting his bottom lip to prevent it from trembling. "but if i die, it would be over for the both of us.." he whispered, looking up at him with unshed tears. "wouldn't it?"

it was his persisting memory of sephiroth that kept him alive, wasn't it? aside from the lifestream rejecting him for no longer fully being of the planet, it was the blond's memories that kept him whole.

silence befell the older as he gazed into the other's eyes, weighing the words that were expressed to him before letting out a hum. "i am.. uncertain." he answered at length, glancing away for a moment before returning his jade-colored orbs to expectant sapphire ones. "so i would rather not find out. you will not die on my watch, cloud. i would have this planet scorched and wiped off the face of the galaxy before it takes you away from me. your life is mine, as my own is yours."

for once, cloud found himself unable to protest against the planetary destruction. he was just so over everything, all he wanted was just to live a normal life with the silver that lined him.

he allowed himself to lean into the leather clad hand that now moved to cup his cheek, catching a stray tear. sephiroth's eyes were prettier up close, all of him was.

wordlessly, cloud got on the tips of his toes to claim the rosewood lips of his greatest adversary- his everything, as he had proclaimed in one of their lifetimes.

it wasn't as their usual kisses would be, packed with undying fervor, teeth and tongue, or those brief, delicate ones they would exchange. rather, it was filled with desperation, the want to forever share breath as though the air surrounding them had been polluted- death.

a twitch could be felt in his veins, one that made the ex-SOLDIER's right hand tremble, reluctantly falling from the quilted leather to reach behind him for a hilt protruding from his harness of blades.

a sphere of swirling nebulas appeared without request within the left palm of the former general, turning up begrudgingly against the sweater-like material to face the soon to be rust filled welkin.

tears streamed freely down freckled cheeks, salt tainting the flavor of their unyielding lip-lock. the end was nigh, the warmth of the great comet could be felt even from where they stood, kissing the planet's surface as the brightness flickered against the shimmer of first tsurugi.

an unspoken apology hung in the air as rouge colored the leathers separating skin from meeting skin, the taste of iron melting with what could be mistaken as seawater, and sweet death.

even still, neither dared to break away from the other, not wanting to let go even as another world came tumbling down.

notes. perhaps i should have put a warning for there not being a happy ending.. um, my bad guys</3 i hope it was okay despite the short length! if i had more time i would have done something more but school said no and gave me speeches to write instead😔

tysm for reading! consider leaving a tip if you enjoyed<3

whorls of darkish velvet and purplish hues encapsulated cloud, eyes never tearing from the orb capable of calling upon the destruction of the planet- a great comet.

in the background, there were muffled noises to be heard — it sounded like his friends, but their words had been somewhat incoherent. likely irrelevant, in that case. SOLIDER hearing outnumbered that of a normal human, and a first class like him was sure to pick up on such with ease.

for whatever reason, sephiroth had pestered him for days on end, moments upon moments; urging him to collect this infamous materia. in the beginning it felt stupid, annoying even- like a trap waiting to be sprung.

now, he understood.

of course, the smart choice would have been to ignore his whims and not find the artifact his former hero had sought after, but curiosity got the better of him. there was an undeniable desire to have the ball of horrors- a relentless pull that reeled him into eager claws that dug themselves into the confines of his mind, ever so deeply.

mako tinted sapphires glimmered, reflecting the dark nebula within his palm before a hand suddenly, and rudely, enveloped it.

snapped from his daze, the blond shot his head up, grabbing onto the broad wrist on instinct as a deep frown etched onto his lips. it was his friend barrett- he had taken the black materia. why had he done that? it was his- he had fought for it.

