Shadows still remain
By Yuffie Valentine
Cloud walked alone in the woods outside of the snow city. She was gone, Aeris was gone. He couldn't believe it; one of his best friends was dead. She was so full of joy and was smiling. Did she know it was coming, the end?
Now, in the morning, they would head down the mountain and go to the crater. There he would get his revenge.
"What am I doing out here?" Cloud asked himself. He hadn't noticed he walked out into the wild of nowhere; he was so deep in thought. It was about a mile out of the snow city now.
"Cloud?" a voice called out.
He turned around to see Yuffie standing there in her night gear, which was a very long t-shirt that went down to her knees. It had a large chocobo picture on it. She had bought it as a souvenir at Gold Saucer, but the only had size XXXL left.
"Yuffie what are you doing out here? You are going to freeze in just a t-shirt!" Cloud said.
"I followed you when you got out of bed, I thought you were going to fight or something. I didn't want you to go alone." Yuffie said.
"Yuffie, we need to get you back to the inn, you are going to get sick." Cloud said concerned. He put his hand to hers; she was as cold as ice. "God, why didn't you grab some shoes and a coat?"
"I didn't think you were going so far." Yuffie said with a shiver. "What are you doing out here in battle gear with your sword?"
"I don't know….." Cloud said. He just had the feeling he had to come out here, he wasn't sure.
"He is hunting, can't you see?" a voice called out fro above. Yuffie and Cloud looked up.
"Sephiroth!" Yuffie let out with a gasp. She grabbed Cloud. Sephiroth landed in front of the two.
"Dear ninja girl, don't be afraid. This was all planned. I used my bond with this puppet to bring him out here. I knew either you or Tifa would follow him out here. Then the game is set." Sephiroth said. He gave a smile.
"What game?" Cloud asked as he drew his sword and put Yuffie Behind him, shielding her.
"Why, the oldest game in the world. The hunt. Where predator chases down prey and then kills it." Sephiroth said and moved closer to Cloud.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I am not being your prey." Cloud said.
"Oh, I never planned for you to be the prey, it's this cute little rabbit behind you." Sephiroth gave a smile to Yuffie.
"Cloud, I can't fight him, I don't have a weapon!" Yuffie cried out. She moved closer to Cloud. Her body heat was dropping it was so cold and frightening out here. She wanted to be back at the inn. Cloud could protect her better there.
"Don't worry, I am not going to let him hurt anyone else, especially you or any other of the team." Cloud said and took battle stance.
"Again, you are mistaken, I am not the killer tonight, I am merely the man pulling the strings." Sephiroth said and tapped Cloud on the shoulder. The anger in Cloud's face turned to panic. He couldn't move.
"Yuffie?" Cloud asked.
"Yes?" Yuffie let out of her mouth, she was shaking with frozen fear.
"Run!" Cloud yelled out.
"What?" Yuffie said.
"Just run and don't look back damn it! Run as fast as you can and don't stop no matter what I say after this." Cloud said.
Yuffie's eyes widen. She turned and began to run a full out sprint. It was a mile or two to the city. She knew if she just put the pain of the cold past her she could make it in about ten minutes. Her feet were numb and she was already losing feeling to her body.
"No, don't make me do this. It's evil. Just fight me, let her go!" Cloud said. He could feel Sephiroth entering his mind and taking control. His hands were no longer his and his body moved by it self. He started to think crazy thoughts.
"Sorry my friend, I have to see how much control I have over you, this is a little test. No kill the girl!" Sephiroth said in a chill tone.
"Yes master." Cloud said. He turned emotionless and started to sprint after the footprints. He was no longer Cloud, he was a puppet.
Yuffie gasped for breath. It can't be, she was lost in these woods? She had lived in woodland most of her life, how could she get lost.
"Damn it!" Yuffie said. " I am too good of a fighter for this to happen to me. I am Yuffie, I am champion of Wuati."
