Kanzenna, Part Four (revised edit)

"Cloud," Sephiroth breathed, "remember Nibelhelm?" Nibelhelm.....my hometown?

Cloud's vision ate itself in a cloud of white light, the last thing he saw before the light became too brilliant Sephiroth's nervous smile. When he could see again, he was standing in the village square, everything just as he remembered...the quaint houses, the Shin-Ra mansion in the background, the fresh mountain air so unlike the polluted fumes of the city. And all these sounds ringing in his ears....Cloud jumped as he realised he could hear all the conversations taking place inside the houses. /Settle down.../ /Keep quiet, they'll hear us/ /They gave me some new materia!/ /You belong to me, Cloud/ /Mother, let's take back the planet together/ /Sephiroth...I think I love you/ /Tifa's waiting for you, Cloud/ /Just a few more minutes, I don't want to leave you/ /I'll always be here when you wake up, Cloud/ /My family, my hometown! Everything!/ Cloud felt salty tears coursing down his cheeks with the pain and the joy those forgotten memories brought to him, as if the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle had been slotted into his mind and it was complete, whole again. Within, a younger Cloud smiled and carried on running through the mountains, unburdened by the trials of later life. Later love. And then Nibelhelm was gone, and he was back in his dingy apartment, Sephiroth's face very close to his own, his very presence electrifying. Cloud shook his head slowly, trying to make sense of all he had just seen. He felt...healed. Sephiroth smiled, a real smile, not the smug grin Cloud had seen when he'd killed Aeris, nor the insane leer Sephiroth had worn at Jenova's chamber. A smile that said, I've finally done something good for you. Exhausted from the strength of the emotions he's just relived, Cloud tried to speak. /Sephiroth...did you care about me?/ /More than anything, Cloud. Believe that, even if you don't believe anything else I've said to you tonight/ /I think...I think I do believe it/ And then Sephiroth's hands were in his hair, stroking it, running his fingers through it. Cloud, amazed at the strength of his sudden feelings, raised his lips, offering himself to Sephiroth in his entirety, a whole person. He felt gentle hands take hold of his jaw and meet his lips with a kiss that felt like flying. A kiss that felt as if Sephiroth let go, he would fall away forever. And then he was falling , Sephiroth shoving him backwards with a sudden force that snatched the breath from his body even as a question was on his lips. The older man raised a gloved finger to his lips, inclining his head as if listening for something. Now Cloud heard it too: footsteps on the gravel pathway that led up to his apartment. "Aeris," he mouthed stealthily at his...friend? lover? He wasn't sure. Sephiroth's face darkened, as if a sudden shadow fell across it.

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