A/N ugh, I have the last chapter of Crashing silence like ⅓ done, but I don't want to write it on campus because, well, it's like 80% smut now. Well, this is my life now. Full term. Too much work, I'm away from home till dinner time! Meaning delayed writing
schedules. *sighs*
So… um enjoy this in the meantime? Since it was the easiest thing to conceptualize, being that my major is Psychology, and well, Schizophrenia is pretty much a hot topic at all times.

I don't own shit. Except the concepts behind the whole splitting thing. But the personalities themselves (in Cloud's case) are already established more or less in the original game when you play as Tifa in the lifestream and piece him back together.

As he came to, Cloud noticed two things. First, that the strange mirror of himself was still holding him. Second, that he was laying on his back, the smaller version of himself sitting down to make it easier. Then, as awareness returned
to him in degrees, he noticed other things. Was he seeing… double… no ...triple… wait but.. Shaking his head and blinking a few times, Cloud came to the immediate realization that there were eight Sephiroth's within his line of sight. And each had
something distinctly different about them. The smaller him perked.
"You're up!" It said, looking at him with blank, soulless eyes. Eyes the same poison green as the eight silver assholes around them.
"What the hell is going on?" Cloud asked, blunt. He racked his brain to recall whether or not he'd taken his meds. He was certain he had.
"Well," the nearest Sephiroth answered, his voice a lazily sensual drawl, "You threw holy water and now there's eight of me."
Cloud took a moment to observe the one speaking. This particular one had something extra catlike about him. Longer, lithe-r, more bored in his expression. Something a bit more perversely like caring to his voice than normal. To the blond's immense shock,
the figure (who, he realized, seemed a bit...younger) Had his moonlight colored hair in a high ponytail that draped down to his lumbar. His body was all wiry muscle, very heavily defined but little more in mass than Cloud himself. Eyelashes were the
same long, unbelievably dark and thick featherlike lashes he associated the man with normally. Clothing was.. Strange, for lack of a better word. A longsleeved cropped off top, and leather boots and pants with ten-times the amount of buckles as usual.
Looking around, Cloud noticed all of them were unique. One was the image of a frightened child (looked around seven years old, in nothing but a baggy ...t-shirt? Or was it a hospital gown?) hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. One
was in the usual attire, except, he was entirely shirt/armor less, and looked larger than life, expression pensive. He looked like an image straight off of a billboard. Yet another was nude, nothing but a set of six wings protruding from his lower
abdomen (similar to the fight so many years ago but this had legs, and was relatively human size) hiding the sculpturesque planes of muscle from view. Long claws extended from its hands, and it's hair fell in matted clumps. Cloud shuddered and looked
away, finding yet another.
The next one was dressed in civilian clothes. Some old band tee and cargo pants (belatedly, Cloud realized that he hadn't bothered with combat attire in his rush to arrive, and was dressed similarly himself,) and had his hair pulled over his shoulder.
This normal seeming side was intentionally not looking at him. Awkwardly, Cloud moved on to stare at one that was dressed in a nice suit. The image seemed very off to him, and this figure made him distinctly uncomfortable. It's-his? It's.. hair
was braided and pulled over to the left, and this one sauntered over to greet him, producing a rose from air, and handing it to him. Cloud stared awkwardly for two minutes and turned to look at the one that had come up behind him as this happened.
It was easily more feminine than the others, and seemed to be glaring at the one in the suit. Vaguely, Cloud noted the seemingly permanent dazed look behind the glare, and the possessive way it hovered around him. There was only one left. The one
in the center of the dais, the beating heart of the planet itself used like a throne by this one. Everything about this one, from the way overgrown hair fell around the figure and pooled at it's feet, to the cool and composed posture, to the long
and lean (but toned) form, to the expensive halfway-unbuttoned top and thigh high boots just... oozed power. Regality. Composure. He vaguely noticed small cues, determining what this was all too easily. The silken strands fell individually around
different muscles, the way they fell in particular (like individual threads hanging down, so shiny and metallic) reminded him of some old monologues the man had thrown at him, and he itched to cut it all off, deny the entity this so obvious little
mind game! (For what else could it be for this man to position strands of hair just so, to make them look like little strings that would allow him to…) Despite his enraged feelings toward this particular figure, he couldn't help but look away. The
possessive one behind him took note. Then came the explanation.
