Hey guys! Sorry for the delay, but here I am! Before we get started, I just want to say that I might not be around too much over the next few weeks. There are two reasons for this: my shift at work is about to get changed around, and I'm also moving to a new place. I'll still try to be around, of course, but at least until things get settled down, I might not be around often. Anywho, onwards! This is jumping from Chapter 10, and is if you decide to fight Cloud head-on, without trying to use Tifa as a shield.

After everything that had happened so far, you can't allow yourself to just walk away. Even if Sephiroth did, you're a fighter. Through and through. And your spirits could not be quelled while there was still an opponent to fight.

You took a deep breath and tried your best to ignore the pain in your ribs. Surely, the swordsman must be at least somewhat weary from his fight. You steeled yourself and balled your fist.

Cloud: Either fight or leave. I'm leaving you with that choice, but hurry up before I change my mind and make it for you.

You take a brief moment to test your footing on the platform. Cloud's sword strikes are vicious, even though his long range attacks can be avoided easily enough. It would have been ideal if the platform were a bit bigger, so you'd have more room to move around.

You: Fine. Here I come, traitor!

No words left to spare for one who has turned his back on Chaos. You take a running leap, flipping for extra momentum as you came crashing down on him with a kick. In response, he brought the flat side of his blade up to block. You could see an icy calm in his eyes, and you leaped off of the sword, landing instead on a platform nearby.

In response, he simply reached out a hand and let a fireball loose in your direction, immediately dashing in to follow up.

You gritted your teeth and brought your arms up to block the fireball, then pivoted to avoid the downward slash that came an instant after, managing to land a sharp elbow strike to his back.

Grunting in pain, the swordsman whirled around and slashed in a sweeping motion. While you do leap over it and manage to land one platform higher up, the blade clips your leg as you do so.

You: Gah!

You hold a hand over the cut to stop the bleeding, but Cloud gives you no time to recover.

This time, however, you're a bit more prepared. As soon as his blade is committed to the swipe, you duck around it, landing a powerful punch to his stomach, your other fist immediately following up with an uppercut to the jaw.

He gets knocked in the air, and you're able to finish your chain of attacks with a spin kick that sends him flying back, into a wall of what appears to be pure energy.

You drop to one knee while he's prone and take the brief opportunity to recover what stamina you can. In mere seconds, however, you see him use the wall as a launch pad, sending a beam of blue energy after you from his blade. You leap out of the way and start running up the nearby pillar, intending to keep your distance while you recover more.

Rather than allow this, however, Cloud is stabbing his blade into the ground.

Cloud: You're gone!

You hear a whistling sound above you, and your eyes widen as volley of small meteors come flying in your direction. You leap again to avoid the barrage, but fail to notice the swordsman below you, grabbing you by the wrist and preventing you from twisting out of the way.

Cloud: It's over. You're not getting away from this.

You realize he speaks the truth as his blade crashes down. While it doesn't cleave you in half as you expected, you do feel a blinding pain as it does bite deep into your gut. Absently, you can finally tell exactly how heavy the blade is, due to how quickly you were falling after the strike.

What was I thinking...fighting a swordsman with a blade that large...with magic...and can match Sephiroth's power...

A tear fell from your closed eye, though your body is falling faster than it. Already going numb, you barely even feel your body hit the ground - the only indication is the thud that resounds.

Cloud approaches you before slinging his blade over his back.

Cloud: I told you I wasn't interested in your help.

You cough up some blood and reach up slowly, with an arm you barely feel, vision extremely blurred. He walked away, and your arm shook some before falling.

Chaos...forgive me for failing to defeat the traitor...

END?

Again with the question mark after "END". This time it's because the gods can revive the warriors who fall, so long as they have a god's blessing and don't get killed by a manikin. Since Teyso was a loyal Chaos soldier, he'll most likely be revived at some point. Either before the 12th cycle ends, or at the start of the 13th. Not too sure where it'll happen just yet, so I'll leave it as "END?" for now, and will update it to "Jump to Chapter X" if it goes that way.

Anywho, I'm still curious about any opinions that you may have. I've mentioned this in a previous chapter path, so I'll mention it again here. I'm considering revamping this story and re-ordering some of the chapters. The reason for this is, if you had chosen to side with Cloud and Tifa (chapter 9), then followed Tifa to secure Cosmos' protection (chapter 15), you'll end up jumping back to chapter 2, as the events of the past few chapters (3 - 5 - 9) takes place before the 12th cycle even begins. Feel free to let me know what you think? I'll be waiting!