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[ Sephiroth was right. It didn't make any sense. For all intents and purposes, Cloud couldn't place himself in the shoes of the bastard who fed him such a lie. The woman he met in the Crystal Cave...her place in this narrative was wiped from Shinra's history, conveniently so. Maybe...they were doubling down on Sephiroth's manufactured destiny. A thought that twists the blond's stomach.

Seeing the silver-haired general war with this information, only builds the tension. Yet it feels different from before. He still doesn't fear the tilt of his blade. He's walking a very treacherous tightrope. But now, Cloud still feels himself balancing his way across. To his first question, the blond trades the question for a rhetorical suggestion. ]

Ask that son of a bitch, Hojo.

[ It's too soon to drop the even heftier bombshell as to who his father was. Drip by drip. Breadcrumb by breadcrumb. So long as Cloud doesn't stop supplying a path for Sephiroth to follow, he'll tell him everything. This detour is almost done. It has to come back to Nibelheim soon. What was inside the Reactor. Why there was so much tension and distance between Sephiroth and many others from their shared world. ]

... .... .....

[ "Who?" ]

[ Was tiptoeing around the obvious answer the best way? Cloud wonders this. Backed with the knowledge he wields from the future (thank you Hojo for this tidbit. shudder), he stares up at Sephiroth. This time, that stoic deliverance is dulled. His mako-infused eyes are tinged with something else. Before, he would think and look upon his fate-bound nemesis with pity and anger. But...all that's left is the truth.

Sadness. One step above despair. ]

You.

[ Let him try. Let him pull you out of this cycle of despair. He has to clear the air. Now. ]

Hojo took Jenova's cells and injected them directly into a fetus. While you were still in your mother's womb.

[ Project S. That was the result. Cloud never knew the true name of the project, nor did he care. But that's what it ultimately boils down to. Angeal and Genesis degraded, whilst Sephiroth remained the 'perfect' being. A cut above the rest. All because science went too far and they foolishly thought they were reviving the Cetra. What was thought to be the beginning of a shining future for Shinra, became just another door opening the way towards a dark end. ]

Jenova's not your Mother, Sephiroth. All Shinra cared about was birthing someone who could lead them to the Promised Land.

[ And they unwittingly used a dark harbinger to attempt it. ]

[You, Cloud says, and it confirms the suspicions already circling around his head like dread specters, and for a moment his thoughts crowd only with Genesis and Angeal again, thinking of the single wing that sprouted from the backs of both, their steadfast beliefs that they had been reduced to nothing more than monsters thanks to the machinations of Shinra.

Monsters. Does he have the same kind of contagion flowing through his own veins? Cloud confirms as much, says that his DNA has that of an alien entity laced into each strand. It would make so much sense, why he always feels so different, so far away from the rest of the world, how he knew that he was special but not like his. Never like this.

Cloud’s still talking.]

I—

[He needs to bring himself back. His free hand presses its heel into his forehead, and his brow tight. The world threatens to wheel again.]

Then what does that make me? Just another one of Shinra’s creations in a long line of them. [He scoffs, humor so strained that it’s dead on his tongue.] But it makes so much more sense now.

[ Cloud needs to keep talking. If he stopped at the mention of Sephiroth being just another experiment, what good would it do? What would change? Seeing him war with his thoughts and the revelations that make themselves very clear, the blond has to remind himself not to let his feelings get the better of him. Pity, feeling sorry for him... Hell, there's a lot on Cloud's plate that he has yet to reveal to him.

That he soon would be revealing. When his free hand presses to his forehead, the dead scoff filling the space between them, Cloud doesn't try to reach out for him. He will advance, but he will not push. But as Sephiroth speaks of being just another creation of Shinra...

Scientifically speaking? Maybe so... But, with his own brow tight, Cloud decides to step forward. ]

That's not true. [ "SOLDIER is like a den of monsters. Don't go inside." ] You're different. Doesn't mean you're not human.

[ He stares down at his gloved hand then. His lip forms a tight line, a resounding 'Mm' to confirm what he said. ]

Doesn't mean I'm not either.

[ The leather crunches as his hand balls up. ]

I never made SOLDIER. [ There it is. The first lie he spun, despite the mako that remains aglow in his sapphire gaze. ] Just an attempt at recreating one after what happened in Nibelheim.

[The pressure is kept to his forehead, a pivot point to ground him, to keep him focused and hinged on the subject matter at hand. But Cloud’s words reassert something that had threatened to drift askew — the reinforcement of humanity, despite Shinra’s propensity to make one believe otherwise. The science department and all its unfathomable goals and prospects, extending to even to tinkering their DNA to suit their corporate and military purposes.

Something that is not so easily believed by Sephiroth, that wheedles at his insecurities kept close to the chest, but it's enough to draw him out from inside himself.