“that’s mine!” he blurted in a voice that felt detached from his own, as though five years had been shaved off. it was younger, a plea likely to come from a petulant teenager who had a precious item plucked from their grasp as discipline.

but cloud hadn’t done anything wrong, what business did his comrade have taking what he had acquired fair and square?

the leader of avalanche gave him a long, skeptical look before letting out a scoff, tossing the sphere of horrors over his shoulder. "fine. fetch."

a brief panic splashed itself across the merc's visage as he broke into a small jog for the clattering ball, fearful of the bottomless abyss below. if it tumbled over the edge.. what would he do then? how would he live with himself knowing he had failed to complete such a simple task in obtaining the materia sephiroth had asked him for?

sephiroth.

before the glowing orb of evil could meet its end over the edge, it came to a soft halt against an awaiting pair of black boots, stopping perfectly before the man himself.

dazed, cloud found himself looking up at the self-proclaimed heir of the planet, mako-tinted orbs flashing. "sephiroth.." he called without thinking, a string of confused noises echoing from behind him, though he couldn't find it in him to care much. not with the ethereal sight that beheld him.

the man in question seemed to pick the materia up for himself, a feline-like smirk appearing on his lips. "this is the key.." he began, not addressing anyone in particular, and yet everyone all that the same time. "which grants access to the true counterpart hidden between worlds."

cloud hung onto every word like a moth drawn to a flame, almost missing the blur of pink, red and brown come up by his left. aerith? why was she swatting for the hand that contained the black materia? it wasn't hers.

as though sephiroth had known that too, his figure rose from the broken off path that once led into the ancients' temple before she could close in on him, hovering a few meters above the space he once occupied as the streams within the ball of nebulas materialized into billows of reddish-purple.

utterly captivated, the spiky haired male could only watch in astonishment as whispers swarmed the man he once still idolized, lips parting slightly. "the black materia.." he breathed out, unable to tear his gaze away as he prodded closer toward the edge, shaking his head when aerith mentioned the whispers. it wasn't them. they were there, yes- but could she not clearly see who they orbited? the embodiment of majesty that stood proudly amidst them?

"no.." he corrected calmly, brushing past the lighter haired brunette with little care for her being. "sephiroth."

by this point, said male had lowered himself back down to the newly arranged bundle of oversized.. branches? is that what they were? cloud couldn't be bothered with the technicalities, as he felt a pull towards the center where his enemy everything stood, feeling his heart patter increasingly louder. it was ultimately the call of a siren in the form of a shimmering treasure, held up by the human, or rather demi-god, personification of the mythical creature.

realizing this, the former hero plastered a smile reserved solely for him, an endearing crease to the corners of his eyes as he extended a leather covered palm toward the shorter, prompting him. "i'm waiting, cloud."

somehow the SOLDIER in question felt heavy, as though something was both pulling and pushing him away all at the same time; why was that? he wanted the black materia, and sephiroth was generous enough to stop it from descending into the abyss. of course he should retrieve it, he would be foolish to waste their combined efforts.

with a wince and a series of struggling noises, cloud fought that contradicting feeling he felt and staggered toward the threshold, pausing a few paces away to watch with eager eyes as the shimmering sphere rematerialized itself within the grasp of his enemy. gaia, it was mesmerizing, utterly beautiful. he had to have it, it had to be his- theirs.

flexing his fingers, sephiroth allowed the ancients' treasure to drop from his gloved fingers toward the blond, bouncing only seven times before eager paws were scrambling forward to scoop it gingerly towards their face.

the panting that spilled from pale pink lips was like music to his ears the more he continued to eye his sweet little nemesis, stepping forward with empyrean grace until those doe, mako coated sapphires were staring up at him once more. narrowed only to him, as though nothing else had existed in that moment. because nothing had; it was only him, a storm of whispers and the black materia, with his general at the center.