She heard foot steps in the distance. She wasn't sure who is was but she wasn't going to find. She tried to run again but it was just too cold. She sat down in the snow and started to feel under it for a weapon of any kind. She found a large branch. She knew this would do shit against a sword, but she wouldn't die without a fight.
"Stay back!" Yuffie yelled out. She raised the branch in the air. She could see to Mako green eyes glowing in the dark. They lighted up Cloud's face. "Cloud?"
"…." Cloud said nothing. His face as cold as the snow beneath him, he continues to walk towards Yuffie.
"Cloud, what happen with Sephiroth? Why did you tell me to run, I could have helped some how, I do carry material on me you know." Yuffie said. Cloud just walked silently towards her. His face, it was like when he was looking at Aeris right before she died. Then it clicked in Yuffie's mind what was going on.
"Quiet Rabbit, this will go faster." Cloud said in a manic voice.
"No Cloud, No! Don't do this, you don't want to hurt me!" Yuffie said she got to her feet, her legs barely being able to hold her up. Cloud raised the sword to her neck.
"Shhhh!" He said. He pulled back ready to strike. Yuffie reached into her nightgown and pulled out two materia, she didn't know which two; she had stolen them from Cid's spear on the way out the door. One was 'enemy skills' and the other was 'luck plus'.
'Great.' Yuffie thought to herself, 'I am armed with the two worse materia for this battle.' She didn't have much to do; she pulled back her arm and pitch the 'luck plus' like a baseball at Cloud. It hit him right in the middle of his face. He dropped the sword and held his face.
Cloud tried to stop the bleeding, as he was doing this Yuffie grabbed the sword from the ground. She took battle stance with the sword, it was hard since it was heavy and she was so weaken by the cold.
"Hmph, you'll never be able to swing that, you are too weak. I'll just steal it back, so give it over and make this faster." Cloud said. His voice was not his own, it sounded like Sephiroth.
"You are right, I can't handle this sword." Yuffie said. She lifted it and threw it deep into a deep brush.
"Well, I don't need a sword to beat you." Cloud said. He jumped up and tackled her to the ground. His hands wrapping firmly around her neck.
"Cloud NO!" Yuffie cried out and gasped. She kicked at his back and clawed at his arm, but he was totally out of it. The blood covering his face dripped down on to her. "Cloud please, snap out of it."
"Huh?" Cloud said, for a second he snapped out of it, he saw Yuffie laying in the snow barely breathing. Her stomach covered in blood. She looked just…. just like….Aeris. It was just like the sight in the hidden city of the Anicents.
"Keep doing it, kill her!" A voice cried out in his head. He looked down at Yuffie her eyes started to close.
"So cold, can't stay awake." Yuffie said.
"Cloud, save her. You can't let another one go. She is your friend." A small boy's voice cried out in his head. "Look at her, she is going to die out here. You can't let this happen again."
"Again?" Cloud asked. Images of Aeris being stabbed ran through his mind. The gut turning feeling came back to him he felt that night. He grabbed his head. "NOOOOOOOOO Yuffie!"
"Shame, a failure to the end." Sephiroth said from behind Cloud. "Once again I am going to have to finish your dirty work."
"You can't see she is a child, leave her alone, this isn't something she should have to do." Cloud said. He started to stand up.
"Wasn't it around this age that you went through the cloning, age 16?" Sephiroth smirked. "Well, you are right, I shouldn't kill her or you tonight, I'll let the night air do that for me."
"You're leaving here?" Cloud asked. "Just come and lead us out here to die?"
"Yes, you have a problem with that?" Sephiroth asked. Sephiroth gave Cloud a swift kick in the head, sending Cloud to the ground again. It made the hero dizzy and confused. Cloud was silent as the demon flew up into the sky and disappeared like he has before. Cloud looked over at Yuffie laying in the blizzard that had begun. He crawled back to her and lay down next to her. Her body was ice and her eyes were shut.