The sound of leather tightening brings him back a second time, too. Sephiroth lowers his hand, letting it hang loose at his side, and cants his head at Cloud. Strands of silver fall across his face, touched gently by the breeze.]

Your eyes—

[The Mako glow. Cloud even had the battle competence of a SOLDIER, too, and Sephiroth isn’t sure what to think of this. That he was given a lie so easily believed because the man had fit the bill.

Again, it all seems to lead back to Nibelheim.]

All this time... It isn’t that easy to just recreate being a SOLDIER, Cloud. [But they both know that. And as if the conversation is snapping back into place from its slight detour—] You're saying that was a lie? What happened in Nibelheim to make that necessary?

[ As Sephiroth maintains that pressure on his forehead, anchoring himself mentally, that's the one worry on his mind as he observes. Keep speaking, like a weakened current that maintains a semblance of flow. Nothing gets easier after this, but the hurdle is narrowly passed. Humanity. Choice. He may not have been privy to the man's contemplation of abandoning the company after Nibelheim, but had he known... That would only cement Cloud's feelings even more. So long as there are no more lies, no more deceit or living under Shinra's shadow, they are free to choose.

He may not have control of destiny back home. By the time their time comes and everyone has to say goodbye to this planet, for all he knows...everything will be back to the way it was. In a way, thinking of it was depressing. For all their struggles and fighting they do for this world, it's been a bigger reprieve not having to rebuild theirs. Especially with time standing still. The bonds that he's made here... Whether it's newfound companionship, a new lease on life, love, or even...here and now.

Cloud can't deny a very dangerous fact. Sephiroth. This Sephiroth was an ally. The man that Zack trusted. The man that everyone admired. Seeing him here and working alongside him here, witnessing a completely different side of him, his humanity guarded yet...there.

He can't hate him. He can only hate what he's destined to become. As the topic seems to return back to the story of Nibelheim (a much-needed detour aside), he lets out a terse little huff before rubbing the back of his neck. Perhaps the last speck of light in his tone before matters turn dark. ]

Yeah— [ Cloud goofed. ] —Tifa really let me have it for that one...

[ Now. ]

In the Reactor... You found Jenova's name on a sealed door. Along with humans mutated inside the Mako chambers. After that, you holed yourself in the mansion's basement. It's...where you discovered the Jenova Project.

[ The one that falsely diagnosed the Calamity as a Cetra. ]

When you finally came out...you...

[ The rage. The hatred. The misguided vengeance. The sweltering heat that threatened to burn his flesh off his bones. The screams.

If he didn't know Sephiroth as well as he did, just how strong his will truly was, he'd have asked him to sit down for this next part. Cloud thought that he'd be strong enough to explain everything without a single hitch. But in the moment, everything just...hits him. Forcing himself back into that scenario, or even the recent illusion cast upon him. Everything he swore he'd keep locked to his memories, he's confronting all over again. Not for his sake.

But for someone else's. The man he too had committed to stowing in his memories and nothing more. And now look where they are. ]

You killed the townspeople. And burned Nibelheim to the ground.

[ He can only manage to look at Sephiroth for so long before his lips form a thin, tight line. Even now, Cloud struggles to keep the two visages separate. The haunting smile as he tread through the flames in wake of his "mission", as he went off to go see his "mother".

His head is bowed, a damn miracle that his voice hasn't broken in any fashion at all. It's still strong, despite how easy it could be to break. ]

Tifa's Dad... My Mom... I barely stopped you by the time you were back at the Reactor.

[ That's what happened in Nibelheim to make that necessary. He breathes, stepping back towards Sephiroth's side after realizing he'd found himself pacing without his realizing it. ]

When Shinra came in to cover up the incident, Hojo turned Zack and I into his experiments. I...barely remember a thing after that.

[ Or rather, by the time Cloud was conscious and not a vegetable, it was too late to save Zack. ]

[There’s so much he could say. That his future self might stumble across the revelation of Jenova and mistake it for… what? His own legacy? How surreal and wrong it feels, to view it from an outside lens like this; to have it explained so clearly to him, that he can step back and think that it smacks of desperation for anyone to have jumped to that conclusion.

He is not that prone to falsities, is he? He is not that desperate to learn of his mother, his origins, any trace of family that might ground him to his life and make him feel less isolated, that he would cling to the notion of a terrible entity labeled Jenova. His pride — that fault of his can never be erased — decries against it. Tells him to question it. I wouldn’t believe that, he wants to say.

But such notions are swept away under a more terrible admittance, Cloud’s countenance seeming to shake, as though he was fighting back the memories in which he relays. Though the fire he speaks of might burn them all to the ground, the more he dredges up the recollection.