"rise, cloud." said general urged, holding out a hand once more to his knelt emissary. "bring it to me." he purred out, a repetition of a command that cloud had heard a numerous amount of times already that it had become engraved- instilled into the very bones and nerves of his body to move as told.

wordlessly, albeit with parted lips, the mercenary stood to his feet, walking up to the other with an outstretched palm to deliver the glowing orb as requested. after all, sephiroth was benevolent enough to salvage it before it could fall into the endless fog below. naturally, he should bring him what he'd asked for him to obtain.

then, a weight slammed into his right. a body, to be precise.

aerith? no.

one glance toward his flank, and he found his childhood friend, tifa- or at least, she looked like tifa, arms encircled tightly around his right bicep while aerith.. aerith was now holding the black materia?

the beating heart lodged between his lungs quickened, air restricting within the depths of his hollowed chest. no.. no, he could not have another person take it away from him, he had to fulfill his duty- it was to be brought to sephiroth. the man had asked only one thing of him, he could not fail to deliver. it was theirs, no one else's.

"aerith!" he called out as though he'd broken the surface of a violent sea, extending the hand of the arm that was being occupied by the marital artist beside him. "please!" the flower girl was nice, she had been kind to him since their first meeting, so then.. why was she running away from him now? why was tifa holding him back from approaching-?

was that what they had been whispering about throughout their journey together, whenever they went off ahead, giggling on their own? was this what they hadn't wanted him to hear about; a plot to ultimately sabotage him when it truly counted?

tifa continued to tug him back, wincing at his squirms, "cloud!" she cried out in worry, "snap out of it!" but snap out of what?

his lips parted to question what she had meant, turning his head slowly towards her before freezing up at the velvet that poured into his ear.

"yes, cloud."

glancing to his left, he was met with the sight of his hero, smiling fondly down at him. "snap out of it."

what was he thinking? of course it was jenova again, toying with his head in the form of his deceased friend, and sephiroth had seen through that!

gathering the strength to his right, he shoved the imposter away without tearing his gaze from the swirling darkness cradled against the half-cetra's chest, trudging forward with glinting, teal hues.

'tifa' bellowed out behind him to stop, though it fell on deaf ears, as had the other female's words in regards to receiving the materia. why were they being so difficult? they had claimed to be his friends, and yet..

a gentle smile lifted sephiroth's lips just by the corners, liquid moonlight spilling forward as he leaned down to the other's height, "if she won't give it to us," he softly began, watching as the sheen of distance slowly leaked out from cloud's gaze when he drew in a breath. "we must take it."

pupils dilated to a considerable diameter, and once more, his feet began to pad toward the ancient now surrounded by cloaked, floating figures of smoke and going eyes, steps growing increasingly faster. "aerith! let's talk." he called out with something akin to a giggle, as if it had been a game of tag. and perhaps, it might've been.

she wasn't responding, after all, what better was it than the park game children often played?

"i need it.." cloud added a bit lower this time, a sternness seeping into his voice. "give it to me." he tried again, heart in his throat, "please..? you can trust me.." unlike the others, he never hid secrets or discussed topics in private that lead to mutiny like this, practically embarrassing him in front of sephiroth. "let's save the planet together.. aerith." she liked to hear that, right? they would be saving the planet in allowing sephiroth to have the black materia, wouldn't they? and he would set everything right once more. precisely why he needed to deliver the powerful sphere to him, the savior of their crumbling world.

where the branch broke off, the emerald eyed girl came to a stuttered halt, letting out a strained exhale as the blond closed in on her, reaching out his hand. "the orb, aerith." he addressed a bit more firmly this time.

violence wasn't something cloud wanted to resort to. hurting his friends was the last thing he had wanted to do, but they were making it increasingly difficult not to take such measures.

the female furrowed her brows, lowering her head as her grip tightened behind her back on the artifact at the sight of the jade eyed male looming behind her ally before letting out a breath of defeat.