"It's okay Yuffie, you aren't alone. We are going to go to sleep and go see Aeris." Cloud said and wrapped his arms around Yuffie.
Her eyes fluttered briefly and her lips opened, "I want to go home."
"We are going home, home to the planet. This is it Yuffie, no more battles, no more Jenova, no more Shinra, just bliss. We'll wake up in a better world." Cloud said. He started to feel sleepy as the cold soaked through his clothes.
"No Cloud, we have to go home, to Vincent and Tifa and
Barret.
"They need you too don't they?" Cloud asked. Yuffie rested her head on one of Cloud's arms.
"No, Cloud, I am just a normal girl, you are something special." Yuffie said, " I feel it when we are in battle, you have what it takes to go all the way."
"Yeah, but I need friends to get there. I lost one, a few actually. I can't go on losing them. That's why you and me are leaving this world." Cloud said. His eyes closed and he went limp. He tried to talk, but nothing. He could still hear Yuffie breathing gentely.
"I love you….Cloud?" Yuffie said. She went limp too. Cloud opened his eyes to see a light coming towards him.
"Yuffie, I think this is the end. Sleep, we'll be with Aeris, Biggs, Jessie, Wedge, and everyone else. We'll get to see our mothers. Yuffie?" Cloud looked at her, she had stop breathing. He closed his eyes and began to sleep.
"Cloud? Cloud?" a soft female voice called out in the darkness to him. He knew this voice well. Tifa? Had Tifa died too? Had Sephiroth killed the rest of his friends? Cloud opened his eyes. He was looking at the ceiling of the snow inn. Tifa and Red XIII were on either side of his bed.
"What happened?" Cloud asked. Tifa brushed her hand against his face.
"You are okay now. We found you in the woods next to Yuffie. We aren't sure how you got out there, we were hoping you could tell us?" Red XIII said. Cloud say now that the light he thought was the guiding light to the after life was actually Red XIII flame tail.
"Where is Yuffie?" Cloud asked. Tifa looked away, she let out a sigh.
"Yuffie is with Cid and Vincent. They are taking her to a very good doctor that lives in Midgar. She wasn't doing too well when we found you. I don't know right know what is going on, they won't answer their PHS." Tifa said and put a warm cloth on Cloud's forehead. "You are doing a lot better though."
"It's my fault, she wanted for me to keep going, but I was foolish. Just like Aeris, she wanted me to keep going too, but I stayed depressed." Cloud said. He looked away. A ring from the PHS on the nightstand broke his train of thought. Tifa picked it up.
"Hello? Vincent, what is going on? Why did it take so long to call?" Tifa said, she listened as Vincent talked. "But is she alright?" More silence in the room as she listened. Cloud watched Tifa's face turn pale. "She is strong, she'll pull through." Tifa said it half hearted. Cloud tried to strain to hear, but he could only hear mutters of Vincent's voice. "She'll wake up soon, right?" The mutters were low. "What do you mean they don't know?" Cloud was trying to piece everything together. "A coma? She can't be, what do doctors know anyways?" Tifa threw the PHS across the room and laid her arms in her head and begun to cry.
"A coma?" Red XIII asked, "That isn't too bad right?"
Cloud patted Red XII on the head and gave him a silence sign. Tifa was going through so much. She had to admit that she wanted to end up with Cloud in the end, but she didn't want Yuffie and Aeris to have to die for her to get this. She rather Aeris be alive and have Cloud. She wanted her friends more then she wanted love.
"Tifa, Cid just called me on the PHS. He is going to pick us up and we are going to go see Yuffie." Barret said. He looked at Cloud. "You think you'll be okay for traveling?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cloud said sitting up. A voice in his head let out a laugh
'Cloud, be sure to finish the job when you visit her.' Sephiroth's voice echoed. Cloud curled up and shook his head.
"NOOOOOO! LEAVE US ALONE!" Cloud yelled out and grabbed his head!
The End
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