The sky split open. Black Whispers screamed across Midgar’s ruins, clawing shattered towers and broken steel. Their screeches echoed like the cries of a dying world as the group ran for their lives.
“Don’t stop!” Tifa shouted.
Cloud’s boots pounded debris, the Buster Sword heavy in his grip. Shadows chased them, faster than wind.
“Damn things won’t quit!” Barret growled, unloading rounds into the dark.
“They’re not just spirits,” Aerith whispered, chest heaving. “They’re arbiters of fate.”
A blast rocked the ground. The group staggered—then silence. From the mist, he appeared. Silver hair flowing. Green, catlike eyes. Still. Unchanged.
“…No,” Cloud breathed.
Tifa’s eyes widened. “That’s—”
Sephiroth moved through the chaos untouched. The wind bowed to him. His coat rippled like a god’s mantle. His gaze locked on Cloud—cold, curious.
“You still don’t understand,” he said softly, voice like silk over steel. Calm. Measured. Like a lullaby before the blade.
Barret raised his arm. “You gotta be kidding me!”
Sephiroth didn’t blink. “The planet bleeds. Time twists. Yet still, you walk the same path.” He stepped closer.
“There are seven seconds until the end… what will you do with it?”
Cloud froze. Sephiroth tilted his head, like studying a puzzle.
“You’ve felt it. That flicker unraveling inside you. This world—it's false. You were meant for more.”
Then—gone. Vanished into thin air. The Whispers faded. And for a breathless moment, Midgar held still.
Later – Kalm, inn.
The fire crackled. The group sat in silence.
“You deserve to know the truth,” Cloud said quietly.
He told them of SOLDIER. Of Sephiroth. Of Nibelheim. “He changed. Started speaking like something… not human.”
His voice dropped. “He said his mother was Jenova. He found her in the reactor.”
Barret squinted. “That… creature from Shinra?”
Cloud nodded. “He called her a calamity from the skies. a Ancient, like aerith."
“He destroyed everything. I tried to stop him. That’s all I remember.”
Tifa stared at the flames, her mind spinning. Later, she sat with Aerith. conflicted.
“Do you remember where Cloud was during those five years?”
“Maybe,” Aerith replied. “But… I think the Whispers took that memory.”
Tifa looked down. “I don’t recall him in Nibelheim at all.”
Aerith nodded. “It doesn’t add up.”
Tifa stood up, restless, and decided to confront cloud about it.
Outside Cloud’s room. She knocked. “Hey… you awake?”
The door opened. Cloud stood—sword on back, eyes hollow. “Yeah.”
“Come to the roof.”
Upstairs, the lights flickered. Then—he appeared. Sephiroth. Leaning against the banister. Then suddenly in front of Cloud, too close. “You saw me kill her, Cloud,” he whispered. “So who is she?”
Cloud gripped the railing.
“She bled for you. Screamed. You remember, don’t you? Her wounds were deep. Could she really survive?”
Then—gone. Cloud looked down. Nothing. Just the innkeeper below.
On the roof, Tifa stood, facing the stars. “Nibelheim.Five years ago—I—”
“I have a question,” Cloud interrupted.
“Okay?”
“I saw you. Bleeding. On the ground. I thought…”
“You thought I was dead?” Her voice cracked.
He said nothing.
She stepped closer, anger rising. “What? You think I’m not real?”
Silence.
“You don’t believe me? Fine.” She lifted her shirt, revealing a scar. “Is this proof?”
He looked at her scar then looked away, distant.
“Where have you even been these past 5 years!?”
“…You know I can’t tell you.”
Her jaw clenched. “I thought we could go back. Maybe I was wrong.”
Cloud responded, coldly and distant. “Yeah… guess you were”
She walked back inside, and went to her room, shutting the door behind her. Cloud followed back inside, and went to his room. Cloud then laid down in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Barret and Red XIII watched him, knowing expressions. “You two fight?” Barret asked him.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Night.”
Cloud said nothing more. Whispers echoed in his mind. pictures of a Silver haired man. Green eyes. That voice…
“Seven seconds till the end. One choice. Stop the pain…just let go…”
And finally… cloud closed his eyes.