"whatever happens," a sad smile seemed to graze aerith's lips when she brought her hands before her, whisps of pink emerging from the ball within her hold, "i'm here for you."

with those final words expressed, the object traveled toward cloud's awaiting palms, dropping into their expectant hold before he tipped his head, politely. "thank you." at last, he could bring sephiroth what he'd asked for- who had now been standing at the center of the makeshift bridge, patiently awaiting the exchange.

eagerness seemed to seep into the steps he took as he nearly jogged up to his hero with a bowed head, holding his hands out in offering once he was close enough. the entire situation felt like gifting something to a god, and perhaps, that was exactly what this was. sephiroth had claimed to be the chosen one, made to rule the withering planet they all inhabited. what different was he from divinity?

leather caressed leather ever so lightly, and cloud felt butterflies at the pit of his stomach when he finally looked up with hopeful eyes, awaiting the words he had waited to hear his entire life. the ones he had dreamt of being voiced to him as he gazed upon the poster that hung in his old bedroom, now turned into ash alongside his past ambitions. but, that was fine- the real thing was standing right in front of him- a piece of paper that was once an unattainable dream was no more.

"did i.. do a good job?" he whispered the words when his patience could no longer withstand his curiosities, the corners of his lips twitching into the tiniest of smiles.

the successor of calamity gave a contemplative hum at the question, tilting his head. "i believe you have.. perhaps a reward is in order?" he offered, pressing the black materia to his pectoral. "would you like that, cloud?"

a reward? from sephiroth?

oh.. cloud could hardly contain himself any longer, he was practically vibrating in his boots, beaming up at his cherished idol with stars in his eyes at the possibilities. a caress on the head? words of praise? knuckles offered out to kiss? or perhaps, even a peck on his own lips, if he was truly so deserving...

he stepped up closer, nodding zealously. "y-yes, sir..!" he returned in a fashion he would have once upon a time ago, back when sephiroth had endearingly referred to him zack as a puppy. "i would like that very-"

alas, fate had other plans in store for them.

"tifa, now!" aerith's voiced sliced through the lovely moment the blond had been sharing with his hero, startling him as he noted the blur that came up behind the looming figure before him.

panicked, the SOLDIER swiveled around his superior to shield his broad back, drawing up his arms to cross over his face in an attempt to brace against the unbridled strength of his friend.

it hurt, as though the impact carried the force of shockwaves created by natural disasters, an ache unlike any other spreading across the expanse of his limbs. however, it mattered little. sephiroth was safe, he was not injured- and he would not allow him to be, not by anyone. least of all his own friends, who continued to test his trust in them.

"cloud??" his imposter of a childhood friend gasped out in horror, flinching her hand back from his forearms, though the damage was already done. "have you completely lost your mind?!"

has he? no, but she certainly had.

the male in question lowered his bruised arms with a deadened expression, reaching behind his back. "don't think i'm falling for that shit again." he answered instead, wrapping his fingers around the hilt of his weapon. "i was gonna let you and aerith off with a warning for conspiring, pretty much lying behind my back, and interfering for the last time after you finally handed us the black materia.. but you just couldn't let it go, could you?" he countered venomously, shaking his head with a humorless laugh. "i might have tolerated everything else, but this?"

anger spilled from his lips, a nurtured rage that he'd been asked to fill his hollowed heart with. "i draw a line at hurting sephiroth."

mouth agape, tifa knitted her brows in disbelief, appalled by what she was hearing. "you're.. you're actually serious?" she exhaled, cradling her fist to her chest, which was gradually beginning to tremble. "he's turning you against us, don't you see that??"

cloud pursed his lips together, the pinch between his own brows unyielding. what was he meant to see? there was nothing to be seen, other than the treachery before him.

at his growing silence, sephiroth placed a comforting hand over his shoulder, leaning into his ear with that same pleased smile from before. "she is deceiving you, cloud.. sullying the image of your dear, departed friend to come between our reunion, and has recruited the cetra to join her cause." he whispered, honeyed words that melted into cloud's ear like the warmth of a great hearth on a harsh winter morn in nibelheim. "do not be swindled by her accusations. for i.. am with you. never once have i lied to you, have i?" he murmured kindly, resting his chin against the crook of his neck whilst holding the hurt, wine eyes burning a few paces from him.