At this, Sephiroth’s knee-jerk reaction is very expected, and in the end, very human.]

No. I wouldn’t do that.

[Tifa’s father? Cloud’s mother? That’s impossible. How would the other man even be able to look at him like he does now, without wanting to take that blade through his middle? He cannot comprehend it, and for a moment, his mind does circles to find ways in which it is as improbable as it sounds, shucking away the evidence of how they’ve acted around him time and time again, ever since his arrival to this planet.]

To what end? I should feel angry with Shinra, and I might think of a few faces to skewer with my sword — but I would never slaughter a whole town of innocents, Cloud. That’s the work of a—

[Wings sprouting from his old friends' back, DNA spliced into DNA, fashioned as something other. And so they cycle back.]

—monster.

[ He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that.

How did it feel to have his conscience split in two? So adamantly on the side of pity, hatred and sound resolve in defeating him every time he'd come back. Only to have it come bearing down like the weight of Masamune on his sword... It's a very human response, and while Cloud hoped that would be the result (morbid no matter the intent), it still rocks him to hear his mortal enemy say this.

The details on their battles don't matter. Not now. ~~Good on Sephiroth to think Cloud ought to run him through! He'd make a killing in gil if anyone bet against him on that call.~~

Monsters... Cloud feels a chill at the word again. How Zack once persisted in SOLDIER being that very breed. At the end of the day, he supposed that anybody with Jenova's cells inside them, even Cloud... Fabricated or modified, if not monsters, they weren't ordinary humans anymore. Yet Sephiroth's reaction, despite the dangers that cycling around and succumbing to the terrifying truth may bring, brings some modicum of clarity to Cloud. He never stopped being careful. But he said what needed to be said. What had to be done.

He's not talking to his enemy. For whatever fleeting time this planet allots them...if there's no way to change the course of destiny? Then Cloud's unwittingly made up his mind by confronting Sephiroth today. He's going to try. Try to save him from himself- before someone comes along to twist the legendary SOLDIER's mind. Again. ]

That's just it... The reports were all you had to go on. That she was some Ancient. And that the Cetra were stripped of their right to rule the Planet. It wasn't that you didn't hate Shinra...

You hated everything.

[ Hated the humans that took the world and the Promised Land away from his "mother". Cloud finally has to take a step back. To turn the other way and gather his bearings. His back is turned to Sephiroth now. Even now, he may remember what every single impalement felt like, but he doesn't fear it here. With his hands on his hips, he lets out an aggravated sigh as he cranes his head up to the orange sky. Short, terse, but...not at what Sephiroth's future self would do.

Cloud shakes his head. You really made a mess of things. Didn't you, Hojo.

Maybe if Gast never left Shinra when he found out the truth... ]

We've been through a lot. But... [ He turns to face Sephiroth again. ] We can stop for now. That's your call.

[He wouldn’t. He has to believe that he wouldn’t, that the malaise and insecurities and all the ugly pieces of him nestled at his core, closer to the verge of breaking than he realizes, would not lead him down that path. Would not overtake his rational mind, because is his mind not made of the same steel as his own body? Would he be so susceptible to believing that he was greater, better, than all those around him? To gratefully accept the lie he spun for himself?

A part of him already knows the answer, a part he does not wish to think about. The side of Sephiroth who feels so different than the rest of the world, who had always wondered at why, if there was ever a moment in which he would feel like he belonged— and not looking at everyone else’s life through a pane of thick glass.

He does not know if what Cloud is telling him now helps or hinders that. He cannot know, it is too much to process, and too fresh. And apparently—]

You mean that there’s more?

[There is also an unflattering part of Sephiroth that will follow the line of revelation no matter how detrimental it might be to his emotional or mental state. To seek answers until they are too much; Cloud should know that, too, realizing what that time in the manor’s library did to him.]

[ Despite the desire to seek further answers, Cloud's taken the man's query to heart and temporarily stowed it for now. He's effectively dropped two hefty bombs on the man. It's almost unfair. Should he have simply stated the results of Nibelheim? Or his origins and left it at that? How Sephiroth's taken the news is still very human to him. It's something that Cloud sees, hears, even feels. And it takes damn near most of his mental fortitude to not let sadness seep into those sky blue eyes of his. Regardless of his fate, Cloud wasn't talking to some experiment who was bred to be a weapon to find the Promised Land.

He was talking to a man. But he can't take back what's been said. He can't regret it. Because he was talking to a person... That's why unless Sephiroth persists, Cloud is going to stop for now. A frown mars his lips. And while he doesn't say it outloud, it's written all over his face. Something that he would never, ever be able to stomach saying to his mortal nemesis. To the one that would falsify himself to impending godhood.

This was to the man he once called his hero... ]

Yeah.