"You aren't the only one with different personalities, you know." It cooed into his ear. "I have them too…. But yours are important to me... I have to make sure none of them ever leave-"
"Yan, you're getting off topic." The civilian styled one replied, stepping nearer to Cloud as he spoke, sounding exasperated. He finally looked at the blond then, who instinctively held onto the hand of his mirror beside him. "Each of us you see here
is a different side, a different aspect as you will. A whole persona." With a wide sweep, he gestured. The movement was curt and cut off. No grandiose melodrama, just a clipped explanation. "I," he turned the gesturing inward, pointing to himself,
"am the man you and Zack were friends with. The other personalities call me "pre" as in previous or "Pre-Nibel mission" The possessive asshole breathing down your neck is Yan, short for Yandere. I feel the title is quite self explanatory."
The one who gave him a rose earlier piped up, his voice a low purr "I'm Rom, short for romantic." Rom gave him a caress as he continued. "Of course, I'm never allowed in the forefront. The others say you wouldn't like me." There was an odd lilt to his
voice. Cloud pushed him away with a curt reply.
"Well, it seems they were right."
"How rude.~" the one who greeted him when he first came to purred at him, leaning over just enough to let the ponytail fall between them. "Though I hardly blame you. I am known as Dis. I came from our brief foray into the strange world of Chaos and Cosmos."
Dis seemed to be no less molestation-happy than Rom or Yan were, and Cloud was all to happy to seethe at him. His anger was replied to with a chaste kiss and a condescending expression before the shirtless one came forward.
"The others call me hero. I feel it is likely an ironic name, as I've never really fought for my own cause." He said, seemly so much like the way the man had acted on the news or in interviews. Clipped, cold, and assessing. But there was an obvious warmth
hidden just under the surface.
"Well, why don't you make your own path now?" Cloud inquired. He himself was quite good at that after all.
"I have one now. Though how long you get in the way by jumping headfirst into danger and making it difficult is up to you." At Cloud's confused expression, Hero elaborated. "Well, all the others focussed in on you. My only desire is to protect the one
we all desire." With a stiff nod, he continued. "I will protect your continued existence with every bit of my own."
Cloud rubbed the back of his neck at that, but didn't need to think too much on the awkward syntax or strangeness of it, as the naked and clawed one with the wings around his hips and legs spoke.
"Monster." It growled out. "I'm called monster. I don't mind it much though. In fact, I like hearing it." it was hardly a shock to notice that monster smelled faintly of blood, death and decay. "Almost as much I like like to hear screams. Especially yours."
It looked at him with an inhumanly oddly angled tilt to its head. "Every thing from you is so much sweeter." It said. Cloud repressed a shudder as it ran a claw down his face, drawing blood. A rough tongue lapped it up as it spilled, and almost in
a daze, Cloud let it happen. This side was familiar to him. Something he'd come to expect, and after all the weirdness so far, he almost welcomed the sadistic behavior. "Even the pain of my own defeat." When this one planted a kiss on him, it wasn't
as chaste or as gentle as Dis's mockery of a kiss. This kiss was painful, it constricted his air, chewed through his lip, and went on till his fav wa blue and his vision spotted. Then, at the end of it, both of their spilt, intermingled blood lay
mingled in each of their mouths. They each stared at each other after, both somehow pleased by the outcome. Cloud gave as good as he got, and the kiss was more of a battle than a show of affection (though he figured, that battle itself was the show
of affection.)
Coughing sounding to their left signalled that there were others to introduce. It was Pre who had coughed, and who now was tentatively drawing the child persona foreword.
"This," Pre introduced, "is Child. He's a manifestation of all the insecurities brought on by Hojo's abysmal job at parenting." Cloud, still dazed from the strange feelings that had him reply to the sadistic kiss only second ago, leaned down. He figured,
even if this was just some mind game, or Schizophrenic hallucination, he may as well play along.
"Hello" He said nervously.
"Are you gonna hurt me again?" The child asked him, looking distrustful. Cloud frowned.
"That depends on your other sides. I wouldn't do it if I had a choice."
"Oh, but Cloud," the last one sounded around the room, even though it's voice was little more than a whisper from where it sat on the top of the heart. "You've always had the choice to join me." It purred, fixing him with a smug gleam to its eyes and
a wide smirk. The blonde felt his heart flutter.