“you know the truth. trust in me.”

a slow shake of his head was the beginning of his response as he swallowed the lump lodged in the back of his throat. "no, you.. you never lied to me." the blond answered quietly, hyperaware of the breath currently grazing his cheek. sephiroth was so close to him now, he'd practically felt like utter jelly beneath the blazing hot sun, thawing underneath its powerful rays. the entire northern region yielding to the heat of a fallen star- meteor.

the son of jenova smiled. "very good, cloud. now then, you know what you must do." he continued tenderly, carding his fingers down the length of his arm. "if your friends do not wish to cooperate with our goals in saving the planet, then i'm afraid.. that makes them our enemies."

cloud nodded solemnly, tightening his hold on the hilt of the buster before drawing it at last, stalking towards the mirage of his childhood friend. "i will.. do what i must."

tifa stumbled backwards as the spiky haired male began to close the distance, a wave of deja vu washing over her. the scene was almost identical to the incident at the gongaga reactor, only this time..

this time, cloud would not fail.

"cloud, don't!" aerith cried out from where she stood behind him, jogging forward, though sephiroth blocked her way, smirking darkly.

"i believe you have meddled long enough where your hands should not be." he chuckled out, raising his free hand to call upon the whispers once more. "you did well on allowing destiny to unravel as it was fated to, but your ambitions got the better of you.. shame."

aerith narrowed her viridian eyes, thrashing against the swarm of dark cloaks. “you won’t win-!! cloud is.. b-better than this,” she gasped out, flailing her arms in an attempt to swat them away, “he won’t join you!”

“mm, but that is where you are wrong, flower girl.” the general mused out, approaching her with calculated grace before leaning forward, “he’s been mine since the day he hung my poster up on his bedroom wall.”

because at the end of the day, cloud would always succumb to his deeply, rooted wants of being with him. he had wanted so badly to join SOLDIER to be like sephiroth- to one day fight alongside him, and hear saccharine praises spill from his divine lips. regardless of how much he might suppress those dreams or fight them off, within his empty little heart, he knew.

with the conversation all but drowned out, cloud's lips formed that same chilling smile that had overtaken his features earlier in the temple of the ancients, angling his blade over his right shoulder. it felt.. comfortable. sephiroth fought that way, and it worked for him at the gongaga reactor. perhaps it won’t fail him again here.

tifa, horrified by the saucers in her eyes, seemed to stumble backwards until there were no longer any dark roots left to step on. the rest of the party seemed all but blocked off by a particularly large branch, whispers shielding off any pathway into the threshold. she was all alone, with aerith nearing her own end as well.

“cloud, please!” she cried out, clenching her fists against her chest. “this isn’t you! fight him, i know that you can!”

but what was there to fight? for once, the blond had felt light. floating above the clouds, caressed by a serenity offered by the stars and moon. there were no headaches, no invisible weight of the entire world on his shoulders, and no guilt of his incompetence. at last, he felt peace.. and tifa wanted to take that away from him? what childhood friend would do that?

“there’s nothing to fight.” he answered calmly, stopping in front of her. “this is me. and if that is something you can’t accept, then..” cloud paused, sweeping his blade forward. “you really aren’t her.”

a scream that hadn’t quite translated into sound left the bartender’s mouth, horror etching onto the half-cetra’s visage as she helplessly watched, unable to move towards her.

“TIFA!!!” aerith wailed out, squirming against the flurry of black robes before at last breaking free of their suppression. almost as if they had intentionally waited until the deed was done before at last granting her mobility when it would be too late.

sephiroth sported that same pleased smile, stepping to the side with leisure while the former lover of fair bolted towards the scene, even going as far as to jump after the martial artist. how foolishly sweet.

with distant eyes, the ex-SOLDIER looked over the edge, feeling a strange flood of despair fill his chest. an ache he could not quite place his finger on, though it left as quick as it came when a broad hand touched his hip, curling almost possessively.