[ He's sorry. ]

Now you know why we were trying to be discreet. [ A pause that's punctuated by a brush of wind between them. He huffs, not quite a laugh. But it's bittersweet. This isn't something to joke about in any capacity. But he can at least conceded to the man in front of him. ] And doing a bad job of it apparently.

[The pause in the flow of conversation is a blessing, even if it doesn’t feel that way to Sephiroth. Any hitch is a deterrent from the truth that is slowly unfurling before him, swallowing him whole, and he tends Cloud’s scoff with one of his own — humorless, dry, so cutting it’s a surprise it does not make his throat bleed on the way out.]

I would rather hear the truth than to be kept in the dark, no matter how badly you’ve managed it. Shinra has been pulling apart lives with their falsities for too long; even those I used to call friends had everything shattered for them, because of—

[He stops himself, tries to rein in the emotion creeping through the cracks in the armor, for however long it’s managed to hold. A miracle unto itself.

He shakes his head, silver bangs swaying.]

I want to know everything. Cloud, tell me.

[ Everything. Everything is a very dangerous road to travel. And in due time, perhaps he will need to do exactly that. If only to grant Sephiroth...this Sephiroth, the solace he's owed. The truth is, the world at large saw him as a legend. Not as a monster. That was for Shinra's scientists to weave and manipulate.

...even if the twisted truth was all for Sephiroth to take, and to make his ill-gotten decision from. Tampering with time and destiny was a risky gamble. And it may not do too much in the end, but at least for now, there's little else to do.

Could it be possible, that if he were ever sent back yet recalled here again...if he retained his memories of this planet...

Cloud inwardly shudders to think of the amalgamation of ideals that would create. With the past, present and future colliding. May it never come to that. ]

Guess it's only right, now.

[ On that note? The blond will start to walk, only slowing to spare a glance over his shoulder. ]

C'mon. I'll explain while we walk.

[ Where to? Whose to say? Cloud just feels the anxiety creeping the longer he stands still with such a heavy topic. Perhaps it's back to the city. To Level 1. Wherever their feet may take them, or even just to change the scenery. ]

[That anxiety is shared, though perhaps it manifests in Sephiroth a different way — like claws hooking into his insides and waiting to tear at his organs as soon as the next round of terrible truths weigh heavily upon them.

He watches Cloud walk for a beat or two, a frown deeply etched into usually placid features, then follows a length behind. Sephiroth’s gait is long, and it’ll be easy enough to catch up to Cloud without even having to try.

Without hesitation—]

What happened after Nibelheim? You said you stopped me, but how? You were an infantryman.

Up at the reactor after you beat Zack... I took his sword and ran you through while you were grabbing Jenova.

[ "Mom... Tifa...My town...give it back..." ]

The rest is kind of a blur after I tried finishing you off. All I remember was you stabbing me...and me somehow throwing you over the side of the walkway.

[ Never to be seen again. ...or so everyone thought. ]

I can't tell you what all happened after Nibelheim. Save that Shinra rebuilt the town and covered up the incident...

[ Then a deeper frown sits on the blond's lips as he stares up at Sephiroth...and then looks ahead once more. His breath clips. ]

While Zack and I were turned into Hojo's new experiments.

[Despite everything, Hojo’s name never fails to unearth a bone-deep discontent from Sephiroth — perhaps now more than ever before. And though the news of his death, in a way he never would have expected, is definitely jarring, this is the greater of the sin to focus upon.]

What experiments, exactly?

[He knows the reach of that man’s madness, though perhaps not as intimately as he initially thought. But Cloud seems whole and hale, which is more than what can usually be expected.]

You look unscathed enough.

[If only he knew how very wrong that is.]

[ He can't give explicit detail, but only because Cloud's recollection of it is spotty at best. ...and like a distorted nightmare at worse. The only times in which his eyes even dare to take on that more alien shape were during Sanguis or when he felt the pull of Jenova's cells calling to him. On the surface, save his remarkable strength and eyes cast aglow in mako, Sephiroth's observation was astute.

But that's just it... The truth wasn't found on the surface. And as Cloud decides to look up at Sephiroth, he stands his ground behind what he says next. Boy oh boy, the legacy he left behind... ]

Sephiroth Clones...

[ It says a lot about how far he's come, that mentioning those two words didn't send his brain into a tizzy. That his mind didn't start fraying at what he once perceived as contradictions. He even pauses after saying that, lips parted as his eyes subtly widen. A subconscious revelation that...yes. He's moved on. Cloud really did have his own mind and memories back. He can keep going.

He will keep going. ]

Along with the mako infusion process, Hojo injected me with Jenova's cells... [ Or to be more specific, ] Your cells.

Apparently I was a failure. [ So he didn't get a number. Thank god for that. ]

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