"You have half of us." the smaller Cloud piped up. Cloud stared at the smaller blond.
"Someone explain him, please." He said, pointing. The tall, draped and imposing figure the farthest from him only widened its smirk, and all the others took that as a key to pipe down.
"Haven't you noticed anything missing lately? Small parts of yourself prone to doubting you, doubting your friends? The urge to wallow in your sorrow and harbour guilt over every little mishap? The methodical soldier part of yourself? Or even, the part
that always answers my call?"
As if on cue, the doll-like mirror elaborated from that.
"I'm all the parts of you that were deemed broken. Aerith took me out and jumbled me all together when you were shot. I was what 'died.' " The smaller nodded, his actions more expressive than the normal Cloud, though his eyes remained that blank, trance-like
wall of green, with the same cat pupils as the man who was in pieces around him.
"They tried to 'fix' him. The shortsighted fools. You can't fix what isn't broken, isn't that right?" The tall figure came forward finally, steps languid, assured. A hand came up in the familiar grandiose gesture, and the smaller "Cloud" pulled Cloud
by their interlocked hands to drag them both halfway to meet him. The second they came within five feet, Cloud noticed a buzzing, an almost ringing sound in his head. "And every facet of you is already what it needs to be. There should be no changes.
Not unless I put them there." suddenly, they were face to face. The tall figure ran a hand over both Clouds' heads, and Cloud couldn't help the shudder at the small sense of need the contact elicited. Once it was gone, he felt that odd sort of hollowness
he associated with all the weird mind-link, pseudo-science mumbo jumbo about what the cells injected in him were meant to do. He shuddered again as one of the words he feared hearing most echoed through his mind. Reunion. Calling himself back to his
own mind he straightened, ignoring the buzzing and the urges.
"And what kind of changes would that be?" He demanded through gritted teeth, expression defiant. For the third or fourth time that day, one of the aspects (this strange one he was wondering about) trailed a caress down his cheek almost tenderly.
"Ones that remind you of the truth." The figure stated simply in that imperious drawl of his. "That you are mine, and are meant to do as I say. Isn't that right, Kura?" The figured asked, turning to the smaller Cloud, who piped up.
"Of course. Which is why I will never question anything you demand of me…" A small tilt of the head, the motion too smooth, yet jerky and unnatural at the same time. "...Unless I failed to comprehend...in which case I should be punished for misunderstanding."
The smaller… "Kura" stared up at the figure, as though awaiting praise. Cloud Shuddered to think this came from himself, but of course, he could reach out and sense it as though they still shared one mind, and it's thought patterns were familiar.
This had been half of himself for a long time.
"Good." The figure purred at Kura. He then turned to Cloud. "You can learn a lot from your discarded half, can't you?" The figure leered at Cloud this time, who finally got his thoughts out.
"Drop the mind games and cut to the chase. It's seemingly obvious which personality you are, but finish your introduction so I can figure out how to put you back together and fight you already." Cloud dropped to his "leader of Avalanche" facade, voice
cool.
"Adorable really, thinking you're allowed to make demands of me. But no matter, you're in need of a proper retraining after all, so I cannot truly blame your stubbornness on you this time." There was a chuckle that disturbed the air between them. A hand
came up and cupped his cheek on either side of his face. "No, for once this lapse in proper respect is my fault, is it not? You hardly remember the nature of our true relationship. Or, at least, you recall it with disdain. That shall have to
be remedied soon. However, that is not the matter at hand. No, I must give you the instructions to set me back up as one whole." Cloud didn't miss the way the man leaned in just such a way as to make the long threadlike strands of hair fall on him
in a manner reminiscent of the strings on a marionette. He bristled at the old mockery-turned pet name being insinuated like this, but he knew moving away would only prove his own discomfort, and he was sure this side (... This subliminal mind-fuck
of a personality…) was equally sadistic as some of the others.
"I'm waiting." He said, doing his best to continue ignoring the increased pressure in his skull. He didn't expect the backhanded slap he received in reply, however, and reeled a little from that. His cheek stung, he could feel a bruise forming. He stumbled.