“good boy,” sephiroth whispered into his ear, peering over his pauldron covered shoulder. “you’ve honored your dear friend’s memory by eliminating the imposter. pity, the cetra seemed to have.. fallen, for the act.” he sighed out glumly, though his rosewood appendages told another story.

cloud, still fixated on the void below, found himself nodding absentmindedly, not fully sure of what he was agreeing with, or of how to respond. he had felt happiness at pleasing sephiroth, and yet..

as if sensing the conflict within his hollow little heart, the male in question slid a hand beneath his chin, tilting it away from the scene to meet his gaze.

emerald nearly swallowed sapphire as the blond blinked up at him slowly, feeling the sorrowful coldness all but vaporize into a blazing, fervent heat. a warmth that flooded his freckled cheeks like roses blooming on spring morning, as his veins sang with elation upon being touched. the voices were gone, the pain had subdued, dissipated even, and the weight was nearly gone- all from a singular caress.

unknowingly, he found himself leaning into the smooth leather, loosing a shuddered breath at the bliss of nothingness in his head. “it’s quiet.” cloud muttered out, closing his eyes.

sephiroth smiled fondly down at him. “isn’t it?” he hummed in agreement, tracing the bone of his cheek. “as though the agony is all but nonexistent, and the invasive voices are no longer present to muddle your thoughts." the former general continued, tucking a strand of gold behind his ear. "do you know why that is?"

a singular word, amidst the serenity within his head, echoed in response- a saccharine covered word unlike the poison filled ones that frequented his mind. "reunion.." it felt forbidden, yet familiar to say; like it belonged on his tongue- to be shared wholly with the hero of his dreams.

"that's right." he returned in a soft voice, pleased to hear that the other was finally beginning to understand. without the two girls to keep him clinging onto a sense of self that he no longer was or ever would be, at last, cloud, the real one, could be his. "our cells sang out to one another in the time that we have been apart.. and at last, reunited as we now are, they harmonize into a symphony of much anticipated peace."

cloud hung on the last word, looking down for a moment. "peace.." he echoed quietly in return, mirroring the smile that was given to him. although it left as quick as it took residence on across his features. "but-" an important detail that he felt foolish to have forgotten so easily. "..what about the planet?" despite everything, shinra was still out there. a sliver of bliss right now could not possibly erase the damage done to the world as they knew it.

regardless of how ecstatic he had felt to be praised and held by the star of his wildest dreams, there was much to be done.

having expected the comment, the corners of sephiroth's eyes creased ( reminiscent of the adoring gaze a cat would bestow only to those worthy ), as he leaned in closely- only a breath away from the latter's lips. "worry not, cloud. we shall save the planet.. together." he murmured back in reassurance, brushing a thumb against the tiny piercing that glimmered amidst spiky tufts. "the time will come to do so soon. until then, we shall leave. this place has served its purpose well."

the ex-SOLDIER found himself shuddering when his earring was touched, but nodded either way. he had found and delivered the black materia, there was no longer any reason for their being there.

"except that maybe the others-"

"cloud," the feline eyed SOLDIER addressed, pulling the blond from his thoughts as his head snapped up to meet his gaze once more, having lowered without his notice.

"yes, sir-!" he blurted in reply, mentally scolding himself for spacing out so carelessly. how embarrassing, in front of the famed hero, no less! "where to next..?" his journey up until now had revolved around finding sephiroth, and now that they were reunited..

the smile gracing the one winged angel's lips more or less contorted into a smirk, a soft chuckle slipping past them. "towards the northern continent, where my true body resides." he purred out, lowering the hand curved against cloud's freckled cheek to draw him in closer by the waist. "destiny awaits us there."

notes. this has been rotting in my drafts since october and spawned because my monkey brain was locked away by a load of essays i had due for class, meanwhile it was itching, CRAVING to spew word vomit from this scene.. and then i got distracted because i got shoved down the sonic rabbit hole man.. anyway, i hope you all had great holidays if you celebrated! best believe i will do my best to contribute for sfkr week.. coming soon.

tysm for reading! consider leaving a tip if you enjoyed<3