He would've likely tripped over a stone as he overcorrected his balance if the entity before him hadn't grabbed him by the front of his shirt, then around the throat, warning. Vaguely, he wondered that none of the others were rescuing him. As though
reading his mind (which, Cloud thought, the figure most definitely was) the tall entity replied.
"Of course they aren't. Not even the good natured ones are foolish enough to rebel. No, only you have ever done such a thing." Cloud glared up at him, even with his cheek smarting (it really stung) and reminding him of his current humiliation and the
immediate danger to his person, he managed a scowl. "But that will be fixed soon enough." lithe fingers rubbed the hand mark they left on his face a mere minute prior. "I can't have such a powerful...such a useful little toy rebelling for too long."
The pressure inside his skull heightened. A chuckle sounded. "But of course, you wouldn't dream of actually disobeying, would you?" The figure questioned in singsong. The pressure made it so hard to disagree, stray thoughts that he wasn't sure were
his own trailing along, telling him to nod, to apologize, that he'd been wrong to fight. So very very wrong. He couldn't find any reason in himself to disagree (all his reasons were somewhere in the fog, the pressure keeping them away. But the voices
said that was good, because those thoughts were bad thoughts.)
"I...n-no.. Of course I wouldn't." He managed, relieved as the pressure turned to pleasure, the hands on his face easing up. Hi own struggle went unnoticed to himself.
"There now~, was that so hard?" The figure teased. Cloud looked down at his own (terribly scuffed) boots.
"I...well…" He started. A hand wound through his hair, drawing his attention. It was his own hand. He clutched to his skull, wondering why he wasn't sure how to reply. Why he wanted to see th and fight and... The hands on his chin tightened again. The
pressure returned.
"Answer." The man before him ordered.
"No. It wasn't." He said, almost reflexively. Kura stirred beside him.
"It's harder to fight, isn't it? I know I could never try such a thing. I'd never dream of it." The smallest of them said, his voice dreamy.
"See, your other half agrees. It is much easier to do as you're meant to do, is it not?" He could feel the ghostly breath of those words brush along his face like a small, chilly breeze. Dreamlike and dazed himself, he nodded in reply. "Then why would
you ever resist me?"
"I… I…. I don't...know…"He flicked at himself. He really didn't know. Why would he? It felt so right to be here, to be needed. To answer and act accordingly with what words came from that mouth. He felt safe and happy like this, and something in his mind
told him it was right. This was right. Proper. Where he belonged.
"It is because you do not have the capacity to fight those who attempt to steal you from me." The man stated, as though it were common sense. "Those 'friends' of yours that think they can take away what has always been mine." He felt the grip on his chin
tighten. "Renounce them. Renounce them and return to your proper place." The figured commanded. As though compelled by an outside force (which, to be fair, he probably was, but currently, the fog-like state of his mind obscured that fact from him)
he did exactly that.
"Of course. I do not need any friends. I need only to serve you." He said, feeling the pressure and the pleasure and the buzzing heighten as he did, feeling them coil around his mind. There was a brief moment of panic as he realized what was happening,
but it was silenced by the pressing together of lips as the figure drew him forward.
"That's it." The man praised as they drew apart, his own mind silenced once more.
"...Master…" Even the parts of himself that were fighting before seemed to be pulled under now, swirling around and around, locked deeply under intensely overwhelming suggestions of love (I love him. I am his. All his. I'll never stray again. No, I cannot,
because I love him. Only him.) until they began to believe it wholeheartedly, turning their hatred and anger to everyone and everything else. He melted into the caresses doted upon his flesh, unable to ignore the urge anymore. (closer. CLOSER. I need.
NEED. needneedneedneed.)
"Good boy." The purr came. "You remember now, don't you?" And all he could think to do was nod. He remembered. He remembered so clearly he could hardly think how he'd forgotten. He felt the figure wrap around him, all the other sides of the man gathering
around, all of them very obviously in the same sort of trance-like state as himself. He felt his other self beside him, as they swarmed around. He felt them all pressing kisses to his flesh, trailing caresses behind and before their lips. He felt
Kura's hand, cold and icy in his own. Felt the pressure melt away, appeased that he had remembered so well. He felt whole, even when half of himself stood by, no longer merged. He shivered a little, as everything became somehow brighter, happier.
"Mine." The man purred to him, now whole once more. "Don't ever leave me again."